Creating & Managing Custom Labels

Organize bills your way with custom labels. Tag legislation by priority, department, issue area, or your organization's position—making it easy to filter, report, and collaborate.

What Are Labels?

Labels are custom tags you create to categorize bills. Think of them as folders or categories that you define based on your organization's needs.

Examples of labels:

  • "High Priority" - Your team's most important bills

  • "Healthcare" - All health-related legislation

  • "Support" - Bills your organization backs

  • "Finance Department" - Bills the finance team tracks

  • "Committee Review" - Legislation pending committee decision

  • "Oppose" - Bills you're working against

  • "Budget Impact" - Bills affecting your organization's budget

Why use labels?

  • Organize hundreds of bills into meaningful categories

  • Filter bill lists to see only what matters right now

  • Generate reports by category

  • Coordinate team tracking efforts

  • Track your organization's positions

Accessing Label Settings

  1. Log into State Affairs at pro.stateaffairs.com

  2. Click your profile icon (top-right) → Settings

  3. Click the "Label Settings" tab

Note: Admins can create, edit, and delete labels. The availability of label management may vary based on your subscription tier.

Creating a New Label

Step-by-Step

1. Click "+ Add Label" button (top-right, blue button)

2. Fill out the label details:

  • Name - What you want to call it (e.g., "Priority Bills", "Healthcare")

  • Color (if available) - Choose a color for visual distinction

  • Description (optional) - What this label is for

3. Click "Create" or "Save"

4. The label now appears in your list

You can now tag bills with this label from any bill page.

Label Naming Best Practices

Keep names clear and specific:

  • ✅ "High Priority" - Clear meaning

  • ❌ "Important" - Too vague

Use consistent naming:

  • ✅ "Finance Department", "Legal Department", "Policy Department"

  • ❌ "Finance Dept", "Legal Team", "Policy Division"

Avoid similar names:

  • ✅ "Support", "Oppose", "Neutral"

  • ❌ "Support", "We Support", "Supporting"

Keep it short:

  • ✅ "Budget Impact"

  • ❌ "Bills That May Have An Impact On Our Organization's Budget"

Use prefixes for categories:

  • "DEPT: Finance", "DEPT: Legal" (groups related labels)

  • "PRIORITY: High", "PRIORITY: Medium", "PRIORITY: Low"

Using Labels on Bills

Once you've created labels, you can apply them to bills throughout the platform.

From a Bill Page

To tag a single bill:

  1. Navigate to any bill

  2. Look for the "Labels" section or tag icon

  3. Click to add labels

  4. Select your custom labels from the dropdown

  5. Bill is now organized under those labels

To remove a label:

  1. Click the label tag on the bill

  2. Click the "X" or "Remove" option

  3. Label is removed from that bill

From Bill Lists (Bulk Tagging)

To tag multiple bills at once:

  1. Go to your bill list or group

  2. Select multiple bills using checkboxes

  3. Choose "Add Label" from the actions menu

  4. Select the label(s) to apply

  5. All selected bills get tagged

This is powerful for:

  • Quickly categorizing newly introduced bills

  • Applying position labels after committee meetings

  • Organizing bills by department after team review

Organizing with Labels

Common Label Strategies

Strategy 1: Priority-Based

Create labels for urgency:

  • "Critical" - Immediate action required

  • "High Priority" - Important but not urgent

  • "Medium Priority" - Monitor actively

  • "Low Priority" - Keep aware

When to use: When timing and urgency drive your workflow.

Strategy 2: Issue-Based

Create labels for policy areas:

  • "Healthcare"

  • "Education"

  • "Environment"

  • "Budget & Finance"

  • "Transportation"

When to use: When you track multiple issue areas and need to filter by topic.

Strategy 3: Position-Based

Create labels for your organization's stance:

  • "Support" - Bills you're advocating for

  • "Oppose" - Bills you're fighting against

  • "Neutral" - Monitoring without position

  • "Undecided" - Pending internal review

When to use: When you need to track and report on your advocacy positions.

Strategy 4: Department-Based

Create labels for team ownership:

  • "Finance Department"

  • "Legal Team"

  • "Policy Team"

  • "Executive Review"

  • "Communications"

When to use: When multiple departments track different bills and need clear ownership.

Strategy 5: Workflow-Based

Create labels for bill stages in your process:

  • "New/Unreviewed" - Just discovered

  • "In Review" - Team analyzing

  • "Approved for Action" - Decision made

  • "Active Monitoring" - Watching closely

  • "Completed" - Action taken or bill died

When to use: When you have a formal internal review process for legislation.

Strategy 6: Mixed Approach (Most Common)

Combine strategies:

  • Position labels: "Support", "Oppose", "Watch"

  • Priority labels: "High Priority", "Low Priority"

  • Issue labels: "Healthcare", "Budget"

Example workflow: A bill could be tagged: "Healthcare" + "Support" + "High Priority"

This tells you: It's a healthcare bill we support and it's high priority.

Managing Your Labels

Viewing All Labels

In Label Settings, you'll see a table showing:

Position

Label

Groups

Counts

Created By

Actions

1

High Priority

3 groups

24 bills

You

⋮

2

Healthcare

1 group

45 bills

You

⋮

Columns explained:

  • Position - Order labels appear throughout platform (drag to reorder)

  • Label - Name of the label

  • Groups - How many bill groups use this label

  • Counts - How many bills are currently tagged

  • Created By - Who created the label

  • Actions - Menu for editing or deleting

Reordering Labels

Why reorder?
Labels appear in this order throughout the platform. Put your most-used labels at the top for easy access.

How to reorder:

  1. Toggle "Reorder Mode" ON (top-right)

  2. Drag and drop labels into your preferred order

  3. Labels at the top appear first in dropdowns and filters

  4. Toggle "Reorder Mode" OFF when done

  5. Changes save automatically

Recommended order:

  • Most frequently used labels at top

  • Related labels grouped together

  • Rarely used labels at bottom

Editing Labels

To rename a label:

  1. Find the label in Label Settings

  2. Click the Actions menu (⋮)

  3. Select "Edit" or "Rename"

  4. Enter new name

  5. Save

Important: Renaming a label updates it on ALL bills that have it. The tag doesn't disappear from bills—it just has a new name.

Deleting Labels

When to delete:

  • Label no longer needed (project ended)

  • Created by mistake

  • Replacing with better label name

  • Consolidating similar labels

How to delete:

  1. Find the label in Label Settings

  2. Click the Actions menu (⋮)

  3. Select "Delete"

  4. Confirm deletion

⚠️ Warning: This removes the label from ALL bills that have it. This cannot be undone.

Alternative to deleting: If you're unsure, rename it to "OLD - [label name]" instead. You can always delete it later.

Searching Labels

Use the search box when you have many labels.

You can search by:

  • Label name

  • Partial matches

  • Case-insensitive

Example: Search "priority" to find "High Priority", "Low Priority", "Priority Review"

Filtering Bills by Label

To see all bills with a specific label:

  1. Go to Bill Tracking (main navigation)

  2. Look for the filter or label dropdown

  3. Select your label

  4. Bill list filters to show only bills with that label

This is powerful because:

  • Instantly see all healthcare bills

  • Filter to bills your department owns

  • View all legislation you support

  • Generate focused reports by label

Note: This filtering happens in the main platform, not in Label Settings.

Label Reports

Generate reports filtered by label:

  1. Go to Reports section

  2. Create a new report

  3. Choose "Filter by label" option

  4. Select your label(s)

  5. Report includes only bills with those labels

Use cases:

  • Monthly "High Priority" bills report for executives

  • "Support" and "Oppose" bills for advocacy planning

  • "Finance Department" bills for team meetings

  • "Committee Review" bills for pending decisions

Common Label Workflows

Workflow 1: Bill Triage Process

As new bills appear:

  1. Tag as "New/Unreviewed"

  2. Analyst reviews → Move to "In Review"

  3. Team decision → Tag as "Support", "Oppose", or "Neutral"

  4. Action taken → Tag as "Completed"

Benefit: Clear pipeline. Always know where bills are in your process.

Workflow 2: Multi-Department Coordination

Each department creates labels:

  • Finance: "Finance Department"

  • Legal: "Legal Team"

  • Policy: "Policy Division"

As bills come in:

  • Tag with relevant department labels

  • Each team filters to see only their bills

  • Shared bills get multiple department tags

Benefit: Clear ownership. No confusion about who's tracking what.

Workflow 3: Priority + Position Tracking

Create two sets of labels:

  • Priority: "High", "Medium", "Low"

  • Position: "Support", "Oppose", "Watch"

Tag every bill with both:

  • "High Priority" + "Support" = Active advocacy bill

  • "Low Priority" + "Watch" = Background monitoring

  • "High Priority" + "Oppose" = Active opposition bill

Benefit: Combine urgency with stance for complete picture.

Best Practices

Don't Create Too Many Labels

Guideline: 5-15 labels is optimal for most organizations.

Too few: Not enough organization (3 labels for 500 bills doesn't help)
Too many: Overwhelming (50 labels means you'll never find the right one)

Sweet spot: 8-12 labels that cover your main categories.

Make Labels Mutually Exclusive When Possible

Good (mutually exclusive):

  • "Support" OR "Oppose" OR "Neutral" (bill can only be one)

  • "Finance Dept" OR "Legal Dept" OR "Policy Dept" (clear ownership)

Also good (can combine):

  • "High Priority" + "Healthcare" (bill can be both)

  • "Support" + "Budget Impact" (bill can be both)

Think about: Should a bill have one label from this category, or can it have multiple?

Review and Clean Up Quarterly

Every 3 months:

  1. Go to Label Settings

  2. Check the "Counts" column

  3. Find labels with 0 bills → Consider deleting

  4. Find similar labels → Consider consolidating

  5. Update names if they no longer make sense

Labels accumulate. Regular cleanup keeps them useful.

Use Labels with Groups

Labels ≠ Groups:

  • Groups are collections of bills (like folders)

  • Labels are tags that can apply to any bill

Use together:

  1. Create a Group for "Healthcare Bills"

  2. Create labels for "Support", "Oppose", "Watch"

  3. Tag bills within the group with position labels

  4. Now you can filter healthcare bills by position

Benefit: Organize by both category (Group) and attribute (Label).

Share Labels Across Team

Labels are organization-wide:

  • Everyone sees the same labels

  • Anyone can apply them to bills

  • Consistent tagging across team

Set expectations:

  • Document what each label means

  • Train team on when to use which labels

  • Periodically review tagging accuracy

Benefit: Team coordination. Everyone uses the same organizational system.

Troubleshooting Labels

"I don't see the + Add Label button"

Cause: You may not have permission to create labels, or the feature isn't available in your tier.

Solution:

  • Verify you have Admin permissions

  • Check if your subscription tier includes label management

  • Contact support@stateaffairs.com to verify access

"Label won't delete"

Possible causes:

  • Label is being used by active bills

  • Technical issue with the system

Solutions:

  1. Check if label has bills (see "Counts" column)

  2. Labels with bills CAN be deleted—they just remove from all bills

  3. Confirm deletion when prompted

  4. If still failing, contact support@stateaffairs.com

"Can't find a label I created"

Try:

  1. Use the search box in Label Settings

  2. Check if it was deleted by another Admin

  3. Verify you're in the correct organization/account

  4. Contact support if label has disappeared

"Labels aren't showing on bills"

Checklist:

  • ✅ Label was created successfully in Label Settings

  • ✅ You're trying to apply it to the right type of content

  • ✅ You have permission to tag bills

  • ✅ Browser cache is cleared

Still not working? Contact support@stateaffairs.com with screenshots.

"Too many labels, need to consolidate"

How to combine labels:

  1. Decide which labels to keep

  2. Manually re-tag bills from old labels to new labels

  3. Delete old labels

Example:

  • You have "Important", "High Priority", and "Critical"

  • Consolidate into just "High Priority"

  • Re-tag all "Important" and "Critical" bills as "High Priority"

  • Delete "Important" and "Critical" labels

No automatic merge: You must manually re-tag bills.

Label Hierarchies

Although not officially hierarchical, you can create pseudo-hierarchies:

  • "Healthcare - General"

  • "Healthcare - Medicare"

  • "Healthcare - Medicaid"

Or:

  • "Priority 1 - Critical"

  • "Priority 2 - High"

  • "Priority 3 - Medium"

Benefit: Organize within categories while keeping flat label structure.

Questions about labels? Contact support@stateaffairs.com

Label Settings: Settings → Label Settings tab