Platform Overview and News

State Affairs integrates legislative tracking with professional news coverage from Gongwer and state house outlets. This overview covers platform navigation, news features, and how the system connects news coverage to bills and legislators you're tracking.

Duration: 7 minutes | Tier: All | Coverage: All 50 states + Congress

News Integration

The front page displays the most recent news [0:33] from Gongwer and state house news organizations. This is the same professional coverage Gongwer subscribers receive—articles, tip sheets, and analysis from capitol reporters.

Morning Tip Sheets [0:48]

The daily morning tip sheet summarizes top news outlets in your state. If you already receive Gongwer email alerts, you'll recognize this content—State Affairs simply makes it searchable and connects it to your keyword alerts and bill tracking.

Keyword Alerts in News [0:56]

Your saved keyword alerts trigger for news coverage, not just bills. If "photo ID" is one of your alerts, you'll be notified when news outlets discuss it. This creates a unified monitoring system across legislation, hearings, and media coverage.

News Sections and Navigation

Statehouse Live [1:22]

Real-time tweets from state legislators. Monitor what lawmakers are saying publicly without checking individual Twitter accounts.

State Report [1:37]

Complete daily news archive organized by date. Review all articles published on a specific day—useful for catching up after being away or researching how a story developed over time.

Topic Sections [1:50]

News organized by subject area: Education, Budget, and other major policy categories. These mirror the sections you're familiar with from Gongwer's website, reproduced here for integrated tracking.

Connected Intelligence

State Affairs links news articles to the bills and legislators mentioned within them [2:08]. This connection transforms news from standalone content into actionable intelligence.

Bill Links [2:19]

When an article mentions HB 96, clicking the bill number takes you directly to the bill page where you can:

Track the bill
View full legislative history
See other news mentioning it
Access bill text and analysis

Legislator Links [2:31]

Clicking a legislator's name (example: Adam Bird) navigates to their directory page showing recent news mentions, vote history, sponsored legislation, and committee assignments. This lets you quickly assess a lawmaker's recent activity and positions.

Directories

The Directories tab [3:09] provides comprehensive legislator and committee information.

Legislator Profiles [3:14]

Each profile includes:

Recent news mentions (linked articles)
Vote history
Sponsored legislation (both primary and co-sponsored bills)
Committee assignments
Contact information (office phone, email, capitol address)

Click into any news story to see coverage context. Access any sponsored bill directly from their profile.

House and Senate Views [3:41]

Switch between chambers to view House or Senate members separately. Filter by district, party affiliation, or other criteria.

Committee Information [3:47]

View committee membership and contact all Republicans, all Democrats, or all members with a single click. This bulk email capability streamlines committee outreach.

Legislative Schedules

The Schedules page [4:11] shows the full legislative calendar with daily committee meetings and floor sessions.

Daily View [4:19]

See which meetings are scheduled for any date and which bills are on each committee's agenda. Track bills directly from the schedule view.

Calendar Integration [4:36]

For upcoming meetings, add them to your personal or work calendar with one click. This creates calendar reminders so you can attend live or remember to review the recording later.

Filtering [4:57]

Choose which committees appear in your schedule view. Focus on committees relevant to your work rather than viewing the entire legislative calendar.

Resources and Advocacy Tools

Gongwer Resources [5:06]

Links to content remaining on the Gongwer website: election coverage, detailed staff directories, jobs board, and government agency information. These resources will eventually migrate to State Affairs but currently link back to Gongwer.

Ohio Government Sites [5:50]

Quick access to official state government websites, agencies, and administrative resources.

Notifications and Preferences

Access notification settings from Profile and Settings [6:00] in the top right.

Real-Time Notifications [6:08]

Enable immediate email alerts when:

Your keywords appear in bills, hearings, or news
Tracked bills have legislative action
New content matches your monitoring criteria

Daily Summaries [6:19]

Receive a single daily email summarizing all keyword matches and bill actions from the past 24 hours. This digest format reduces email volume while ensuring you don't miss developments.

You can enable both real-time and daily summaries, or choose one based on your workflow.

Platform Search

The search bar at the top [6:38] queries across all content types simultaneously.

Search Example: "PFAS" [6:41]

Returns results organized by category:

Recent news articles mentioning PFAS
Bills containing PFAS
Committee hearings discussing PFAS
Legislators (if searching by name)

Click "See More" to navigate to the Keyword Alerts tab with your search term pre-populated, showing comprehensive results filtered to your subscribed states.

Navigation Flow

Understanding how sections connect helps you move efficiently through the platform:

News article mentions bill → Click bill number → Track bill
News article mentions legislator → Click name → View profile → See their sponsored bills
Schedule shows committee meeting → Add to calendar → Later, check Hearings for recording
Search finds keyword → See More → View all bills/news/hearings containing it
Legislator profile shows committee → Click committee → Email all members

This interconnected design means you rarely need to search manually—content links naturally to related information.

Starting Your Workflow

First-time users should:

Set up keyword alerts for your priority issues
Configure notification preferences (real-time vs. daily)
Explore a news article to see how bill and legislator links work
Add relevant committees to your schedules view
Search for a topic you're tracking to see cross-platform results

Once configured, the platform becomes a monitoring system that surfaces relevant content automatically through alerts while maintaining everything searchable when you need to research retroactively.

Key Insight: State Affairs doesn't replace Gongwer news—it enhances it by connecting news coverage to legislative data, making everything searchable, and triggering alerts when your priority issues surface in any content type.