Friday, February 4, 2011

TVW: Washington State Public Affairs Network

Are you tracking any pending state legislation? Are you interested in knowing just what goes on during the Washington Legislative Session but cannot visit Olympia in person?

TVW, the Washington State Public Affairs Network, may be an excellent resource for you since 40% of TVW's programming is legislative coverage.

Just this week I needed to monitor the testimony on House Bill 1479, a bill that affects the printing and distribution of such important Washington documents as the Washington Administrative Code (WAC). The Legislature's website showed me that the House Judiciary Committee had HB 1479 on its Feb. 2 agenda. And while I could not attend the hearing in person, I was able to watch a live webcast (already available in the TVW archives).

The Code Reviser was the only person who testified in support of the bill, and he said some interesting things about our state's online resources. Specifically, he said the online Revised Code of Washington (the RCW) receives 6 MILLION hits per month. Per month? Really? I wondered if I misheard this testimony, so I just listened to that portion of the hearing again. Sure enough, he did say that the online RCW receives 6 million hits per month. This is information I would not know if I hadn't listened to that testimony.

Of course, TVW also broadcasts televised coverage in addition to its webcasts. Just last night, Inside Olympia featured Washington State Supreme Court Chief Justice Barbara Madsen and "the state of the state judiciary." That program is available here.

And those of you with an iPhone? You can watch live and archived coverage via the TVW iPhone App. Instructions are given on the TVW homepage.

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