Nebraska Online Bill Tracker

How to Use eProfiles (BillTracker Premium Services)

These instructions cover the features of eProfiles (BillTracker Premium Services). Access to these services requires that you establish an agreement with Nebrask@ Online to obtain a username and password. Click here to download the agreement form.

With eProfiles, you can set up individual eProfiles for each client or subject of interest. Each eProfile will track bills and amendments that match the criteria you specify, including senators, committees, bill numbers, key words/phrases or sections of statute. E-Mail Notification alerts you every day when actions are taken on bills or subjects of interest to you.

Setting Up eProfiles

An eProfile lets you create your own set of parameters to direct BillTracker in searching for and retrieving legislative information that meets your needs. By setting up one or more eProfiles, you can generate a list (or lists) of bills that match your interests. Then, throughout the legislative session, you have a convenient way to monitor activity on bills and subjects of interest. With E-Mail Notification, you can be alerted on a daily basis if activity has occurred on one or more bills or subjects you are tracking.

An eProfile can be established using several parameters:

By Sponsor (Identify bills introduced by a Senator or Committee, you may select one or more per eProfile)
By Committee (Identify bills referred to a Committee, you may select one or more per eProfile)
By Key Word or Statute Section (Identify bills or amendments by one or more key words or sections of statute appearing in the bill or amendment text)
By Bill Number (Add bills to your eProfile by LB or LR number)

Step 1		Log In. Log in to your BillTracker account using the username and password assigned to you by Nebraska.gov. ( click here to view a demo version of the system, that does not require a username and password).
Step 2		Click "Add a Profile" to create a new eProfile.
Step 3		Name your eProfile. Pick a name that will allow you to distinguish the eProfile from others you may create. Examples would include a staff or client name, senator or committee name, or subject such as "water policy" or "tax policy".
Step 4		Specify an E-Mail Address. Put in the e-mail address to which you want automatic notifications sent about this eProfile. *Please Note*: if you want to discontinue receiving email alerts, remove the e-mail address from this field using the "Edit Profile" feature, explained in Step 10. See "Using E-Mail Notification" for additional details.
Step 5		Add Sponsors. Select a Senator or Committee and click "Save". The sponsor's name will be added to your eProfile. You may elect to add one or more sponsors, or none if you want your eProfile to be tracked based on other criteria. Please note that the system tracks primary sponsors only.
Step 6		Add Committees. Select a Committee and click "Save". The committee's name will be added to your eProfile. You may elect to add one or more committees, or none if you want your eProfile to be tracked based on other criteeria. Please note that this feature tracks bills referred to a committee or committees. To track bills introduced by committees, please add the committee name(2) under "Select Sponsors" (Step 5).
Step 7		Add Key Words/Statute Sections. In the space provided, type in the keyword, phrase or statute section number you wish to add. Click "Save" and the keyword, phrase or statute section number will be added to your eProfile.
	*Please Note:* Individual keywords or section numbers should be entered and saved one at a time. If you enter more than one keyword, the system will consider it as a phrase and locate the words only if they appear together, not individually. To enter a key phrase, simply type the words separated by a space and the system will locate instances where the words appear together in the sequence you specify, and not each individual occurence of each word. To enter a statute section, enter only the section number (for example, 23-1,234.08). It is not necessary to enter "Section" or "Sec."
Step 8		Add Legislative Bill. You may add individual bills (by LB or LR number) to your eProfile.
	Select "LB" for a Legislative Bill or "LR" for a Legislative Resolution. Type in the LB or LR Number. If required, select a suffix (default is "none", select "A" for an appropriations bill (always associated with LB) or "CA" for a constitutional amendment (always associated with LR). Click "Save" and the bill will be added to your eProfile.
Step 9		Run Your eProfile. Click "Finish" to run the profile and generate a listing of bills that match the eProfile that you set up. Each listing provides a direct link to the introduced bill, and provides a check box if you wish to add that particular bill to your eProfile for monitoring. You may also "Select All" to add all bills on the list to your eProfile.
Step 10		Viewing Bill Information. Click "View Bills" on the menu bar for the eProfile of interest. You will see a list of the bills associated with the eProfile selected. To view bill informatin, simply click on the "i" next to the bill number. A separate browser window will open, displaying the list of documents for this bill from the Legislature's website. Please Note: if your computer is running some type of a pop-up blocker, the browser window displaying the list of documents may not open. To bypass the pop-up blocker and opent the page, simply hold down the CTRL key, while clicking the "i" with your left mouse button.
Step 11		Stop Tracking a Bill. If you want to stop tracking a particular bill and remove it from the eProfile, simply click the "X" next to the bill number.
Step 12		Edit or Delete eProfile. At any time, you may edit your eProfile to add or remove sponsors, committees, bills or keyword/statute sections. By running your edited eProfile, BillTracker will once again search legislative information to identify bills that match your eProfile.
	Click "Manage Account" on top of the menu bar to open your list of eProfiles. Click "View/Edit eProfile" for the eProfile you wish to edit. Make any desired changes, such as adding or removing sponsors, committees, etc. Click "Finish" to run the eProfile and generate a new list of bills to review for addition to your eProfile. If you want to delete this eProfile, click "Delete this eProfile" at the bottom of the eProfile screen.
Step 13		Generating Reports. BillTracker profides tools to generate reports for clients, senators, consituents and others. Your reports can be customized in either list or table format, include all or only some bills in your eProfile, and list most recent action or entire bill history. To generate reports: Click "Manage Account" on the top menu bar to open your list of eProfiles. Click "Show Reports" to set up your report Select which bills you wish to include in your report Designate the start date and end date for your report Select the report format ("List" or "Table") Select "Bill Status" if you would like to include it in the report (you must select either "Show Last Action" or "List All Actions") if you select this option. Select "Amendments to the Bill" if you would like to include a list of amendments. Click "Show Report" to display the report on your screen. (Note: if you select neither "Bill Status" nor "Amendments to the Bill", your report will display bill number, one-liner, introducers and committee)

Using E-Mail Notification

BillTracker automatically scans up-to-date legislative information on a daily basis and notifies you by e-mail if there are any status changes with any bill in your eProfile Book. Bill Tracker will also notify you if other legislative activity matching your eProfile occurs (such as an amendment to a bill you are not currently tracking that matches a keyword, phrase or statute section in your eProfile).

You can review those bills with activity, or new bills/amendments matching your profile, by clicking on the link included with the e-mail notification, or by opening your eProfile. A link will appear on your eProfile menu if any activity has occurred.

To activate E-Mail Notification for an eProfile, simply type in the e-mail address to which notifications whould be sent in the e-mail address field on the View or Edit an eProfile menu. To discontinue E-Mail Notifications, simply remove the e-mail address from the same location on the eProfile menu.