Too many bills, not enough time—that’s what we kept hearing. So we built a solution: Louisiana’s first real-time public dashboard for tracking state legislation — sortable, clickable, and constantly updated. It’s built for the public but powerful enough that lawmakers are using it, too.
Introducing our brand-new Legislative Session Dashboard — a groundbreaking tool that makes it easier than ever to see what’s happening at the State Capitol, which organizations are supporting or opposing each bill, and how your elected officials are responding.
It’s built for the public — but powerful enough that we suspect the entire legislature will be glued to it, too. At least a half-dozen legislators have stopped me at the Capitol to compliment this work. They used words like amazing, fantastic, and incredible.
Real-Time Insights, No Spin.
If you’ve been using the clunky legis website to track bills in the past, this change will transform how you engage. Every bill’s most looked-for information is available at a glance: sponsors, last actions, committee referrals, partisan support breakdowns, and more.
Organizations participating in the system can add a simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down to legislation. These “likes” and “dislikes” appear clearly and without editorializing for each bill. While Citizens for a New Louisiana participates in the process, we’re just one of many voices. The dashboard doesn’t take sides; it simply reflects what’s happening in real time.
And because it’s a beta, we’re still growing. As time and resources permit, new features will continue rolling out.
What does it do?
If you’ve ever tried tracking bills, you know how challenging it is. The new, custom dashboard was designed from scratch, primarily out of frustration. I wanted a place where I could share critically important bill information with the public, but the sheer number of bills (1,207 this session alone) makes that difficult. It’s a lot like sifting through haystacks looking for needles.
So, we partnered with a few organizations to create and test a new system that helps us track our loves and hates more easily. It also lets our lawmakers know what people think without filtering it through the Capitol’s echo chamber. It supports both light and dark modes to stay unobtrusive in committees or on the chamber floor.
Here’s what you’ll find on the site today, and what’s still to come:
Dashboard Public Features
- The Homepage contains raw statistics about the session, such as the number of bills and votes cast. I also wanted to track insurance reform this session, so I included the top ten most-liked bills.
- Bill likes are the cumulative likes a bill has received from all participating organizations. I extended this logic to associate the number of likes with the bill’s author. I may also add dislikes, but I haven’t done so yet.
- The legislators’ page lists every legislator, broken out by the House and Senate. By default, it’s sorted by the legislator with the most likes based on the cumulative likes their bills received from the dashboard participants.
- The Individual Legislator pages are the most robust section of the website. They tell you how many bills a lawmaker has sponsored and co-sponsored. You’ll also see what committees they serve on, who they vote most like, and which bills they authored. You can even see when committees are scheduled and which of their bills are coming up in committee or on the floor. Future development will include the percentage agreement with participating organizations’ likes and dislikes.
- The bill sections (anywhere you see bills on the site) show you where they are in the process. One of the features I wanted to include was floor-vote results. So, there’s a chart on all bills that have been voted on, showing Republican and Democratic support and the threshold required for passage. It also includes likes, dislikes, last action, and what it’s scheduled for next. Of course, if you want to dig deeper, it also includes a link to that bill on the legislative site.
- The House / Senate floor page and committee pages show you what’s coming up next, and it’s sorted in agenda order (not bill number). So, if you’re following along live, you can easily keep up as the meeting progresses.
- We’re working on a public partner list to show who’s participating and group together what positions they’ve taken.
There’s more to discover, but this list is a great starting point. Go check it out for yourself.
Advocacy in Action: A Story from the Front Lines
Earlier this session, two unrelated advocacy groups independently marked the same opinion on the same bill on our dashboard. They weren’t aware of each other’s positions until they saw it in the system.
That visibility allowed them to coordinate testimony at the Capitol — a collaboration that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
That’s the kind of civic alignment this tool makes possible.
Are You Part of an Advocacy Organization?
If you’re part of a civic or advocacy group, time is running out to join this beta test — but there’s still room. Just shoot me an email to get involved.
The interface is simple. Once you get a login, mark your yes/no positions and (optionally) add a short explanation. You can do everything from your phone, tablet, or computer. If you’re pressed for time, you can even send us your bill list, and we’ll handle it. At the end of the session, participating organizations will be able to download a report of how every legislator voted on their likes and dislikes. That means you won’t have to hand-tabulate a stack of PDF files to generate your organization’s scorecard.
And most importantly, all political leanings are welcome. This system is designed to reflect the full spectrum of Louisiana’s political landscape. Our lawmakers make better decisions when they can see how all of their constituents — left, right, and center — feel about pending legislation.
Built for the Public, Powered by Your Support
This dashboard is a free public service, but it wasn’t easy. Getting here took me months of development time, many late nights, and a mountain of technical complexity.
If you find this a helpful resource for holding your government accountable through transparency, please consider supporting our work. We truly can’t continue this work without the generous support of organizations and people like you.
There’s nothing else like this out there. Your donation helps us keep Louisiana’s government accountable and transparent, one vote at a time. Click here to donate and help us keep this dashboard (and everything else we do) running strong.
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The DOGE Effect: What If We Cut Waste in Louisiana?
Elon Musk and Donald Trump are slashing waste in Washington, and the whole world is watching. Many have said, “That’s great—but we need to do the same thing in Louisiana!”
What most don’t realize is that Citizens for a New Louisiana has been ‘DOGE before DOGE was cool.’ Our investigatory work exposes government waste, backroom deals, and left-wing slush funds. And when people know what their government is really doing, it stops.
Want proof? Just change a few words:
👉 If you knew your government was funding erotic children’s books, they’d stop doing it.
👉 If you knew your government was sending millions to activist NGOs, they’d stop doing it.
👉 If you knew your government was emboldening hard-Left activists, they’d stop doing it.
We’ve covered transparency issues for almost seven years. No one else in Louisiana is looking this closely at where your tax dollars are going. Are you fed up with the hundreds of millions of dollars flowing from Louisiana's treasury into the pockets of NGOs and left-wing activists? If so, you’re not alone. But exposing it isn’t enough—we need your help to stop it.
If every reader contributed just $10 a year, we could double our reach. Your support now ensures Louisiana’s conservative future—don’t wait—contribute today!
Contribute $10 NowBecome a Monthly PartnerMake a Tax Deductible Gift
