Here are a few common scenarios in which bill text may not display for you in Plural.
Federal Bills
As you investigate newly introduced federal legislation in Plural, you may notice that some bills have no available bill text.
This occurs when the Library of Congress (Plural’s source for the most up-to-date Congressional information) has received and published the number, title, author, and actions of a recently introduced bill, but has not yet released the bill’s text.
It generally takes a few days for the text of a bill introduced on the Senate or House floor to be published by the Library of Congress. This means that generally bills with “No versions found for this bill” will be updated within one week all year around (except the few weeks when Congress is not in session). Large bills or bills introduced at a busy time may take slightly longer.
Once the Library of Congress does receive the bill text, Plural quickly processes it and makes it available to Plural users. If you are already tracking the bill, you will receive an alert noting that a new bill version is available.
At Plural, we are dedicated to providing access to public information, in an easily digestible format, as soon as possible once it is available. It is for this reason that we allow you to review, track, and share newly introduced federal legislation even before the bill text is published.
State Bills
Occasionally you may come across a bill page in Plural that does not have bill text directly embedded in the page.
When Plural is unable to embed a bill's text on a bill page, you will be shown additional options for viewing bill text.
In cases where bill text is available at the original legislative website, but was unable to be directly embedded into a bill page in Plural, one of the following items will be displayed on the bill page:
- A PDF of the bill text will be embedded on the bill page in Plural
- Plural will display a direct link to the text of the bill on the state's legislative website
Note: You can also gain direct access to the bill's text on the legislative website by clicking the three vertical dots that appear toward the top right of the bill text section of a bill page, and then clicking "View Source."
If bill text is not directly embedded on a bill page in Plural, you will still be to use nearly all of the other data, insights, collaboration and organization features associated with a bill page in Plural.