What I do

I could write about a lot of stuff. I could tell you all about my day at work. But we don't have the time. I also don't want the suicide rate in the country to go up either. I could go on and on about someone who's been getting on my nerves lately but I won't. I'll pretend that if I ignore them they'll go away.

Actually, I will talk about work. I won't go on about my day. Instead I'll just tell you what it is that I do. In case you're curious. I know you're not, just humor me, ok?

I work for the Florida Legislature. To be more specific I work for the Florida Senate. To be even more specific I work for a standing committee within the Florida Senate. I'm what they call an administrative assistant or to use the slang, I'm an A.A. (cool, right?)

Before a bill his passed into law it goes to a committee or more. A committee is made up of about 8 Senators or Representatives depending on what chamber you're in. They meet and hear the bills. THen they vote to pass the bill out. Sometimes they tack amendments on the bill changing it completley or just correcting a drafting error. The bill then goes to another committee or two and finally to the floor where it is voted on by the entire Senate or House then it goes over to the other chamber and is voted on . Then the governor signs it into law. But you know the gist of that from 8th grade civics class right?

Back to the committee. Each committee has a staff. What the staff does is analyze all of the bills that come through. Each committee office has a Staff Director, a few analysts (some of which are attorneys) an A.A., and during session a temporary assistant/receptionist. The staff analyzes each bill for any errors and implications that it might have. There's more to it but I would be doing it a disservice if I tried to explain it.

Let's get to the good stuff. What does a Committee A.A. do? Well I do the typical stuff like ordering from Office Depot and making the copies. But I'm also the office manager. I also have to know the process and the ins and outs of the Legislature. There's a lot of procedures on pretty much everything we do. Maybe the coolest thing, (well I think it's cool) is I get to call the roll for attendance and the votes during each committee meeting. The A.A. is the only staff person who can talk during the meeting that's not a member (that's what we call the Senators/Representatives). I do other stuff like draft amendments on bills and supervise the session assistant. Oh, the other thing. All the A.A.'s in the Senate are middle aged women. I'm the only guy. So how did I get this gig? Well, that's another story for another time. But I do like my job. It's fast paced most of the time. I like to think that it's important. Will I do it for that rest of my life? No. Of course I still haven't decided what I'll do for the rest of my life. Anyways, that's what I do. I do more than what I said, it's just past my bed time. You also got a crash course in state government. There's probably more to that too, or maybe not.

I promise something more entertaining tomorrow. Wednesday is comic book day after all. So maybe my blog will be something about that.