State Assembly 2024 Update

Hey guys! I am back from my first day of school after State Assembly! The 67th State Assembly took place in Tallahassee from April 10-12, 2024. It went super well this year! I’ll give a detailed day by day analysis of the trip and I will do a separate post later about what I learned about policy!

Day 1- April 10:

• 4:45 am: wake up, get dressed and ready
• 5:30 am: arrive at YMCA and get on bus
• 6:00 am: get on the road! we were on a school bus (😭) which got crowded and uncomfortable after a while. the bus ride up was really fun though because everyone talked and played games (after a couple hours to nap and fully wake up of course!)
• 4:00 pm: finally arrived! we went straight to the church where opening ceremonies and first committee was hosted. opening ceremonies consisted of welcoming speeches, handing out of bill books, and then after an hour, dismissal to program areas.
• 5:30: dismissal to first committee. the high school kids were split up into the senate and the house of representatives this year. so there were two chambers made up of high school kids, and multiple different committees for each chamber. i was in the senate, and i was in senate committee 5. there were about 7 or 8 committees for the senate and around 13 or 14 kids in each senate committee. first committee is when all bills have the chance to be heard. as explained in my state assembly info for beginners post, opening and closing statements are 90 seconds and then there is a round of non-debatable, technical questions (NDTQ’s). Following the NDTQ’s, there is a con-pro-con sandwich round of debate. after all this, delegates are given a ranking sheet to rank bills on (the lower ranked a bill is, the better it is).
  • My bill also had a testimonial, which means that someone in the executive branch saw my bill, liked it, and then offered to sponsor it in committees by writing an extra 45-second speech about why people should vote for a bill.
  • My experience was great in first committee this year. I participated so much, which I was so proud of myself for because last year I did not participate or speak up at all.
• 7:45: dinner (pizza!)
• 9:00: everyone’s bills are finished and have been heard. we head back to the hotel with our delegation.
• 9:30-12: shower, relax, eat candy, talk with roomies, paint nails!
• 12:15: bedtime 😴

Day 2- April 11:

• 7 am: wake up and get ready. the bill docket for the senate and the house was released at 7 as well! my bill was ranked 5 out of 18 bills that made it onto the docket!! only 18 bills made it onto the docket out of over 100! this was super exciting for me because not only did i make it onto the docket, but i was ranked 5 which meant that i would definitely get heard! bills take so long to go through in the senate that only 10 or 11 bills (if you’re lucky) get to be heard.
• 7:30: onto the bus and headed to state capitol! the senate was in the historical senate chamber on thursday.
• 9-12: debate bills. each senate bill takes about 20-30 minutes to go through. this year, we only got through 3 bills between when we started and when we took a break for lunch. i was also proud of myself for how much i participated in senate (which is around 50 or 60 people).
• 12:15-12:45: lunch (sandwiches)
• 1-5: debate more bills. my bill passed the senate, but the voting was really close. usually its majority for either nay or yea, but this time it was split half and half.
• 5:15: dismissal and head back to hotels.
• 5:30-6:30: get ready for gov bash!
• 7-9:45: gov bash! gov bash is basically a break from all the hard work we do during the day and a chance to hang out and dance! gov bash is always at an antique car museum. in addition, gov bash is when the candidates running for youth governor give their speeches. there were 4 people running for youth governor this year.
• 10-12: shower, get ready for bed! i also used this time to collaborate with someone from my delegation who sponsored my bill in the house. in order for a bill to be heard by the cabinet, it needs to be passed through the senate and the house. my bill had already passed through the senate, but it needed to pass through the house. only representatives can present a bill in the house, so i had to find someone willing to present. i had to prepare opening and closing speeches with him, as well as draft responses to questions that could be asked and responses to con arguments that could be said.

Day 3- april 12:

• 7 am: wake up and get all packed up! we had to check out of our hotel in the morning.
• 8:30: arrive at capitol. the senate was in the modern house of representatives. it was super cool- there were buttons to vote on at your desk, as well as microphones.
• 8:45: vote for presiding officers for the next year.
• 9-12: debate bills in the senate. my bill was heard in the house during this time and passed!
• 12-1: lunch.
• 1:30-3:15: debate bills in the senate. during this time, around 2:30, i was called to be heard in the cabinet! i was the last person to be called into the cabinet because we all had to wrap up soon for closing ceremonies. the cabinet hearing went okay. looking back, i did not answer questions well and stuttered a lot. my bill had serious flaws, which i’ll talk about in a later post.
• 4-5:30: closing ceremonies. here, everyone met up in a different church than on wednesday and the presiding officers all gave their speeches and announced who won the elections and who would be replacing them. everyone is sad but ready for state assembly to be over because it is sooo tiring! also, the bills who had been passed or vetoed by the governor are announced. my bill got vetoed by the governor. i was a little sad but i totally understood why.
• 6-1:30: bus ride back. i was exhausted and ended up sleeping a couple hours later at night but also chatted and went on my phone haha!

only 12 bills out of over 200 even made it into cabinet and i was honored to be one of those 12, even if my bill got vetoed!

posts to expect coming up:

1. state assembly last year vs this year
2. everything i learned about policy this year at state assembly
3. advice for people participating in youth in government type clubs
4. deep-dive into my bill and why it was flawed