Being a THSC Watchmen is very exciting! But what exactly do they do for six months up in Austin?
Each team member starts their day with a morning devotional and prayer. After that, they dive into work at 8 am and spend the first several hours responding to emails, updating bill documents, and researching laws and policies.
Every member is assigned a key issue (ex., parental rights or education policy) for the duration of the session and must read those specific bills that come through the search filters. The interns go through each bill with a fine-toothed comb as it is very easy to hide monumental changes in the hundreds of pages of “legalese.” The team will all together analyze thousands of bills during the session.
Soon the team will start attending meetings at the capitol. Meetings with different legislators and their staff are an excellent time to inform critical players on THSC’s stance on relevant bills, to promote THSC bills, and to discuss the possible impact of those bills.
The Watchmen meet with the specific staffers handling the issue that the team is tracking and always bring written materials (such as a one-pager) to explain their position.
Towards the latter part of the session season, the Watchmen will also attend committee hearings about any issues or bills they are monitoring. The team is responsible for testifying in support or opposition to proposed bills, coordinating witnesses for THSC’s bills, and listening to testimony on bills.
The Watchmen are in charge of finding and coordinating witnesses who will testify for or against different bills. You can be involved in hearings too! The Texas Legislature live streams almost every hearing for the public to watch. Head to capitol.texas.gov to check the schedule.
At the end of the workday, the team heads back to their home base for dinner and prepares to begin again the next day.
All this conveys just a general idea of how the Watchmen team fights for Texas families all session long. The team also does hundreds of things that will go unseen and unmentioned, but without them, THSC would not be able to have as significant an impact at the capitol Keeping Texas Families Free. Subscribe to our newsletter for legislative updates.
Ashlynn McFarland
Ashlynn McFarland is a K-12 homeschool graduate who served as the Marketing Intern for the THSC Watchmen during the last legislative session
Being a THSC Watchmen is very exciting! But what exactly do they do for six months up in Austin?
Each team member starts their day with a morning devotional and prayer. After that, they dive into work at 8 am and spend the first several hours responding to emails, updating bill documents, and researching laws and policies.
Every member is assigned a key issue (ex., parental rights or education policy) for the duration of the session and must read those specific bills that come through the search filters. The interns go through each bill with a fine-toothed comb as it is very easy to hide monumental changes in the hundreds of pages of “legalese.” The team will all together analyze thousands of bills during the session.
Soon the team will start attending meetings at the capitol. Meetings with different legislators and their staff are an excellent time to inform critical players on THSC’s stance on relevant bills, to promote THSC bills, and to discuss the possible impact of those bills.
The Watchmen meet with the specific staffers handling the issue that the team is tracking and always bring written materials (such as a one-pager) to explain their position.
Towards the latter part of the session season, the Watchmen will also attend committee hearings about any issues or bills they are monitoring. The team is responsible for testifying in support or opposition to proposed bills, coordinating witnesses for THSC’s bills, and listening to testimony on bills.
The Watchmen are in charge of finding and coordinating witnesses who will testify for or against different bills. You can be involved in hearings too! The Texas Legislature live streams almost every hearing for the public to watch. Head to capitol.texas.gov to check the schedule.
At the end of the workday, the team heads back to their home base for dinner and prepares to begin again the next day.
All this conveys just a general idea of how the Watchmen team fights for Texas families all session long. The team also does hundreds of things that will go unseen and unmentioned, but without them, THSC would not be able to have as significant an impact at the capitol Keeping Texas Families Free. Subscribe to our newsletter for legislative updates.
Ashlynn McFarland
Ashlynn McFarland is a K-12 homeschool graduate who served as the Marketing Intern for the THSC Watchmen during the last legislative session
