Adam R Brown

Most of you did well on the final. I'm a little stumped that a couple of you who had an average of 90+ before the final apparently blew it off, getting failing grades on the final that resulted in a lower grade for the course. Your choice, I guess.

Please don't ever, ever refer to the legislature as "Congress." Congress is in Washington DC. Utah has a legislature (with legislators serving in it), not a Congress with MCs ("members of Congress").

Some of you misunderstood part of the essay question. It asked you to point out the role of staff; you talked about the role of interns, but interns are not "staff" per se. "Staff" means LRGC and LFA (e.g. in drafting the bill and writing a fiscal note).

Anyway, I'll submit these grades to the university soon. But for now, they're on the site.

Yep, I've got a cold. Looks like most of you haven't taken the final yet. I hope you weren't planning to stop by today to ask questions, since I don't know how much I'll be there. I'll try for sure to be there from 9:30 until 1:00 or so. If I feel better I'll stay longer. I probably won't be on email except for when I'm in my office, so that's really your only guaranteed window to get help.

And the dayquil might make me loopy, so it's not my fault if I tell you absolutely incorrect information.

They're up. I'll discuss them and pass them back on January 4th when we meet for 399r. You're welcome to pick your paper up sooner if you wish.

According to the testing center, only 2 of you have taken the final so far. You're welcome to stop by and chat if you have any questions before taking it.

(1) The recording from Weds is up; (2) A draft syllabus for 399r is up, including key dates that should be on your calendar; (3) Newsflash: The church has expanded its threefold mission to include a fourth .

We will use it next semester in 399r, so don't sell it back yet. Wait until April to sell it back. Although, honestly, it was so cheap that you won't get much by selling it back anyway.

Behold: A final exam study guide. I suggest reading it through before you start studying and again before going to the testing center.

No recording yet, but I'll let you know when it's up.

Remember to do your course evaluations. I do read them carefully.

The speakers are Wade, the A.G.'s go-to guy for legislative action, and John, who also works with the legislators. Both have primary responsibilities elsewhere within the A.G.'s office but assist with working on legislation during the session (especially Wade). I'll leave their last names off to keep them out of Google, but you can ask me and I'll tell you.

Last week I had planned to discuss the Utah budget--the major issue of the coming legislative session. I may discuss some of that material this Weds, but I'll probably hold most of my budget discussion until 399r in January.

If appendix 1 in your assignment tonight looks flawless, I will raise your score on the last assignment (part 1 of the survey asst) to 90. Remember, all you need to look at in this assignment is questions 4, 6, and 7.

Tomorrow we will have two visitors in 297. They are not legislators; they are executive branch members who interact frequently with the legislature. Be prepared to ask relevant questions. You don't have to limit yourself to asking about Utah politics; you are welcome to ask about their career paths or whatnot if you see yourself working someday in state government.

Next week we will have another visitor--Jerry Howe, the LRGC staffer with responsibility over the internship program (among many other responsibilities). He's also the one who assigns you to specific legislators.

If you haven't responded to my previous post, please do so without delay.

Please read and respond to this without delay!

This Weds, I will give instructions for a short policy paper that will be due the following Weds. For reasons I will explain in class, I want 3-4 of you to write about each general policy area.

Please look at the table of contents for your Citizen's Guide to Utah State Government. Look at the titles of chapters 9 through 20. These are 12 policy areas that you can choose from.

Some time BEFORE noon on Wednesday, make a rank-ordered list of the 3 policy areas that you are most interested in. I will assign you a topic based on this list.

Don't send it to my usual email address; send it to policy297 at adambrown.info.

(Please don't send anything other than your three choices to that email address; anything you send there will be automatically shared with my TA.)

Once again, the audio recorder failed last week. Ugh. In lieu of a recording, you can use my lectures notes (not just the slides) to do your makeup. Click on the "lectures slides" link at right, and download the version that has "with all notes" in the filename.

Those lecture notes might be helpful to all of you as you prepare for the final, even if you were in attendance. Odds are good that they're much more detailed than the notes you took in class.

Two things in this post. (1) Feedback about part 1 of the survey asst, then (2) some assistance for part 2.

For the next skills assignment (part 2 of the survey analysis), pretend that half the questions on the survey don't exist.

The only questions you'll need to analyze are question 4 (ethics), question 6 (gay rights), and question 7 (texting). (If there are comments on the questionnaire, you should bring those into your memo as appropriate.)

Let's hope this change keeps this next assignment from being too burdensome.

Yep. The title says it all.

I hear that Google Docs only has 20 columns (labeled A through T), unlike Excel, which has infinite columns. Don't worry, you can get more columns.

To get one more column, place your cursor in column T, then click "Insert->Column Right." To get many more columns, highlight the 10 right-hand columns, then click "Insert->Column Right," and you'll get 10 brand new columns off to the right.

The recordings are up now. Part 1 covers everything up until Mike finished talking about the email assignment; part 2 starts after that. Near the end of the recording, you'll notice that we're watching video of some floor time. Those videos are here . We watched several; usually I announced which link I was clicking. (To get video and not just audio, click the "view" link off to the right of each link.)

I have decided to split the next skills assignment in two. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the assignment was way too long for one week. For next Wednesday, you will record the data in a Spreadsheet (using Google Docs) and calculate some basic statistics; you will not create charts or write up a report until the following class (after Thanksgiving).

The complete instructions for both assignments are now available in the syllabus. Please read the instructions carefully and follow them precisely. You also will need to watch some training videos that I have prepared.

Grades for your email assignment are online now. FYI, I'll be out tomorrow (Tues) from 1:30 to 3:30ish, so if you need to bring in your makeup assignment, avoid that window.

(1) When the syllabus says something like "Due: House leadership flashcards," that's just to help you pace yourself. I probably won't test you on the flashcards until the final exam, but by now you ought to have memorized the House and Senate leaders and you should be working on Senate committee chairs for next week.

(2) For those of you doing a makeup, the recording is up now. Please do the makeup before doing the next skills assignment, since I gave additional instructions in class for the next skills assignment.

You may check your grade on skills asst 1 online. To do so, log in (learn how), then come back to this page and look for the "Check grades" link off to the right. Your grade will be a score out of 12 (one point per question), converted to a percentage.

If you missed some or all of class last week, remember that your makeup assignment is due to me in person some time before we meet Wednesday. Please do not stop by during the final 45 minutes before class starts, as I will be frantically pulling my materials together and gulping down dinner.

Please consult with one another about the skills assignment due this Wednesday. Visit with me if you have questions.

Follow-up to my announcement from a couple minutes ago. In part 1 of the audio, you can skip straight to 6:50 or so.

Yes, there is a skills assignment again next week. There will be one every week. If the instructions are unclear, please ask for help. It looks like a few of you didn't ask for help on the last assignment when you should have.

You may download the recording of last night's class. Look in the right-hand sidebar of the course website for "lecture recordings," right under "lecture slides." Note that if you listen to the recordings in the (free) VLC media player, it's very easy to listen to it faster or slower.

If you missed all/part of class and need to do the makeup, please keep reading.

There are two audio files. Part 1 is very short. I turned off the recorder for an in-class activity. Part 2 picks up after the activity. As part of your makeup, you also need to do the in-class activity. So here are some instructions:

Listen to part 1, but only from 6:50 on. Before listening to part 2, go to the syllabus online and find yesterday's lecture (Oct 28th); click on "show resources." Read (skim) the five articles from the Salt Lake Tribune (SLT) and the one from Utah Policy Daily (UPD); you don't have to read the two at the bottom about gay rights. After reading these articles, listen to part 2.

Please follow the instructions in the syllabus as you do your makeup assignment.

Regarding #7 in the skills assignment: It's been pointed out to me that this information is apparently missing from this fiscal note. Weird. If you manage to find it, let me know so I can pass that on to the class.

Instead, let's change #7 to this: "Which fiscal analyst has responsibility for the subcommittee that heard this bill?"

Usually, the fiscal analyst's name would appear at the end of the fiscal note, as in this example from the 2009 session. But again, that's apparently missing from 2005's HB 213.

There are several items in this announcement. Most important: Yes, there is a skills assignment due next week. Look in the syllabus under Oct 28th for instructions. Other important items:

A handful of you have an unavoidable conflict that overlaps with class--e.g. PlSc 410. Please note that I do expect you to attend as much as possible. If your conflict ends at 6 (like 410 does), you should attend our class for the remaining hour. You would then do the make-up assignment described in the syllabus only for the first hour of class.

Normally I don't assign readings for the first day of class, but our accelerated second block schedule forces my hand.

After you purchase the Citizen's Guide in the bookstore, please read as much of you can of chapters 1, 2, 3, and 23. Check the online syllabus for a couple other (much shorter) readings for Wednesday. The two "reflections" readings were written by former interns and will be especially insightful.

Hello! If you're reading this, then it's a good bet that you will be an intern in the Utah legislature this winter. Our prep course, PlSc 297, starts this coming Wednesday (October 21st). As shown in the course schedule, we will meet in 346 MARB on Wednesdays from 5-7pm for the rest of the semester.

Please read through the PlSc 297 syllabus before coming to class. The reading schedule isn't in there yet, but everything else is.

A few of you have contacted me regarding unavoidable scheduling conflicts (e.g. PlSc 410, which meets at the same time as 297). You will find instructions in the syllabus.

I look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday!

Congratulations; you have successfully located the course website. You're off to a good start this semester! I will periodically post announcements to this site. The most recent announcement will always appear at the top.

Following is a list of key dates for the legislative internship. Please add them to your calendar and plan to be there. All these events are required. Contact me if there is a problem.

• Oct 21-Dec 9: PlSc 297 from 5-7pm on Wednesdays, 346 MARB.
• Dec 16: PlSc 297 final at 5:45pm, 346 MARB.
• January 4-8: PlSc 399r meets on MWF from 1-3pm in 793 SWKT. Plan to also spend roughly 20 hours of your own time on out-of-class assignments. This will be a VERY busy week.
• January 11-22: Be available. Your legislator(s) may want you to start working during this period. We will also schedule some preparatory briefings in SLC that you will need to attend.
• January 25-March 11: The legislative session. Be in the capitol all day, every day.
• March 16: Final PlSc 399r meeting from 12-1:30pm in 793 SWKT.
• March 26: PlSc 399r portfolio due.
• April 16: PlSc 399r term paper due.