The most important thing that I have learned this summer is the legislative process. I started out the summer by shadowing meetings with lobbyists to discuss language of bills, and from there I saw those amendments with my daily task of updating our office's bill tracking list. Through attending several utility committee hearings, I got to witness the bills our office has been working with be discussed and voted upon. From there, many bills were sent to appropriations. I never attended appropriation hearings, but through our email updates, I got to see some of those bills get sent to the floor and then to the Governor's desk. It has been a really interesting process to get exposed to; I never really had a sense of state politics until interning at a state office.
This experience has definitely made me more interested in a future in politics. This is not to say I would ever run for a legislative office, but the aspect of dealing with language particularly interests me. I find it completely fascinating how many ways different words can be interpreted and how particular words may make a huge difference in whether a bill be supported or opposed.
To all those soon to be interns out there -- don't be afraid to ask to shadow your supervisor's during their meetings. Although I was given a lot to read to give me a background of what our office does, shadowing meetings is where I learned the most.
The best part of my job was definitely getting to dip my hands in a little bit of everything that the office does. I had the oppurtunity to help staff a bill, do some research on different programs the the PUC regulates, update the office's bill tracking, etc. I feel as though I have a pretty good sense about the PUC and what the office does for the consumers.
I'm not sure if I would change anything; I feel as though this has been an amazing learning process and all of the things I know now required time for it all to really absorb.
Time sure does fly! We're almost done! :O
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