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Searching for Bills

Semantic Search

BillBee provides powerful search tools to help you find Kansas legislation, including AI-powered semantic search that understands what you're looking for.

Semantic Search (AI-Powered)​

BillBee's default search uses AI to understand the meaning of your query, not just keywords.

How it works:

  • Enter a natural language query
  • AI finds bills matching your intent
  • Results ranked by relevance

Examples:

  • "bills affecting small business taxes" - Finds tax legislation impacting small businesses
  • "legislation about school funding" - Finds education budget bills
  • "environmental regulations for farmers" - Finds relevant agriculture/environment bills

Benefits:

  • Find bills even when you don't know exact terminology
  • Discover related legislation you might have missed
  • More intuitive than keyword matching

Full-Text Search (Paid Plans)​

Search the actual text of bills for specific terms and phrases.

How it works:

  • Enter exact keywords or phrases
  • Search matches bill text directly
  • Boolean operators supported

Examples:

  • "income tax credit" - Exact phrase match
  • property AND tax - Bills containing both terms
  • education NOT charter - Education bills excluding charter school references

When to use:

  • Looking for specific legal language
  • Searching for exact amounts or dates
  • Need precise terminology matches

Use the search bar to find bills by:

  • Keywords - Search bill titles and summaries
  • Bill number - Enter a specific bill number (e.g., "HB 2001", "SB 45")
  • Sponsor - Find bills by legislator name

Bill Number Patterns​

BillBee recognizes common bill number formats:

  • HB 2001 or HB2001 - House Bill
  • SB 123 or SB123 - Senate Bill
  • HR 6001 - House Resolution
  • SR 1801 - Senate Resolution

Advanced Filters​

Narrow your results with powerful filters:

Category Filter

By Chamber​

  • House bills (HB)
  • Senate bills (SB)
  • House resolutions (HR)
  • Senate resolutions (SR)
  • All chambers

By Status​

  • Introduced
  • In committee
  • Passed one chamber
  • Passed both chambers
  • Signed into law
  • Vetoed
  • Dead/failed

By Committee​

Filter to bills currently in or passed through specific committees.

By BeeScore​

Filter by impact level:

  • 🐝 Low impact
  • 🐝🐝 Medium impact
  • 🐝🐝🐝 High impact

BeeScore Filter

By Policy Category​

Browse 15 major policy areas:

  • 🌾 Agriculture
  • 💰 Budget & Appropriations
  • 🏢 Business & Commerce
  • ⚖️ Civil Rights
  • 🔒 Criminal Justice
  • 📚 Education
  • 🗳️ Elections & Government
  • 🌱 Energy & Environment
  • 🏥 Healthcare
  • 🏠 Housing
  • 🚧 Infrastructure
  • 🌲 Natural Resources
  • 🚔 Public Safety
  • 🤝 Social Services
  • 📊 Taxation

Each policy area contains multiple specific topics for more refined filtering.

By Date​

  • Introduction date range
  • Last action date range
  • Session/year

By Sponsor​

Find bills by specific legislators.

Search Tips​

  • Use natural language for semantic search: "help for homeless veterans"
  • Use quotes for exact phrases: "property tax exemption"
  • Combine filters to narrow results after searching
  • Save searches to quickly return to frequent queries (all plans)

Sorting Results​

Sort your search results by:

  • Relevance - Best matches first (default)
  • Date introduced - Newest or oldest first
  • Bill number - Numerical order
  • Title - Alphabetical
  • Status - By stage in the process
  • BeeScore - By impact level

Saving Searches​

All users can save searches (Free: 2, Citizen: 10, Professional: unlimited) for quick access and alerts.

Learn about saved searches

Next Steps​

Once you find a bill, learn how to track it.