This site is an ongoing effort to contribute to the understanding, discussion, and flow of information around Alabama politics and policy. Toward that end, early in the legislative session I thought, “It seems like a little effort could make archived recordings of the House and Senate proceedings available to interested parties.”
I figured the occasional researcher might have interest. Perhaps a legislator who didn’t get to hear the discussion of his/her bill in the other chamber. A reporter now and then. I never figured there would be a stampede to the recordings, but I figured a few folks would be really glad to find them.
I didn’t announce the effort to make it happen early in the process because I knew there were a lot of issues to work out, technical hurdles, and we just weren’t sure how it would work out. I hated to announce it to find that we could not reliably make it happen.
Well, the effort might not have been as little as imagined, and truth be told, it was Walt who makes so many things happen around the Parlor who took the idea and ran with it. It was really quite an undertaking on Walt’s part, writing scripts, experimenting with different software, dealing with the headaches of power outages, and so on. But starting from Day 9 in the House and Day 10 in the Senate (the session is 30 days), we got most of the audio in both chambers.
So if you have curiosity to satiate, insomnia to cure, iPods to fill… heck, parts are mind-numbing enough that you could might could use them to extract a confession from someone… head on over to the 2009 Legislative Audio page and check it out.* House and Senate podcasts, if you will… no special equipment needed though.
LINK: 2009 Legislative Audio Page
More information is good.
*Do not operate heavy machinery under the influence of this audio. Excessive use or prolonged exposure may cause irritation. Repeated use may adversely affect mental health. If side-effects persist, consult a physician.
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