Module 2 · The weekly workflow · Lesson 6 of 13 · under a minute per bill
Set and manage bill stances
Anyone on the BMS team can see the current BMS position on any tracked bill, and where it came from, without asking you.
The BMS scenario
Someone asks where BMS stands on a bill. The answer should live on the bill, not in an email thread.
When to use it
At triage for every tracked bill, and again whenever an amendment changes the substance.
Why it matters
A stale or missing stance is the fastest way for BMS to say two different things in two different rooms. When a stance travels with the bill and carries its source, the team can answer a leadership question or a coalition ask without a scramble to find out 'what did we decide, and when.'
Before you start
- The agreed stance values — keep it to Support, Oppose, Monitor, and Neutral if you need it.
- Clarity on who is allowed to set a position versus who records one.
Field guide
- Stance / position field
- Restrict values to the agreed set (Support, Oppose, Monitor, Neutral) — free-text stances can't be filtered or reported on reliably.
- Decision note / comment field
- Always include who decided, when, and the forum (meeting, email thread) — this is what makes the stance defensible later, not just current.
- Stance-history or activity log (if visible on the record)
- Check it before assuming a stance is untouched; a bill can be updated by someone else on the team without you seeing it happen.
If your situation is different
- If you personally aren't authorized to set a formal BMS position, only to record it, record the decided stance and note who authorized it — don't set a position based on your own read of the bill.
- If the same bill is tracked across multiple states with a similar policy, confirm whether BMS's position is meant to be identical across states before copying a stance — state-specific context sometimes changes it.
- If a bill stalls for months with no activity, leave the stance as-is but note the date it was last confirmed, so a stale-but-correct stance isn't mistaken for an oversight.
Step by step
Steps describe the general Quorum workflow. What your seat shows depends on the BMS subscription — check with your Quorum admin if a control isn't there.
- 1
Open the bill profile and confirm the current version
Stances follow substance. Check you're reading the version that's actually moving before you record a position.
Do this in Quorum
- 1.1Open the bill profile from your sheet.
- 1.2Locate the position or stance field on the record.
- 1.3Set the stance that reflects the current agreed BMS view — not your personal read.
You know it worked when: The bill row shows a stance value, not a blank.
- 2
Set the stance value
Use the agreed values — for example Support, Oppose, Monitor, Neutral — and use them the same way in every state so sheets stay comparable.
Do this in Quorum
- 2.1Add a note with the reason and the source of the decision (meeting, date, who decided).
- 2.2Keep it to one or two sentences; the note is a breadcrumb, not a memo.
- 2.3Timestamp it implicitly by writing the decision date into the note text.
You know it worked when: The note names who decided and when.
- 3
Add the one-line reason and the owner
The reason is what makes the stance reusable: a colleague briefing a legislator needs the 'why', not just the label.
Do this in Quorum
- 3.1Revisit the stance whenever the bill's status changes — amendments change positions more often than introductions do.
- 3.2Update rather than duplicate; the history stays on the record.
- 3.3Re-confirm the stance with whoever owns the decision before changing it, not after.
You know it worked when: No tracked bill carries a stance older than its last amendment.
- 4
Revisit on amendment or committee action
When a bill is amended, re-read and update the stance in the same pass. A stale stance is worse than no stance.
Do this in Quorum
- 4.1Add the stance column to your sheet and dashboards so the position travels with the bill.
- 4.2Filter by stance before any leadership readout to catch stale or blank positions.
- 4.3Spot-check three older bills each month to confirm their stance still matches the current bill status.
You know it worked when: Your dashboard shows stance next to status.
Common mistakes
Setting a stance based on personal judgment rather than the agreed BMS position.
Fix: Confirm the decided position with whoever owns it before setting the field.
Leaving the stance unchanged after a major amendment.
Fix: Treat every amendment or status change as a trigger to re-check the stance, not just introduction.
Writing a note that summarizes the bill instead of the decision.
Fix: The note should say who decided, when, and why — not what the bill does.
Duplicating the stance in a new note instead of updating the existing field.
Fix: Update the stance field in place so the record shows one current position with history, not several conflicting ones.
Prompts to run in Quincy, inside Quorum
Quincy is the agentic layer in Quorum — it works on your live data. Copy a prompt into Quincy after you log in. If you want the steps explained first, ask the site guide.
- "Draft a one-sentence internal note explaining why we'd support this amended version."
- "List all my tracked bills where the stance hasn't been reviewed since the last status change."
Practice it now
- 1) Filter your sheet for blank stances and clear the list.
- 2) Pick three bills that moved last week and confirm their positions still hold.
Done looks like this
- Every tracked bill has a current, sourced stance.
- Nobody asks you by email what the BMS position is.
When to stop and ask
If you're unsure whether you have edit rights on the stance field, or the field only shows options that don't match your team's agreed values, confirm with a Quorum admin or the BMS account team (Michael Fuentes, michael.fuentes@quorum.us) before working around it with a note only.