How you track Virginia's bills got a $12 million upgrade

It just got easier to find the bills your lawmakers are considering.

The big picture: Virginia has something called the " Legislative Information System, " or LIS for short, that tracks proposed legislation.

• That includes the budget that your taxpayer dollars go toward and when the General Assembly is voting on certain bills.
• And it's how we were able to tell you about the odd bills of the 2024 session before it officially began.

Driving the news: Last month, the website received its first major update in 30 years — and it's apparently the "single-most comprehensive LIS in the country," per a report from Virginia's Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

• Building it over the past several years was a nearly $12 million effort that's expected to last until at least 2064.

What's next: Hunting through the bills that politicians will hear in January because they were carried over from the 2024 session, including one about studying the prevalence of microplastics in Virginia's public drinking water.