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Legislators aren’t wasting any time. As of Friday, both chambers have collectively passed, heard or scheduled hearings for over 1,000 bills.

But with so many bills already on the move, how can you keep track of what’s important to you?

If you have a specific bill you’re following, it’s simple. You can just sign up on the to receive alerts for one or more bills that are important to you. But, if you’re generally curious about a topic or constituency, getting involved in a caucus or is a good way to get acquainted with the legislative priorities of specific interest groups or political parties.

First, let’s be clear about what we’re talking about. The word caucus comes up often, especially in an election year. It can be a noun referring to a meeting or a group of people or a verb referring to a discussion or decision-making activity. Here, I’m using caucus to refer to a group of people who share a common interest or characteristic.

In the Legislature, caucuses are organized around ideology, party affiliation, identity groups, and issues amongst other factors. In addition to the partisan Majority and Minority caucuses, Hawaii legislators have caucuses that focus on the environment, equality, kupuna, keiki, Native Hawaiian affairs, women, aviation and more.

Every year, legislative caucuses propose a unified collection of bills related to their interests. These caucus packages leverage the collective power of the caucus’ individual members to advance legislation, raise awareness, generate media interest and organize advocates.

In return, caucuses offer members a way to amplify their own voices, gain support for their bills and, frankly, being a member of a group like the “Kupuna Caucus” or “Keiki Caucus” looks pretty good on a district mailer.

Other than the Democratic and Republican caucuses, legislative caucuses are open to all legislators, and most of them include members from both parties. So, while this year’s bipartisan is impressive and important, it’s not quite as historic as some legislators have suggested. Nearly all topical legislative packages are bipartisan.

The collaborative nature of legislative caucuses makes them a nice entry point for getting involved. For new legislators or those with less influence, caucuses provide an opportunity to join key legislation that’s important to your community.

For example, the Kupuna Caucus is much more likely than a freshman member or a Republican to pass increased funding for a fall prevention program. So, if those members want their names on a fall prevention funding bill, they would be better off signing a Kupuna Caucus measure already in the works.

For advocates and community members, caucuses collect the members who share your passion or interest in one place, making it easier to figure out how to advance legislation that’s important to you.

But, in the middle of the legislative session, picking up a phone and asking how to push your own bill idea won’t get you very far. Packages for this session have already been introduced so your best chance to get involved is to for bills that you support and help caucus members by submitting favorable testimony when those bills come up for a hearing.

After the session, you can contact caucus members who you think might be interested in advancing a specific proposal or simply ask if you can join their next public meeting to see how you can help support the caucus’ priorities.

Like all legislation, most caucus bills are crafted in the summer or fall, so caucus members and, in many cases, like-minded advocates will meet to start brainstorming ideas long before the session begins.

If you’re a registered Democrat, the process might be even easier. While legislative caucuses are bipartisan, many of them mirror the caucuses within the Democratic Party of Hawaii, which organizes caucuses on education, environment, Hawaiian affairs, kupuna, labor, LGBTQIA+, veterans and women.

The more active caucuses, like the Women’s Caucus and the Stonewall Caucus (LGBTQIA+), will meet throughout the year and develop their own policy agenda to advocate for during the legislative session.  

In my personal experience, these caucuses are the heart of the Democratic Party in Hawaii, helping to root Democratic legislators in both party values and local issues.

The Democratic Party’s caucus chairs are immersed in the issues that fall within their caucus’ mission and know how those issues are impacting their communities, which allows them to act as an additional conduit between legislators and the public. They’re also frequent testifiers in legislative hearings and know the inner workings of the process well.

Democratic party members can join the party’s caucuses listed and get connected to experienced advocates who know how to get their key issues in front of legislators. To my knowledge, Hawaii Republicans don’t have anything that compares. But that’s a topic for next time.

For now, if you’re an independent or a Republican, I recommend supporting legislation authored by the legislative caucus you’re interested in working with as it moves through the legislative session. After the session, contact the sponsors of those bills and ask how you can participate. 

Democrats can take that route or get started by reaching out to the Democratic Party caucuses that mirror the legislative caucuses you want to get involved in.