Tech-experts delay RTS system updates

Listen to this article

Staff at the Arizona Legislature delayed plans to update the much-maligned request-to-speak, or RTS, system this week due to technical issues. 

The system, which allows the public and Capitol watchers to weigh in on bills and track legislation, has been the subject of much criticism this year due to performance issues and lag. 

Mike Braun, executive director of the nonpartisan Legislative Council that administers the system, said the update is directly connected to “the unprecedented underperformance … that every legislator, staff person and member of the public has experienced this entire session.”  

“The one thing that’s uniting Arizona right now is everyone to a person is disgusted with the RTS system, and they all want it to be better,” Braun said.  

Braun said staff initially planned to roll out the update midday February 9, but pulled back due to conflicts with the scheduled committee meetings. They then attempted to deploy the update later that night but ran into issues they were unable to resolve. 

Staff is now working with the Legislature’s cloud platform provider to work through the problems, Braun said. 

Braun said the issues are likely due to the way the current RTS system was designed versus how it is now used, though he is not sure why problems became more severe and widespread this session.  

The system was originally created to replace the paper system under which committee chairs or vice chairs had to sometimes juggle dozens of piles of speaker cards for various bills before their committee.

“The one thing that’s uniting Arizona right now is everyone to a person is disgusted with the RTS system, and they all want it to be better.” 

Mike Braun, executive director of the nonpartisan Legislative Council that administers the RTS system 

“It was designed to be an efficient tool for whoever was running the meeting to efficiently run the meeting,” Braun said. “Of course, it has morphed way beyond that.” 

He said that under the current online system, anytime a user requests information about one bill, they’re actually downloading additional information they do not need, which clogs up the system.  

“The people who care about (HB2626) that want to load that RTS don’t get to just go in and load the house government RTS,” he said. “They have to load the RTS, that same pipeline to the cloud that you are trying to get a copy of a (SB1138) factsheet through.”  

The new RTS update will compartmentalize information so users only load the information they are looking for. Braun said the public, staff, legislators and media will still be able to access all the information they could under the old setup, but “you just might have to click on a different button to get it than you used to.” 

Prior to the delay, Braun said, “We’re going to get to shut everything down and bring it back up and pray to God it works, because if it doesn’t, I don’t know, when you call this number again, I’m sure you won’t get me,” Braun said. “And whoever takes my place, be merciful to them, because they will have inherited a real mess.”