Illinois Legislative History
From Library Reference
Illinois Legislative History in the Cullom-Davis Library
Legislative history refers to the chronology of events, statements and documents occurring as a bill progresses towards becoming law. A statute's true intent may be discerned by studying remarks made by sponsor(s) of legislation as to intent in introducing a bill, or by examining the comments of other legislators as to their understanding of a bill's purpose.
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Find the Bill Number:
Legislation is assigned a bill number during consideration and before reaching Public Act status. If you have a citation for a bill number in the Illinois Compiled Statutes (REF.KFI.229.I44), go to the end of that statutory section, examine the history of enactments that created or amended the statute, and note the Public Act number(s).
Use the Public Act number(s) to find the text of the Public Act(s) in the Laws of Illinois (REF.KFI.1230). Public Acts are arranged chronologically; below the Public Act number and subject terms is the original bill number with its House or Senate Bill No. prefix. Look for a purpose or findings statement not included in the text of the statute. Bills are renumbered at the beginning of each General Assembly, so the number of the General Assembly is as important as the bill number itself. Some fiche are labeled by year rather than Assembly # so researchers should also note year.
Find the text of the House or Senate bill:
The texts of Illinois House and Senate bills are available in microfiche (Microforms-Non-Circulating-Reference Room-1st Floor), arranged by General Assembly numbers. In most cases headers on the top left corner of the fiche indicate the first and last bill number on each fiche. House bills on microfiche are numbered 136 (MFICHE 136), then arranged chronologically; Senate bills on microfiche are numbered 139 (MFICHE 139) , then arranged chronologically. Note any differences in the text of the Public Act and the original bill.
Illinois Senate and House bills from 1997-latest (90th-94th General Assemblies) are now searchable on the Illinois General Assembly web site. Current legislation is at: http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/default.asp. Previous General Assemblies are at: http://www.ilga.gov/PreviousGA.asp
Find amendments to the original bill:
Adopted and rejected amendments to the original bill may indicate legislative intent. The Legislative Synopsis and Digest (REF.J87.I3) is arranged by General Assembly and bill number. It provides: name(s) of sponsor(s), summary, dates of consideration in both chambers, date signed into law, Public Act number, and effective date. Amendments are printed in the Journal of the Illinois Senate (REF.J87.I3B, 1990-2001; earlier editions, MF 142 - Microforms-Non-Circulating-Reference Room-1st Floor) and the Journal of the Illinois House (REF.J87.I3C, 1990-2000; earlier editions, MF 138 - Microfilms-Non-Circulating-Reference Room-1st Floor) on the days on which the amendments were proposed.
Find similar bills:
Other bills introduced in the same or previous session may provide insight on the meaning of the bill you are researching. Review the legislative history of bills both enacted and not enacted by using the Legislative Synopsis and Digest (REF.J87.I3) subject index for the same or a previous session.
Find Debates:
Sponsors and legislators may comment on a bill during its second or third reading. Use the dates given in the Legislative Synopsis and Digest (REF.J87.I3), the Index to the Transcripts of the House Debates (REF.KFI.1210.H5 or MF 137 - Microfilms-Non-Circulating-Reference Room-1st Floor), or Index to the Transcripts of the Senate Debates (REF.KFI.1210.S4 or MF 140 - Microfilms-Non-Circulating-Reference Room-1st Floor) to read transcripts of what was said about the bill on the floor of the House and Senate. For some years you may need to convert a calendar day to a legislative day by consulting the conversion table in the back of the appropriate index volume. Finally, go the debates (Microfilms-Non-Circulating-Reference Room-1st Floor) to read the actual transcripts.
Study Committee actions:
Following introduction, a bill is referred to an appropriate committee, which recommends in the Journals whether or not the bill should be enacted. These reports are usually brief, but some contain useful information. Use the "Record of Bills" index in the last volume of the House and Senate Journals for the appropriate General Assembly date, and look under columns labeled "Report of Committee" and "Other Proceedings."
Conference Committee Reports (included with "Other Proceedings") explain differences between the House and Senate on specific language of a bill and attempt to reach a compromise. These reports may contain explanations of such differences and the reasoning behind the compromise language; however, many bills become laws without having gone through conference committee.
Since the mid-1970's House committee meetings have been recorded on audiotapes. Individual tapes may be ordered from the House Transcribing Clerk for $5 (217-782-8100). Include bill number and/or Public Act number and your address; the tape and the invoice will be mailed to you.
Other sources:
The Illinois Issues Roster of State Government Officials (REF.JK5730.I46) and the State of Illinois Telephone Directory (REF.JK5730.I44A) provide addresses and phone numbers for Illinois legislators, who may have retained valuable files describing passage of a bill. For ease of access the Illinois General Assembly Web site at http://www.ilga.gov/ may be preferable.
Someone else may already have researched the bill in question. Law review articles can be found in the Lexis-Nexis database, available electronically from the Cullom-Davis Library homepage at http://library.bradley.edu. Also look for law review citations in the annotated version of Illinois Compiled Statutes (REF.KFI1229.I44).
Illinois House
Illinois. General Assembly. House of Representatives.[Bills Introduced in the House of the Illinois General Assembly].Location: Microforms - Reference Room - 1st Floor, Call Number: MFICHE. 136
Illinois. General Assembly. House of Representatives. [Debates], Location: Microforms - Reference Room - 1st Floor, Call Number: MFICHE. 137
Illinois. General Assembly. House of Representatives. [Enrolled And Engrossed House Bills] Location: Microforms - Reference Room - 1st Floor, Call Number: MFICHE. 277
Illinois. General Assembly. Final Legislative Synopsis And Digest Of The General Assembly, State Of Illinois. Location: Microforms - Reference Room - 1st Floor, Call Number: MFICHE. 286
Illinois. General Assembly. House of Representatives. Index to Debates. Location: Microforms - Reference Room - 1st Floor, Call Number: MFICHE. 137 INDEX
Illinois. General Assembly. House of Representatives. Index To The Transcripts Of The House Debates Of The General Assembly. Location: Reference Collection - 1st Floor, Call Number: REF. KFI1210 .H5
Illinois. General Assembly. House of Representatives. Journal. Location: Reference Collection, 1st Floor & .General Collection - Basement, Call Number: J87 .I3C
Illinois. General Assembly. House of Representatives. Journal of the House of Representatives. Index. Location: Microforms - Reference Room - 1st Floor, Call Number: MFICHE. 138
Illinois. General Assembly. Legislative Synopsis And Digest General Assembly, State Of Illinois. Location: Reference Collection - 1st Floor, Call Number: REF. J87 .I3
Master Transcript Index, House Of Representatives / Illinois General Assembly, Legislative Information System. Location: Microforms - Reference Room - 1st Floor, Call Number: MFICHE. 289
Illinois Senate
Illinois. General Assembly. Senate. [Bills introduced in the Senate of the Illinois General Assembly], Location: Microforms, Reference Room - 1st Floor, Call Number: MFICHE. 139
Illinois. General Assembly. Senate. [Debates], Location: Microforms, Reference Room - 1st Floor, Call Number: MFICHE. 140
Illinois. General Assembly. Senate. [Enrolled and engrossed Senate bills] Location: Microforms, Reference Room - 1st Floor, Call Number: MFICHE. 276
Illinois. General Assembly. Final legislative synopsis and digest of the General Assembly, State of Illinois, Location: Microforms, Reference Room - 1st Floor, Call Number: MFICHE. 286
Index to the transcripts of the Senate debates of the General Assembly, State of Illinois. Reference Collection - - 1st Floor, Call Number: REF. KFI1210 .S4
Illinois. General Assembly. Senate. Journal of the Senate. Location: Reference Collection 1st Floor, Call Number: REF. J87 .I3B
Journal of the Senate. Index, Location: Microforms - - Reference Room - 1st Floor, Call Number: MFICHE. 142 INDEX
Illinois. General Assembly. Senate. Journal of the Senate, Location: Microforms - Reference Room - 1st Floor, Call Number: MFICHE. 142
Illinois. General Assembly. Legislative synopsis and digest General Assembly, State of Illinois. Location: Reference Collection - 1st Floor, Call Number: 'REF. J87 .I3
Illinois. Reports made to the General Assembly of the State of Illinois, Location: Microforms - Reference Room - 1st Floor, Call Number: MFICHE. 278
Illinois. Reports made to the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Illinois Location: Microforms - Reference Room - 1st Floor, Call Number: MFICHE. 278
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