Washington State Legislative History

Cheryl Nyberg

Marian Gould Gallagher Law Library

University of Washington

Handout

In your handout packet

On the Gallagher Law Library website, http://lib.law.washington.edu/ref/washleghis.html

What Is Legislative History?

Chronological proceeding of a bill through legislative consideration

Documents created through the legislative process

Understanding the intent of the legislature in enacting the law

Important Considerations

Timeframe: mid-1970s to date

Internet access: 1997 to date

Limited number of useful documents

Research may not yield useful documents

Archival material available in Olympia

Know when to say when

Documents & Material

The billOriginal

Amendments

Final

Bill reports

Chronology

House and Senate journals

Debates recorded on audiotapes

Bill files at the State Archives or the committees

Video archives on TVW

Newspapers

Statute to Bill

Historical note indicating date of original enactment and subsequent amendment

Refers to the year, chapter number, and section of the chapter

Text of session law found in the Laws of Washington, chronological arrangement of laws enacted in Washington

RCW to Session Law

RCW to Session LawRCW 35.21.217Utility services -- Deposit -- Tenants' delinquencies

-- Lien.(1) Prior to furnishing utility services, a city or town

may require a deposit to guarantee payment for services. However, failure to require a deposit does not affect the validity of any lien authorized by RCW 35.21.290 or 35.67.200. A city or town may determine how to apply partial payments on past due accounts.

[1998 c 285 § 1.]

Session Law to Bill Number

Legislature’s homepage, http://www.leg.wa.gov/wsladm/default.htm Bill information, http://www.leg.wa.gov/wsladm/bills.cfm Bill information for 1997-1998, http://www.leg.wa.gov/wsladm/billinfo/bills97_98.html Chapter to bill table, http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/1997-98/chapter_to_bill_table.txt

Tips

Look at names of column headings to understand how the information is presented

Use browser’s Edit, Find on Page feature to quickly locate chapter number

Refer to bound volumes of the Laws of Washington for dates before 1997

Bill Information

Bill Info 1997-98

Chapter to Bill Table

ESHB?

For list of acronyms and explanations, see Key to Daily Status Report

Next, House Bill Information

Detailed Bill Info

Bill Documents

Bill to Legislative History

House bill informationSimple arrangement by groups of bill numbers

Several entries with mysterious names and abbreviations

history.txt = procedural history (Legislative Digest and History of Bills)

fbr, hbr, sbr = bill reports (Final Legislative Report)

date.txt = versions of bill

History

House Bill Report

Journals

Not available under Bill information

Use Legislature’s multi-database Search feature, http://search.leg.wa.gov/basic/textsearch/default.asp

Journal Search

Journal: “Debate Ensued”

Journal: Point of Inquiry

Documents & Material

The billOriginal

Amendments

Final

Bill reports

Chronology

House and Senate journals

Debates recorded on audiotapes

Bill files at the State Archives or the committees

Video archives on TVW

Newspapers

State Archives

TVW

Other Sources

Newspaper articles: interviews with and editorials by legislators

Law review articles (more likely for federal legislation than Washington State legislation)

Cases

Conclusion

What is legislative history?

What do you hope to find?

Often a long and winding road that leads to nowhere.

When should you stop?

Questions?