What is legislative history and why is it important? What is included in the legislative records? Online Resources Resources at Montana Historical Society Research Center

 

What is legislative history and why is it important?

According to the State Law Library of Montana the term "legislative history" can mean two different things. First, "legislative history" refers to the chronological progress of a bill through the legislative process from its introduction to its enactment into law. In the legal field, however, "legislative history," also often refers to the collection of documents that are created during that process. Judges and attorneys often turn to these documents to try to determine why the legislature enacted a particular law or to aid in the interpretation of a portion of the law. This process of using legislative history to interpret a law is often referred to as finding the "legislative intent" behind the law"

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What is included in the legislative records?

The records are arranged alphabetically by committee name under the categories listed below. For each committee meeting there should be minutes, a record on any votes that occured, committee reports, and exhibits.

 

Regular Session:

Joint Subcommittees

Conference Committees

Free Conference Committees

House: Standing Committee

Select Committee

Bills

Joint Resolutions

Status Reports

Journal

Memorial Resolutions

Senate: Standing Committee

Select Committee

Bills

Joint Resolutions

Status Reports

Journal

Memorial Resolutions

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Online Resources

 

• State Law Library of Montana (http://courts.mt.gov/library/guides/leg_history.doc)
• Montana State Legislature (http://leg.mt.gov/css/research/laws.asp) contains information on all bills introduced by members of the state legislature from 1997-present, including the text of various versions of bills, information on upcoming hearings on bills, minutes of legislative committee hearings on bills, and audio files of selected hearings (2005 session only).
• Current Montana Code Annotated (http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/mca_toc/index.htm) collection of laws or statutes passed by the state legislature, arranged by topic. Montana Code Annotated is reprinted every 2 years (on odd years) after the legislature meets to incorporate changes to the laws made during the session.
• Constitutional and Statehood Resources (http://courts.mt.gov/library/mt_law.asp#constitutional)

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Resources at Montana Historical Society Research Center

 

Montana Historical Society holds Montana Legislative Territorial records from 1864 to 1889 and Montana State Legislative records from 1890 to current. The researcher must note that many of the territorial and early state records do not include House and Senate committee minutes.

 

Legislative records are all assigned an "LR-Terr" or "LR" number based upon the legislative assembly. For Example the 1999 session was the 56th Legislative Assembly, so its number is LR 56. All special sessions for a legislative assembly are included in the initial number. For example, the second special session that was held in May of 2000 is still part of LR 56 records.

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