When a statute is vaguely worded or key statutory terms are undefined, attorneys and others try to determine exactly what the General Assembly intended the law to mean by investigating the legislative history of the law. The records of the legislative process may contain remarks by the sponsor(s) of the legislation as to their intent in introducing the bill and the comments of other legislators regarding their understanding of the bill's purpose. Researchers of Illinois legislative intent are cautioned that it may not be possible to locate clear statements in the materials described in this guide because legislators frequently do not explain their intent or understanding in published sources.
Legislative history refers both to the chronology of events that take place as a bill goes through the legislative process and the statements and documents generated during that process. This page discusses the steps in researching an Illinois legislative history.
To compile a legislative history for Illinois legislation you must follow a multi-step process. You must:
It is important to note that a full legislative history can only be completed if the bill was introduced after October 1971. Prior to that, transcripts of debates were not produced. These debates are vital to a full legislative history.
Public Act (P.A.) numbers can generally be found after the text of the statute itself. It will typically look like this: "Source: P.A. XXXX." If the statute has been amended, the P.A. that contains that amendment will be listed. These will be listed in chronological order.
You will need to locate the P.A. in order to find the bill number. The bill is the key to legislative history research, since legislation is assigned a bill number during its legislative consideration and before it achieves P.A. status. In addition to providing the bill number, the P.A. may contain a purpose or findings statement that was not included in the text of the statute.
The bill number will lead you to the actual history of the P.A.: which chamber of the government first proposed it, dates of readings or debates, and dates of concurrences or passages.
After finding the bill number, use either the General Assembly print book or ilga.gov to find important dates for the bill. These can include first and second readings (the first reading often does not contain any actual debate), recalls, concurrences, and bill passage. Mark or write down these dates, then go to ilga.gov .
Following introduction, bills are referred to a committee based on the subject of the bill. The committee recommends to the full chamber whether or not the bill should be enacted. These committee reports appear in the Journal of the Senate and the Journal of the House of Representatives:
Most reports are noteworthy only for their brevity and lack of substantive comment. Some do contain more useful information, however, and for this reason they should be reviewed. Use the Record of Bills index in the last volume of both the House and Senate Journals for the appropriate General Assembly; look under the columns labeled "Report of Committee" and "Other Proceedings."
Conference committee reports (included with "Other Proceedings") are usually more valuable sources for determining legislative intent than committee reports from either chamber. When the House and Senate cannot agree on specific language in a bill, the conference committee attempts to reconcile the differences. The conference report then may contain explanations of these differences and reasoning behind the compromise language. Many bills become law without having gone through a conference committee, however.
Since the mid-1970's, House committee meetings have been recorded on audiotapes. The Law Library does not have a collection of these tapes but individual tapes may be ordered from the House Transcribing Clerk for a fee (217-782-8100). You may place an order by phone (provide the bill number and/or Public Act number) and your address; the tape and the invoice will be mailed to you.
The Governor may influence how a law is implemented and perceived through the use of an approval statement, amendatory veto, or veto message. These messages and statements appear in the Laws of Illinois (before the text of the Public Act) or in the Journals (look under "Governor" in the "Index of Subjects"). Thorough researchers should check both the session laws and the journals. Gubernatorial vetoes of bills that are not overridden by the General Assembly may be informative if a similar bill is introduced in the following session.
If the official sources described above are inconclusive or insufficient,you may find secondary sources useful. Caution should be used in relying on these unofficial sources, since the courts may not find them authoritative.
Legislative Sponsors. Legislators may retain files that contains letters, memos, and other documents describing the passage of a bill. Consult the State of Illinois Telephone Directory or the State Executive Directory for phone numbers.
Law Review Articles. Someone else may already have done the research on the bill in question. Look for law review citations in the annotated versions of the Illinois Compiled Statutes by West and Michie or on Legal-Trac under the name of the statute.
Newspapers. The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin are the most likely newspaper sources of legislative intent information. An index to and backfiles of the Tribune are located in the Newspaper Library (located in the tunnel between the Undergrad Library and the Main Library basement). The Legal-Trac CD indexes the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and the Law Library has backfiles on microfilm.
Illinois State Archives. Although the odds are slim of finding substantive legislative history information here, you may wish to contact the Illinois State Archives staff if your research has thus far been in vain. Submit your request by phone (217-782-4866) or mail (Illinois State Archives, Reference Services, Archives Building, Springfield, 62756) and provide the Public Act number. This a free service. For more information on the Archives, see the official site below.
