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Ohio Legal Research Guide
Legislative History
Sometimes the meaning of a statute is unclear. The court must decide the "legislative intent" of the statute, ie. what the legislature intended the statute to mean. Legislative history documents may shed light on what the General Assembly intended when they passed legislation. Legislative history documents are materials issued when the bill is going through the legislative process. Courts may or may not rely upon the legislative history documents. In Ohio, legislative history documents are not "of record", unlike federal legislative history. The weight given by courts to various types of legislative history documents is discussed below. Types of legislative history documents (click on each one for more information):
Other materials which may help determine legislative intent:
Steps in Finding Legislative History:If enough information is compiled in the first steps, you do not need to proceed to subsequent steps: 1. Look at the Revised Code Section in Page's or Baldwin's. Note the "History" or "Credits" section underneath the text of the code section, in order to find prior versions of the code section. See How Do I ?: Find Prior Versions of a Statute. Additionally, the Revised Code may have reprints of committee comments, uncodified session law language or other language indicating intent underneath each code section. 2. Pull the session laws as indicated in the "History" or "Credits" to see what changes the legislature has made to the statutes. See How Do I ?: Find Prior Versions of a Statute. Additionally, see if the session laws contain uncodified language concerning intent. 3. Find as many legislative history documents as you can in your local law library and on the web: different versions of bills, LSC Analysis, House and Senate Journals, etc. If the legislation is 1989 or later, Ohio Capitol Connection is the best way to start. For bills 2005 and later, many documents are on Lexis (OHLH - Ohio Legislative Bill History). Westlaw (Ohio Legislative History, OH-LH) has various legislative history documents, coverage generally beginning in the early 2000s. 4. Look at news articles from Gongwer or Ohio Capitol Connection. These publishers issue articles concerning legislative actions and developments. 5. Look at treatises and law reviews, especially from around the time the legislation was passed. You may find an article or treatise section saying why the legislation was passed. 6. Contact the Ohio Historical Society for General Assembly Committee Files 614-297-2546. The Bill Files may contain transcripts of hearings, prepared statements by witnesses, reports, voting records and copies of bills. Ohio Historical Society librarians will search for you, for a fee. 7. For information about the current and immediately preceding General Assembly, call the Ohio Legislative Hotline, 1-800-282-0253 8. Try the Legislative Service Commission Library, 614-466-2241 for notes of hearings. 9. Contact the sponsor of the bills or the committee chairman
Session Laws:Session laws indicate what changes were made to prior statutes. The session law may contain language indicating legislative intent, such as the intent to refute the holding of a court case. These statements are usually in "uncodified" sections of the bill. For an explanation of uncodified bill sections, see Tools for Understanding a Bill, Chapter Six of A Guidebook for Ohio Legislators, Ohio Legislative Service Commission, 2007. Also see A Guide to Legislative History in Ohio, Ohio Legislative Service Commission's Members Only Brief, July 24, 1998, at page 7. The official source for session laws is: Laws of Ohio . KFO 25 .A23 [Ohio Room] vol. 1- (1803 -). Uncodified laws and laws vetoed by the governor are included. For more sources for session laws go to Ohio Legal Research Guide>Legislation>Session Laws. BillsPrior versions of the bill and amendments made to the bill during the legislative process may shed light on legislative intent. For bill sources, go to: Ohio Legal Research Guide>Legislation>Bills Debates and HearingsThe Ohio Channel contains video recordings of floor debates going back to 1997. Hearings and debates are not officially recorded. Testimony and Committee ReportsMay not be easy to come by, but here are some possibilities: (1) Ohio Capitol Connection (1989 forward) includes reporters' notes of Committee activity. Click on "Bill History". (2) Some testimony is filmed for inclusion with the LSC bill analyses, KFO 25 .A23 [Microforms Room, Drawer ZZ70] 1962-current. (3) Notes of hearings taken by Legislative Service Commission staff may include some testimony. These notes are available at the Legislative Service Commission Library, 614-466-2241. (4) Committee notebooks are available at the House and Senate clerk's office for the past 2 sessions. Older committee notebooks are at the Ohio Historical Society. (5)The Ohio Historical Society has General Assembly Committee Files, which may contain committee reports (6) Contact the committee chairperson House and Senate Journals
Bulletin of the General Assembly- Bill History InformationKFO18 .O44 (selected years available) A Bulletin is issued for each General Assembly Session. It contains bill history information, similar to the Status Report of Legislation found on each bill's page on the Ohio General Assembly's Search for Legislative Information. Bulletins include tables of affected Ohio Revised Code sections and a subject index to legislation. Bill history information can also be found on Ohio Capitol Connection, starting with bills introduced in 1989. Gongwer has bill history information from 2003 forward. The bill history information can be used to identify dates of legislative action, and find articles from those dates in Gongwer or Ohio Capital Connection. Digest of Enactments, previously called Summary of EnactmentsKFO15 .L42 107th(1967)-120th(1994) (Incomplete holdings) and 1996-current Also on the LSC Web site from 1997-2005 Synopsis of passed legislation, prepared by the Legislative Service Commission and based on the Legislative Service Commission's Final Analysis. The Supreme Court of Ohio has cited several digest entries as evidence of legislative intent, for example: Meeks v. Papadopulus (1980), 62 Ohio St.2d 187;State ex rel. Cincinnati Bell, Inc. v. Industrial Com. (1978), 55 Ohio St. 2d 89,92
Legislative Service Commission Analysis
When a bill is assigned to a committee, the Legislative Service Commission (LSC) prepares an analysis of the bill "as introduced". The LSC updates the analysis, and issues analysis "as reported by ______ committee" and a "final analysis". For earlier years, Ohio Capitol Connection only contains final analysis, not all the versions of the LSC Analysis. The microfilm generally has all available versions of the bill analysis. The LSC Analysis provides a summary of the bill, and how that bill would change current law. The analysis may identify problems with the bill, such as constitutionality or internal inconsistencies. It may or may not shed light on legislative intent. "As to the value of Legislative Service Commission analyses, we have observed: '* * * Although this court is not bound by such analyses, we may refer to them when we find them helpful and objective.'" State, Industrial Com. v. American Dynamic Agency, Inc., 70 Ohio St. 2d 41, 44 (Ohio 1982), quoting Meeks v. Papadopulus (1980), 62 Ohio St.2d 187, 191. Fiscal NotesFiscal notes state the monetary impact of the legislation on state and local government. Found in: Ohio Capitol Connection, 1989-current;Lexis OHLH - Ohio Legislative Bill History: bills 2005 and later or at the LSC's web site, since 1997. May be contained in Analyses [of bills of the Ohio General Assembly] KFO 20 .A53 [Microforms Room, Drawer ZZ70] 1962-current; Synopsis of Committee AmendmentsThe Legislative Service Commission summarizes amendments made by a committee of the second house. The legislators in the first house may review the synopsis when the bill returns for a concurrence vote. Floor amendments are not included, as these are contained in the House and Senate Journals.
Conference Committee SynopsisThe Conference Committee Synopsis is a summary of a conference committee report. The synopsis is prepared by the Legislative Service Commission.
Governor's Messages on LegislationWhen the governor signs or vetoes a bill, he may comment upon the legislation. Sources:
NewsThere are two newspapers which cover legislative news in Ohio:
Sue Altmeyer, Electronic Services Librarian, July 3, 2007
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