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Frequently Asked Questions 1.
What is LCO? 1. What is LCO? LCO (the Legislative Commissioners' Office) is the nonpartisan office that serves as legal counsel to the members and committees of the Connecticut General Assembly. The attorneys in LCO draft the legislation considered by the Connecticut General Assembly in a manner that is clear, concise and constitutionally sound. The office publishes a variety of legislative documents, including the Connecticut Public and Special Acts and the General Statutes of Connecticut, and carries out other duties assigned by law to the Legislative Commissioners. 2. How is LCO organized? There are thirty-four permanent full-time employees,
including the Director, Assistant Director, attorneys and support staff.
See LCO Staff Directory. 3.
What does LCO do? ุ Serves legislators and other officials by drafting legislation that expresses legislative intent in clear, concise and constitutionally sound language, providing legal counsel, engaging in related legal research, publishing legislative documents and carrying out all other duties assigned by law to the Legislative Commissioners' Office. ุ Reviews all bills and resolutions favorably reported by legislative committees for statutory consistency, clarity and constitutionality before they are voted upon by the Connecticut General Assembly. ุ Prepares and prints file copies of each bill favorably reported by legislative committees and engrosses amendments into bills to create reprinted file copies and engrossed bills. ุ Prepares and certifies the accuracy of the final version of each bill known as the engrossed bill before it is signed by the Governor. ุ Provides other legal services to the Connecticut General Assembly including offering advice on statutes that govern the Connecticut General Assembly and advice on legislative rules and reviewing proposed regulations submitted by state agencies. ุ Indexes and publishes public acts and special acts of each session, codifies the public acts, prepares histories of each enactment, prepares annotations of court cases construing statutory language, revises the General Statutes of Connecticut, and biennially publishes the revised general statutes. 4. What are the
various types of bills the Connecticut General Assembly considers? ุ Proposed Bill a bill introduced by one or more members of the Connecticut General Assembly at the beginning of a legislative session that is stated in nonstatutory, nonlegal language setting forth the substance of the proposal and followed by a statement of purpose. In even-year sessions, the subjects of proposed bills are limited to fiscal and budgetary matters. Proposed bills are drafted by the Legislative Commissioners' Office at the request of any member or members of the Connecticut General Assembly. ุ Committee Bill a fully drafted bill based on a proposed bill and followed by a statement of purpose. A committee bill retains the bill number of the proposed bill on which it is based. ุ Raised Bill a fully drafted bill not based on a proposed bill. As with a committee bill, it is stated in formal, statutory language and includes a statement of purpose. A raised bill is introduced by a committee of the Connecticut General Assembly. ุ Favorable or Joint Favorable a fully drafted bill that, after a public hearing, has a joint committee's recommendation favoring the bill's passage. A favorable or joint favorable does not include a statement of purpose. ุ File or File Copy a printed version of a favorable or joint favorable that is recommended by a joint committee and is ready for consideration by the House of Representatives or the Senate. Each file or file copy bears a file number. Each such document includes a fiscal note prepared by the Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA), a bill analysis prepared by the Office of Legislative Research (OLR) and a report of the committee action. The file or file copy does not include a statement of purpose. ุ Emergency Certification or E-Cert a fully drafted bill jointly certified by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate to be of an emergency nature. that is referred directly to the House of Representatives or Senate floor for action without any joint committee referrals or public hearing. E-Cert bills do not include a statement of purpose. ุ Governor's Bill a fully drafted bill introduced by the legislative leaders at the request of the Governor. A Governor's bill is stated in formal, statutory language and includes the following statement of purpose: "To implement the Governor's budget recommendations". 5. Are conversations
between an LCO attorney and a legislator or member of a caucus strictly
confidential? Communications between LCO and legislators and caucuses concerning bills and amendments are strictly confidential and not disclosed by LCO without the consent of the sponsor unless required by law. 6.
The various steps from inception to enactment of a bill are outlined in the following links: (1) Process for a Bill to become Law, and (2) How a Bill Becomes a Law in Connecticut. 7.
Time frames are described in Procedures after Passage of a Bill by the Connecticut General Assembly. See Sec. II Time Frames. 8.
The home page for the Connecticut General Assembly has information on how to find legislators. On the CGA Home Page (Connecticut General Assembly Home Page) choose House or Senate, and then click on Find Your Legislator. Another way from the CGA Home Page is to click on Staff Offices, then choose either: ุ House Clerk's, followed by Members and then click on Find Your Representative, or ุ Senate Clerk's, then click on State Senators and Caucuses and afterward select Connecticut's State Senators. Specific contact information can be found on the website of individual members of the House of Representatives and Senate. 9. How do I check the status of a bill?
If you know the number of a
bill,
file,
calendar
or
public or special act
for the current session, bill information can be found by going to the
"Quick Search"
In addition, Search for Bills of Interest on About Latest Version of Bills has helpful hints on finding information on bills. Finally, other information on bills is available from the legislator or committee that introduced the bill10. Are the General Statutes of Connecticut available on line? Yes. On the CGA Home Page choose Statutes. 11.
You can find a Connecticut law by searching Public Acts, Special Acts and the General Statutes of Connecticut in the following link: Advanced Legislative Document Search. You can search Public Acts, Special Acts and the statutes by searching for text that contains a particular phrase or text that contains particular words. The home page for the Connecticut General Assembly has information on how to find current law and pending legislation. On the CGA Home Page choose Search and then click on Search Legislative Documents. 12. Who can introduce legislation and how do I write a bill? Only legislators and committees, andin the case of Governor's billsthe Governor (through legislative leaders) can introduce legislation. Members of the public may ask their state senator or state representative to introduce legislation. Many requests for legislation are made informally; i.e., a letter, a phone call or a meeting with a legislator addressing the problem or idea for improvement. To have the idea written up more formally and started in the legislative system, the legislator will generally turn to the Legislative Commissioners' Office, the Connecticut General Assembly's legislative drafting office. All official legislation is drafted by or processed through the Legislative Commissioners' Office. For more information, please see Guide To Drafting Legislation. 13. How can I purchase the General Statutes of Connecticut? You can purchase a copy of the General Statutes of Connecticut through the Secretary of the State. You may view price information, downloadable forms, telephone ordering instructions and in-person purchasing information at the Secretary of the State's website. CT Secretary of the State
Management & Support Services
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