Select the first letter of the word from the list above to jump to appropriate
section
of the glossary. If the term you are looking for starts with a digit or symbol,
choose the
'#' link.
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Amend
To change the language of a bill, resolution or motion.
Amendment
A written proposal to
change the language of a bill or resolution, prepared by the Legislative
Commissioners'
Office. Each amendment is identified by an LCO number and given a letter
designation
(such as, House or Senate "A" ) by the presiding officer when formally
introduced on the floor. The letter designation is sometimes referred to
as a
"schedule", as in House amendment schedule "A".
Bill
A written proposal to change
existing law or enact a new law prepared by the Legislative Commissioners'
Office.
Bill Analysis
A description of the legal
effect of a bill in nonlegal language prepared by the Office of Legislative
Research.
Bill Number
The number given to each bill by the House
or Senate clerk when it is first introduced in a legislative session.
Senate bills
are numbered 1 to 4999; House bills are numbered 5000 and up.
Bill Status
The stage in the legislative process that a
bill has reached at a given time. A summary of a bill's status shows all
the action
taken on the bill up to the moment the status is requested.
Box
A motion for final action to defeat a
bill in committee. The term derives from the fact that defeated bills are
returned
to the committee's bill box until the end of the session.
Bulletin
Short for Legislative Bulletin.
The document showing the schedule for legislative sessions, committee meetings,
public
hearings and other events and containing notes of interest to legislators and
staff.
It is published daily when the General Assembly is in session.
Business On The Calendar
Bills awaiting action by the full
Senate or House.
Business On The Clerk's Desk
Various items requiring legislative
attention, such as agency reports, communications from the Governor and bills
requiring
purely procedural rather than substantive action, such as referral to
committee, reading
into the record, or printing for the calendar.
Calendar
The daily list of
bills awaiting action by the full Senate or House.
Calendar Number
The number each bill
receives when it is placed on the calendar for the first time. Bills are
numbered in
chronological order based on when they go onto the calendar. Thus, a low
calendar
number indicates a bill that has been awaiting action since early in session.
Cats And Dogs
Term used to refer to
appropriations or bond authorizations for local purposes advocated by
legislators on
behalf of particular constituents or groups.
Caucus
(1) A group of
legislators made up of all the members of a particular political party or a
group within a
party. (2) A private meeting of such a legislative group.
Chamber
(1) The room where the
House or the Senate meets. (2) The House or Senate itself.
Change of Reference
The action by which one
committee sends a bill to another committee.
Circle, The
The Senate. The name
comes from the arrangement of senators' seats.
Co-sponsor
To formally include
a legislator's name on the list of a bill's or amendment's introducers.
Committee Bill
A fully drafted bill
based on a proposed bill.
Committee, Joint Standing
A group of
designated senators and representatives with authority to raise and consider
legislative
proposals dealing with a subject area set forth in the Joint Rules.
Committee
members are appointed for a full two-year term. Joint standing committees
tend to
carry over from one biennium to the next.
Committee, Select
A group of designated
senators and representatives, similar to a joint standing committee but without
the
authority to report bills directly to the Senate or House.
Conference Committee
A committee of senators
and representatives appointed by the presiding officers of their respective
houses to
resolve conflicts when the Senate and House pass different versions of the same
bill.
The committee usually consists of three members from each house.
The report
of a committee of conference must be adopted by both houses without amendment
or the bill
fails.
Consent Calendar
A group of bills that
all members of a committee or house agree to pass without debate with one roll
call vote.
A single member may have a bill removed from the consent calendar merely
by asking.
Constitutional Amendment
A proposed change to the
state constitution adopted by a resolution and submitted to the voters.
If a
resolution containing the amendment passes by a three-fourths majority of each
house, the
proposed amendment appears on the ballot at the next state-wide election.
If the
resolution passes by a simple majority, it must be submitted to the next
General Assembly
and passed again before it can be submitted to the voters.
Conveyance Bill
A bill approving
the transfer of state property
DAS
Department of Administrative Services
DOA
Department of Agriculture
DOB
Department of Banking
DCF
Department of Children and Families
DCP
Department of Consumer Protection
DOC
Department of Correction
DECD
Department of Economic & Community
Development
DEP
Department of Environmental Protection
DOH
Department of Housing
DIT
Department of Information Technology
DMHAS
Department of Mental Health and
Addiction Services
DMR
Department of Mental Retardation
DMV
Department of Motor Vehicles
DPH
Department of Public Health
DPS
Department of
Public Safety
DPUC
Department of Public Utility Control
DPW
Department of Public Works
DRS
Department of Revenue Services
DSS
Department of Social Services
DOT
Department of Transportation
DVA
Department of Veterans' Affairs
SDE
Department of Education
Dead
As in the bill is dead". Means a bill is defeated or otherwise
removed from
consideration for the rest of the session.
Deficiency Bill
A bill making additional
appropriations to state agencies that need more funds to complete a fiscal year.
Disagreeing Action
A bill one house must consider for the
second time because the other house passed a different version of it.
Double-starred
A calendar designation indicating that a
bill is ready for floor debate.
Dummy Bill Or Dummy
A bill without much content raised or
reported out by a committee to meet a deadline specified in the rules in order
to allow
time to formulate and later substitute a more substantive bill.
ECERT
Short for emergency certification.
Effective Date
The date a bill becomes law. Unless
otherwise designated, all bills that amend the statutes are effective October 1
in the
year passed. All special acts are effective upon passage.
Emergency Certification
A procedure by which the speaker and
president pro tempore jointly propose a bill and send it directly to the House
or Senate
floor for action without any committee referrals or public hearings.
Enacting Clause
The standard language found at the
beginning of every bill: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives in
General Assembly convened". In resolutions, the enacting clause
reads:
"Resolved by this Assembly".
Engrossed Copy
The final printed version of an enacted
bill or resolution prepared by the Legislative Commissioners' Office.
Favorable Change of Reference
Action by which one committee refers a
bill to another committee with a recommendation favoring the bill's passage.
Favorable Report, Joint
Joint committee's recommendation to the
full General Assembly that it pass a bill (also known as a "JF").
File Copy
Printed version of bill ready for
consideration by the full House or Senate.
File Number
Number given to each bill reported out of a
committee and printed and ready for House or Senate action. If a new
version of a
bill is printed because of amendments by one house, it receives a new
file number.
Files are numbered from one, regardless of whether they are House or
Senate bills.
Filed with LCO
Bill status notation indicating that a
committee has sent a bill to the Legislative Commissioners' Office for
transmittal either
to another committee or the Senate or House floor.
Files, The
Compilation of all the file copies,
provided in binders on each member's desk.
Final Action
Any action that the General Assembly or one
of its committees takes to dispose of a bill or resolution for the remainder of
the
session.
Fiscal Analysis, Office Of or OFA
The nonpartisan staff office
responsible for assisting the legislature in its analysis of tax proposals, the
budget and
other fiscal issues.
Fiscal Note
Statement prepared by the Office of
Fiscal Analysis of the cost or savings resulting from a bill or amendment.
Required for every bill or amendment considered by the House or Senate.
Fiscal Year
The state's budget year which runs
from July 1 to June 30.
Floor
(1) The full Senate or House, as in
"sending a bill to the floor". (2) Also used to indicate who is
allowed to
speak at a particular time, as in "having the floor".
Foot Of The Calendar
A parliamentary device used in the
Senate to hold bills. The "foot of the calendar" is a special
category at
the end of the calendar. Bills may be placed or removed from the foot
only by a
special motion.
Full Draft
A bill written in statutory form ready
for action by a committee.
Go List
The list of bills on the
calendar that the House intends to take up on a particular session day.
Governor's Bills
Bills introduced by legislative leaders at
the request of the Governor.
House Bill
A bill introduced by a member of the House
of Representatives. House bills are numbered from 5001.
House Of Origin
The chamber where a bill is introduced
and which debates and votes on the bill first.
Immediate Transmittal
A motion to send a bill directly to
the other house or the Governor without allowing the normal time for possible
reconsideration.
In Concurrence
Motion to pass a bill in the
same form as already passed in the other chamber.
Interim
The period between regular sessions of
the General Assembly.
JF or Joint Favorable
Short for joint favorable report.
A joint committee's recommendation to the full General Assembly that it
pass a
bill.
JF Deadline
The date by which each committee must
report out bills or resolutions for further consideration by other committees
or the full
General Assembly. The committee deadlines are listed in the Joint Rules
and all
reports must be submitted to the Legislative Commissioners' Office by the dates
listed.
JF Report
A report compiled by the committee
clerk on a standard form for each favorably reported bill. Among other
things, the
JF report summarizes public hearing testimony and lists organizations that
support and
oppose the bill.
JFS or Joint Favorable Substitute
A committee motion to give a favorable
report to a new version of a particular bill.
Joint Unfavorable
A committee motion to report out a
bill with a recommendation that it not pass.
Journal
The official record of the events and
actions that occur in the Senate and House on each session day. There are
separate
journals for the Senate and House.
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LCO Number
A number assigned to each item drafted
in LCO. Each version of a bill and each amendment has a different LCO
number and the
number is usually used to differentiate among versions with the same bill
number or
amendments before they receive their letter designations.
Legislative Commissioners' Office or LCO
The nonpartisan office headed by the
Legislative Commissioners' consisting of all the LCO attorneys and their
support staff.
They provide bill drafting service and publish the annual public and
special acts
and the Connecticut General Statutes.
Legislative Guide
The handbook published annually by the
Legislative Management Committee that contains information concerning the
General
Assembly, including names, addresses, and telephone numbers of legislators;
committee
assignments; and legislative rules, guidelines and regulations.
Legislative History
The documentation of the process of
passing a law that includes public hearing testimony and floor debate.
Used when
researching legislative intent.
Legislative Intent
Used by courts to interpret statutes
when the actual wording of the law is ambiguous or unclear. It consists
of members'
statements made during debate on a bill. Sometimes members make
statements about a
bill's meaning during debate specifically to establish legislative intent.
Legislative Record Index
A book published annually by the House
and Senate clerks that shows action taken on each bill and resolution
introduced in the
General Assembly in the previous session.
Legislative Research, Office Of or OLR
A nonpartisan office providing
committee staffing, policy research, bill analyses and public act
summaries. Each
committee except Appropriations and Finance, Revenue and Bonding is assigned
its own OLR
researcher.
Lobbyist
Person required to register with the
Ethics Commission who spends or is paid at least $2,000 a year to influence
legislation.
Lobbyists are required to wear blue badges stating their names and whom
they
represent. They may not enter either chamber, the areas immediately
outside the
entrances to them or the Legislative Commissioners' Office.
Long Session
The regular five-month session of the
General Assembly held in each odd-numbered year.
Markings
A process used in the
Senate whereby, at the beginning of each session, the majority leader reads out
loud the
actions proposed to be taken on each bill on the calendar that day.
Comparable to
the House "Go List".
Matter Not Approved By LCO
A calendar designation indicating that
a committee has reported a bill favorably despite a finding by the Legislative
Commissioners' that it is unconstitutional or already law.
Matter Returned From Committee
A calendar designation for a bill that
was referred to a committee from the floor and reported back to the chamber.
Motion
A formal request for a particular
action.
New File
Substitute bill reported by a
committee after being referred from the floor. Such a bill is reprinted
and given a
new file number.
No Action
A method of defeating a bill in
committee that, unlike a motion to box, does not require a roll call vote.
OLR Report
(1) A research report written by the
staff of the Office of Legislative Research. (2) Another name for an OLR
bill
analysis.
On Consent
Refers to a bill being on the consent
calendar, as in "The bill is on consent".
Order Of The Day
The designation of a special time and
date for considering a particular bill. Bills that are the order of the
day are
taken up at the specified time and date regardless of their place on the
calendar.
The Appropriations Committee's budget bill is often the order of
the day.
Pass Retain (PR)
Short for "passed, retaining its
place on the calendar". The action of passing over a bill but
allowing it to
keep its position on the calendar relative to other bills. Bills not pass
retained
fall to the bottom of the calendar. In practice, PR'd bills are held
until the next
session day.
Pass Temporarily (PT)
To suspend consideration of a
particular bill for a short time, for example, to await an amendment or the
answer to a
question. PT'd bills are usually taken up later on the same day.
Personal Privilege, Point Of
A member's request for recognition to
make announcements, personal statements, or introductions.
Petition
A method by which a member can, by
collecting the requisite number of legislators' signatures, require a committee
either to
have a proposed bill fully drafted and hold a public hearing on it or to report
a bill to
the floor.
Photo-Offset
A copy of a proposed, raised or
committee bill distributed by a committee
Point Of Order
The parliamentary device used to
require a committee, the House, or the Senate to observe its own rules and
follow
established parliamentary practice. Points of order are raised by
individual members
and decided by the presiding officer. The presiding officer's decision
may be
overruled by a majority vote of the full body.
President
The presiding officer of the Senate,
usually the Lieutenant Governor.
Prevailing Side
The majority of the votes on a
particular measure. Only someone who voted on the prevailing side may
move for
reconsideration.
Proposed Bill Or PB
A simple statement of purpose bill in
nonstatutory language and introduced by an individual legislator at the
beginning of a
session, not fully drafted. In even-year sessions, the subjects of
proposed bills
are restricted to fiscal matters.
Public Act or PA
A bill passed by both chambers of the
legislature that amends the General Statutes.
Public Hearing or PH
A meeting
which
members of the public and representatives of state agencies have the
opportunity to
testify to a legislative committee on bills, resolutions or issues before
the
committee. Requirements for public hearings are set forth in the Joint
Rules.
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Raised Bill
A fully drafted bill introduced by a
committee that is not based on a proposed bill.
Readings
A technical term for three stages of a
bill's passage. The first reading is the initial committee referral, the
second
occurs when the bill is reported to the floor and tabled for the calendar and
printing,
and the third when the bill is debated and voted on. At none of these
stages is the
bill's text actually read aloud.
Recommit
The House or Senate's decision to return a
bill to a committee that previously reported it out. A bill that is
recommitted is
dead.
Refer
To send any item of legislative business to
a committee.
Refer From The Floor (Floor Referral)
Refer a bill or resolution to a committee
from the full House or Senate.
Regs Review
Short for the Legislative
Regulation Review Committee. The bipartisan committee that reviews and
approves all
state agency regulations.
Regular Session
One of the two annual sessions of the
General Assembly held in each biennium.
Regulation
A rule adopted by a state agency
to implement, interpret, or prescribe law or policy or describe its
procedure or
practice requirements. Agency regulations have the force of law,
must
be adopted according to procedures described in the law, and must be
approved by the
Legislative Regulation Review Committee.
Repeal
To revoke an existing law.
Repealer
The section of a bill, usually at the
end, that revokes one or more sections of existing law by listing only
their
statutory citations.
Reprint
To print a new file copy of a bill
after it has been amended by the other house or revised by a committee after
being
referred from the floor. Reprints receive new file numbers.
Normally, the
Senate reprints bills amended by the House but the House does not reprint bills
amended by
the Senate.
Resolution
A statement by the General Assembly that is
not a law. Used to approve nominations or labor contracts, place
constitutional
amendments on the ballot, or express the legislature's collective opinion.
Roll Call Vote
The record of the individual votes of each
member of the House or Senate or a committee on a particular question.
All House and
Senate roll call votes are printed in their respective journals. Any vote
that
constitutes final action on a bill must be taken by roll call.
Second
To endorse a motion made by another
member. Required for further consideration of the motion.
Senate Bill
A a bill introduced by an individual
senator or first filed with the Senate Clerk. Senate bills are numbered 1
through
4,999.
Session Day
A day when either house of the General
Assembly meets or holds a technical session.
Short Session
The three-month session held during
even-numbered years.
Sign-up Sheet
The place where those wishing to
testify at a public hearing write their names to determine the order of their
appearance
before the committee. There is usually a separate sign-up sheet for
legislators and
agency heads who wish to testify.
Sine Die
Latin for "without day", meaning
a final adjournment. A motion used to close an annual session of the
General
Assembly. It terminates all unfinished business.
Single-Starred
Calendar designation showing that a
bill awaiting action has been on the calendar for two of the required three
sessions days.
Speaker
The presiding officer of the House of
Representatives, elected by the members.
Special Act
A law that has a limited application or is
of limited duration, not incorporated into the Connecticut General Statutes.
Special Session
A meeting of the General Assembly
called for a particular purpose. A special session may be called by the
Governor or
by a majority of legislators.
Special Session Call
The announcement of the special session
giving its date, time and purpose.
Sponsor
The originator of a legislative
proposal, either a legislator or a committee.
Starred For Action
Another term for double-starred,
meaning an item has been on the calendar for the required three session days
and is ready
for action.
Statute
Another name for a law.
"The statutes" are the General Statutes of Connecticut.
Straight Change of Reference
The action by a committee to send an
item to another committee without a recommendation.
Subcommittee
A portion of a whole committee.
Usually refers to subgroups of the Appropriations and Finance, Revenue and
Bonding
committees.
Subject Matter Hearing
(1) A public hearing held by a committee on
a group of proposed bills all relating to the same subject. (2) A
committee
hearing on a particular subject to seek ideas for legislation.
Substitute Bill
An amended bill reported by a
committee. Indicated by a small "s" in front of its bill
number.
Tabled For The Calendar
The formal order for a bill reported out of
committee to be printed in the files and appear on the House or Senate
calendar.
This step also serves as the bill's second reading.
Tally Sheet
A written record of a roll call vote.
Task Force
A special group authorized to study a
particular issue and report back to the General Assembly. Its members
often include
legislators.
Technical Revisor's Bill
An annual bill to correct grammatical
or typographical errors in the statutes.
Technical Session
A brief formal convening of the House
or Senate held purely to advance bills on the calendar and make pro forma
referrals.
There is no debate or voting on bills. It usually lasts a few
minutes and
involves only two members and the clerk.
Trailer Session
Another name for the veto session.
Transcript
A written, word-for-word record of the
proceedings of a committee's public hearing, or the House or Senate
debates. No
transcripts are made of committee meetings.
Unfavorable Report
A recommendation from a committee that
a bill be defeated.
Upon Passage
Used as the effective date for certain
bills. Means the act takes effect the day the Governor signs it.
Validating Act
A special act that retroactively
legalizes a previous action or failure to act by the state, a local government
body, a
corporation, or anyone else.
Veto
The Governor's rejection of a bill.
A veto can be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the membership of each
house.
Veto Session
A special session of the General
Assembly held usually about six weeks after the regular session adjourns to
consider
whether to override gubernatorial vetoes.
Voice Vote
A vote taken by a call for Yeas and
Nays that does not require recording members' individual votes.
Usually used
to pass amendments and adopt motions. It cannot be used for taking final
action on a
bill.
Working Draft
A preliminary draft of a bill,
resolution, or an amendment. Often circulated to interested parties
before being
filed and still subject to revision. Stamped as such by the Legislative
Commissioners' Office.
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Revised:
May 16, 2006
Excerpts Taken from the
1995 Handbook of Legislative Terms and Acronyms.
Many
thanks to the Office of Legislative Research.
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