OLR staff write research reports to answer questions from members, analyze bills and amended bills, and summarize public acts. At your request, staff can also provide background materials from other sources, write questions for use at public hearings, attend meetings with lobbyists and constituents, and brief committees and committee caucuses on bills. OLR staff, as well as the staffs of LCO and OFA, also provide an institutional memory.

The Legislative Library provides legislative, legal and general research services, including legislative histories, journal and article searches, and historical research. The library staff collect and maintain a large collection of print and electronic documents and databases, such as board appointments and mandated reports. The library works with all non-partisan offices, individual legislators, political caucuses and joint committee offices.

We do not:

In addition to writing research reports to answer specific questions you might have, we can:

We conduct research on public policy issues and problems and options for addressing them. This type of research includes describing Connecticut programs and policies and comparing them to those in other states, describing federal and other states' policies and programs, analyzing court cases, providing policy options and the pros and cons of pending bills, and summarizing the history of legislation.

The Legislative Library provides legislative, legal and general research services, including legislative histories, journal and article searches, and historical research. The library staff collect and maintain a large collection of print and electronic documents and databases, such as board appointments and mandated reports. The library works with all non-partisan offices, individual legislators, political caucuses and joint committee offices.

OLR staff generally do not conduct empirical research, that is, we do not test hypotheses against evidence we collect from the field. Sometimes (when specifically asked and as time permits) we can conduct surveys to answer questions about current practices in the field. For example, how many school boards test athletes for drugs?

OLR staff do not do research in fiscal areas, that is the role of the Office of Fiscal Analysis. But we will do research that has a fiscal component if the bulk of the research deals with policy or programs. For example, describe Connecticut's health care programs for seniors and how much they cost last year. We will also collaborate with OFA analysts to produce a report that combines policy and fiscal research.

The Legislative Library provides legislative research services, including legislative histories, journal and article searches, and in-depth historical research. The library staff collect and maintain a large collection of print and electronic documents and databases, such as board appointments and mandated reports. The library works with all non-partisan offices, individual legislators, political caucuses and joint committee offices.

You can call (ext. 8400, or 860-240-8400), write a letter, or email the office or the particular staff member who covers the area in which you have a research request. Your staff can also contact OLR to ask a question for you.

We can best answer your question if you tell us exactly what you want. For example, don't ask for information on guns, ask for a report on the types of guns that are classified as assault weapons. Staff will help you frame your question so that you get the information you want.

Yes, after they are sent to the requestor, they are posted on the CGA intranet website for access by other members and staff and on Internet website for members of the public. They are also available in the Legislative Library under the same time frames.

The Legislative Library maintains a collection of OLR reports available in hard-copy back to the 1970s. In addition OLR reports from the 1980 through 1993 have been scanned into electronic format by Library staff.

A bill analysis is a comprehensive explanation of a bill's legal effects. OLR staff analyze each bill reported to the House or Senate floor by a joint or select committee, except for bills that originate in the Appropriations Committee. Staff also analyze all bills that are amended and sent to another chamber.

The bill analysis is written in lay language understandable to members who are unfamiliar with the bill or the bill's subject matter. It is not meant to be a substitute for reading the bill. An analysis generally contains a summary section highlighting the bill's principal legal effects, which is followed by a detailed explanation of all its substantive effects. Some analyses contain a background section that provides information, such as court cases or related state or federal laws, to help members better understand the bill. And some contain a "comment" section that points out problems in a bill's language, such as internal conflicts or conflicts with other laws.

The bill analysis appears at the end of the file copy following the fiscal note. It is available to members when the file is posted on the Internet.

During the last days of the session, bills move so rapidly that members sometimes lose track of specific items that are of interest to them. Bills on the calendar are merged; bills that never made it to the calendar are resurrected and substituted for file copies. Its's often a blur even to seasoned observers.

OLR, in consultation with LCO and OFA, publishes a document that tries to track where bills or concepts originally incorporated in bills that didn't pass on their own may have ended up. The "Bill Tracking Report" comes out within a few weeks after the session ends.

OLR produces several documents after each session to describe what laws the General Assembly passed. These documents are available in the Legislative Library: