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, such as legislative histories, journal and article searches, and historical research. The library also gives customized research trainings upon request for individuals and groups of staff. We collect print and electronic resources and maintain databases on subjects such as board appointments and mandated reports. The library assists legislators and legislative staff and is open to the public.

We do not:

1. conduct partisan research, such as tracing a member's voting record;
2. draft bills, although we will talk with you about language for bills and amendments (note: when it comes time to draft the bill, you must contact LCO);
3. estimate costs or revenues associated with a proposal or policy option (you should contact OFA for such estimates), although we will discuss with you fiscal information provided by OFA or other sources;
4. provide legal opinions (although our reports can cite legal opinions from other sources);
5. conduct research for the media or students' papers;
6. ask questions or give testimony at public hearings;
7. participate directly in floor debate (although we can help you prepare for it);
8. attend partisan press briefings or members' fundraisers.

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

1. verbally brief you on issues you want to learn about or compile information from a variety of sources on those issues;
2. brief you on the jurisdictions of the committees to which you've been assigned and the issues they will address;
3. draft questions for use at public hearings;
4. accompany you to meetings at the Capitol or LOB with constituents or lobbyists;
5. brief you on bills and amendments;

The Legislative Library can find Connecticut, other states', and federal legislation, regulations, and court cases; conduct historical research; obtain news articles, academic journal articles, and other publications; help you navigate the CGA website; compile legislative histories; and much more.

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 assists OLR analysts, legislators, and legislative staff by providing the law texts, secondary sources, data compilations, and other resources they need for their work.

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.

Yes, in a limited way. OLR staff can provide you (and through you, your constituent) with a basic understanding of the law or agency practice that relates to the problem, but we will not contact an agency on your constituent's behalf. For example, we can tell you how to appeal a Department of Public Health citation for violating a day care regulation, but we won't call the department to talk about your constituent's citation. We don't contact constituents to ask them to explain the problem; we depend on you and your staff to give us the relevant details.

An OLR research report is an individualized response to a legislator's question. Most reports are short (typically two to five pages). They state the question you asked and contain a brief summary answer followed by a more detailed explanation or analysis of the findings.

OLR only conducts research for the General Assembly's legislators, who can call (x8400), write a letter, or email the office or the particular staff member who covers the area in which they have a research request. A legislator's staff can also contact OLR to ask a question on their legislator's behalf.

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.

The timing depends on your needs. If you need the answer within a couple hours or days, we will provide you with the best response we can within your time frame. If your question is complex or you want a more comprehensive answer, we may ask for more time.

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 the internet website for members of the public.

The Legislative Library maintains a collection of hard copy OLR reports from the office's beginnings in the early 1970s to the present. Reports from 1994 to the present are available on the CGA website; the library can help you find them there.

We help committee leaders develop agendas for public hearings and committee meetings and screen bills before final action, attend public hearings, and answer members' questions at meetings. We can also brief the committee or its caucuses on issues or bills the committee is considering.

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. 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.

As mentioned above, OLR staff analyze all bills as they are reported to the floor and after they are amended and sent to another chamber. We will analyze a bill before it reaches the floor or an amendment before it is acted on if the language you want analyzed is publicly available or you give it to us. You can contact the appropriate OLR staff person who can either write an OLR report analyzing the bill or amendment or give you a brief verbal summary.

Contact the author or the office director, Steph D'Ambrose, as appropriate.

Several OLR staff members are always in the office when the House or Senate is in session. You can call us (x8400) from the floor or a caucus office or email us from your desk. Even if the specific staff member you want is not on duty that evening, one of our experienced personnel will be able to help you. You can reach the library at x8888 or email library@cga.ct.gov.

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 online and in the Legislative Library:

• A Major Public Acts (MPA) report is available shortly after the session's adjournment (sine die). It briefly summarizes the most controversial and far-reaching new laws.
• A series of topical "Acts Affecting" reports appear over the next few weeks. These briefly summarize (often in newsletter-like prose) new laws on particular topics such as children, education, business, and seniors.
• Our Public Act Summary Book, which is usually published in the fall, thoroughly analyzes all public acts the legislature passed. Individual summaries are usually available on the OLR website well before the book is produced.

The Legislative Library (x8888) can help you navigate the CGA website to find details on specific bills.

OLR can help you in several ways: we offer a blog, the OLReporter, which offers an RSS feed to current research subjects. We can also send you articles from various publications the Legislative Library receives. The Legislative Library can email you the tables of contents of specific periodicals it receives. Call or email the Legislative Library (x8888, library@cga.ct.gov) for details.

Yes, at the request of their legislative members, OLR will assist commissions and task forces. OLR staff can research topics, make presentations, line up speakers, and draft the commission's or task force's report for the members' approval.

The Legislative Library keeps a database of board, commission, and task force appointments made by legislative leaders, and tracks and collects these groups' reports.