Legislature. House of Representatives

Working bills, i 1896-

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Schedule Description

This series documents the legislative process in the House of Representatives. The series contains the working copies of House bills, claims (through 1915), petitions (until 1921), memorials, fiscal reports of state agencies (1897 only), and resolutions. The working copy includes the bill as introduced and any amendments made to it; the bill's progress through committees and votes is logged at the end of the bill. The final official version of the bill is not part of this series unless it was vetoed by the Governor, returned to the Legislature while still in session, and the Legislature failed to override the veto. Bill, in the broad sense, refers to bills, resolutions, memorials, etc. In the narrow sense they are those documents a member of the Legislature desires to have made into a Utah law. Claims to the state were for money due an individual or group. Memorials are pleadings for federal action, usually made to the U. S. Congress. Resolutions are position statements which do not

have the weight of law. Petitions were initiated by citizens desiring the introduction of particular legislation.

Scope and Content

Bill, in the broad sense, refers to bills, resolutions, memorials, etc. In the narrow sense, bills consist of those documents which a member of the Legislature desires to have made into a Utah law. A bill normally consists of at least its designated number, a title, an enacting clause, and the main text. Sponsor name(s) appear on the face of the bill. House bills are introduced on the floor of the House and go through three readings before passage. In the process they are referred to one or more committees. The committee reports back with the recommendation that the bill be passed, amended, or rejected. A bill may also be amended on the floor at certain stages. If the bill passes the House after a third reading, it goes to the Senate where it goes through a similar procedure before returning to the House for acceptance of any amendments and is sent to the Governor. All these actions, with the dates taken, are logged on the back of the bill. From the turn of the century through 1994, the backing sheets on the bills were blue, leading to the nickname "blue backs." By the 1995 session, larger blue backing sheets were no longer used, but the actions were simply logged on the last sheet of paper.

Amendments were originally made on the face of the bill. For a few years at the turn of the century, House amendments were made in purple ink. By 1919 amendments accepted by the House were made in red ink and those of the Senate in blue. By the late 1970s, this color coding had expanded into different colors of paper inserted in the proper place or tacked to the top of the original bill: white for the introduced bill, pink for a representative's introduced amendment, buff (later tan) for a senator's introduced amendment, goldenrod for amendments accepted by the Senate, cherry (later lilac) for amendments accepted by the House. Substitute bills were initially introduced under a new bill number, or replaced the first bill, but later these too were color coded, with House substitute bills printed on grey paper (later buff) and Senate on light green. Final copies are blue for House bills or yellow for Senate. Copies of the finals may or may not be attached to the working bill. Particular color designations vary from year to year.

Occasionally, in the first few years of the series, committee reports attached to the bill specify the reasons the committee proposed passage or rejection of the bill. Minority reports may be included as well. More commonly there is simply a letter of transmittal with a statement favoring passage, favoring rejection, or no comment. Striking of the enacting clause is equivalent to rejection.

The procedures for introducing a bill, referring it to committee, amending it, and voting on it changed over time. At first the Legislature acted as a whole or referred bills to the appropriate standing committee. By 1935 the House automatically began referring a bill to the Rules or Reference Committee before sending the bill to any other standing committee. Starting in the 1960s, bills could be filed shortly before the start of the session. By the late 1960s other copies were sent for calculation of the fiscal impact and perhaps legal and technical corrections; this commentary was attached to the bill but not an official part of it. Procedures for analyzing bills changed widely over the years, basically moving from everything being done by the House or Legislature at large to being referred to more specialized committees or administrative staff, such as the Rules Committee, the Legislative Fiscal Analysts Office, and the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel.

In the case of a bill vetoed by the Governor and returned to the Legislature, a letter outlining his objections accompanies the bill. If the bill is not overridden, it remains in the House where it is filed.

Claims for money due an individual or group were occasionally numbered and treated as a bill in the first two decades of the series. By 1905, they automatically were sent to the Board of Examiners after the first reading. The Board might then return it to the House for consideration for an appropriation. Starting in 1917, any claim went directly to the Board of Examiners although an individual could still appeal a rejected claim to the Legislature.

Concurrent memorials are pleadings, usually to the U.S. Congress, for a particular action. Until 1921 the rules defining "concurrent" are nonexistent or vague. The original phrase for "concurrent" is passed by the House "with the Senate concurring;" the Governor might or might not sign. Since 1921 the term has meant any action passed by the full Legislature with the Governor concurring. Concurrent memorials fell into disuse after the 1940s and were dropped from the rules entirely by the late 1970s, their function being assumed by concurrent resolutions.

Concurrent resolutions are position statements which do not have the weight of law. They are acted upon by both House and Senate in the same manor as a bill. These too went through the same confusion of terms "joint" versus "concurrent." In 1919 the definition was formalized and stated that a "concurrent resolution" was any resolution not dealing with the federal government. In 1921 it became a resolution requiring approval of both houses of the Legislature plus the Governor's signature.

Enabling resolutions were introduced in 1972 following a constitutional amendment. The enabling resolution authorized the introduction and consideration during a budget session (held in even years) of a bill or resolution which did not pertain to budget matters. These were dropped in 1986 when the Legislature moved from even-year budget sessions to annual general sessions.

Joint memorials also usually are pleadings to the U.S. Congress for a particular action. They too are acted upon by both the House and Senate in the same manor as a bill and since 1921 have required action by both houses of the Legislature but not by the Governor. They also dropped into disuse, and their function was assumed by joint resolutions.

Joint resolutions were defined in 1919 as any resolution dealing with the federal government. In 1921 joint resolutions were defined as position statements requiring the action of both the House and Senate but not the Governor.

Memorials occur less commonly. The 1905 memorial is equivalent to a petition where citizens have memorialized the Legislature to take a particular action. Normally a memorial was again a pleading to the U.S. Congress. In practice it needed only to pass the House and be signed by the clerk and Speaker of the House. These too went out of favor and were replaced by resolutions.

Petitions were initiated by citizens desiring that the Legislature introduce particular legislation. They were numbered and referred to committee. If rejected by committee, they were usually filed under petition number. If accepted, the committee might draft a bill; in that case, the petition was either filed under its own number or attached to the bill. When petitions became frequent, they were less formally treated, usually becoming part of the administrative records or the records of an individual representative rather than numbered and treated as a bill. After 1921 they are rarely included in this series.

House resolutions are adopted only by that body, and do not have to pass the Senate or Governor. Although that definition was not incorporated in the rules until 1979, that appears to have been the procedure from the beginning. The House uses simple resolutions to initiate a particular action in that body (e.g. change rules, form a committee, request a report from an agency, etc.) or to make a position statement of its own accord; get well wishes and congratulatory statements are often included here.

Reports appear integrated with the alphanumeric system of the bills only in 1897. They include fiscal reports of state agencies, usually asking additional monies and reports of the Board of Examiners discussing how various claims were treated.

Notes

Microfiche holdings require staff assistance due to fewer reference copies. Handle masters under supervision.

File arrangement reflects current House procedure. Earlier arrangement was sometimes by number; sometimes by passed, failed, and stricken; and sometimes random. This was changed to make the filing consistent throughout.

Numerous individual bills are missing--too many to enumerate, particularly in the early years. In some instances, missing bills are misnumbered bills reflecting a clerical error or a change in category, say from a concurrent resolution to a resolution. In some cases, only a letter of transmittal is present. All of 1976 is missing.

File arrangement was made consistent throughout. During early years other records were sometimes filed with the bills; these have been separated. Arrangement and processing completed in 1993 by A. C. Cone, updated thereafter. The series was initially scheduled in 1990 to be retained in the State Records Center for three years before transfer to the Archives; by 2000, the bills were being transferred directly to the Archives from the office after 6 months. Because of the color coding of amendments, it was impracticable to microfilm the series.

Microfiche processed by Rebekkah Shaw under the National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant to the Utah State Archives and Records Services for the Utah Microfiche Backlog Project (Grant No.: NAR10-RB-50086-10). July 2010 - December 2011