1. Washington State Legislative History Cheryl Nyberg Marian Gould Gallagher Law Library University of Washington

2. Handout In your handout packet On the Gallagher Law Library website, http://lib.law.washington.edu/ref/washleghis.html http://lib.law.washington.edu/ref/washleghis.html

3. What Is Legislative History? Chronological proceeding of a bill through legislative consideration Documents created through the legislative process Understanding the intent of the legislature in enacting the law

4. Important Considerations Timeframe: mid-1970s to date Internet access: 1997 to date Limited number of useful documents Research may not yield useful documents Archival material available in Olympia Know when to say when

5. Documents & Material The bill Original Amendments Final Bill reports Chronology House and Senate journals Debates recorded on audiotapes Bill files at the State Archives or the committees Video archives on TVW Newspapers

6. Statute to Bill Historical note indicating date of original enactment and subsequent amendment Refers to the year, chapter number, and section of the chapter Text of session law found in the Laws of Washington, chronological arrangement of laws enacted in Washington

7. RCW to Session Law

8. RCW 35.21.217 Utility services -- Deposit -- Tenants' delinquencies - - Lien. (1) Prior to furnishing utility services, a city or town may require a deposit to guarantee payment for services. However, failure to require a deposit does not affect the validity of any lien authorized by RCW 35.21.290 or 35.67.200. A city or town may determine how to apply partial payments on past due accounts. [1998 c 285 § 1.]

10. Session Law to Bill Number Legislature’s homepage, http://www.leg.wa.gov/wsladm/default.htm http://www.leg.wa.gov/wsladm/default.htm Bill information, http://www.leg.wa.gov/wsladm/bills.cfm http://www.leg.wa.gov/wsladm/bills.cfm Bill information for 1997-1998, http://www.leg.wa.gov/wsladm/billinfo/bills97_98.html http://www.leg.wa.gov/wsladm/billinfo/bills97_98.html Chapter to bill table, http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/1997- 98/chapter_to_bill_table.txt http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/1997- 98/chapter_to_bill_table.txt

11. Tips Look at names of column headings to understand how the information is presented Use browser’s Edit, Find on Page feature to quickly locate chapter number Refer to bound volumes of the Laws of Washington for dates before 1997

12. Bill Information

13. Bill Info 1997-98

14. Chapter to Bill Table

15. ESHB? For list of acronyms and explanations, see Key to Daily Status Report Key to Daily Status Report Next, House Bill InformationHouse Bill Information

16. Detailed Bill Info

17. Bill Documents

18. Bill to Legislative History House bill information Simple arrangement by groups of bill numbers Several entries with mysterious names and abbreviations history.txt = procedural history (Legislative Digest and History of Bills) fbr, hbr, sbr = bill reports (Final Legislative Report) date.txt = versions of bill

19. History

20. House Bill Report

21. Journals Not available under Bill information Use Legislature’s multi-database Search feature, http://search.leg.wa.gov/basic/textsearch/def ault.asp http://search.leg.wa.gov/basic/textsearch/def ault.asp

22. Journal Search

23. Journal: “Debate Ensued”

24. Journal: Point of Inquiry

25. Documents & Material The bill Original Amendments Final Bill reports Chronology House and Senate journals Debates recorded on audiotapes Bill files at the State Archives or the committees Video archives on TVW Newspapers

26. State Archives

27. TVW

28. Other Sources Newspaper articles: interviews with and editorials by legislators Law review articles (more likely for federal legislation than Washington State legislation) Cases

29. Conclusion What is legislative history? What do you hope to find? Often a long and winding road that leads to nowhere. When should you stop?

30. Questions?