§ 2-56 — Duties of commissioners.

Connecticut § 2-56

• Jurisdiction: Connecticut
• Title 2: General Assembly and Legislative Agencies
• Ch. 17: Legislative Commissioners' Office

Text

The legislative commissioners shall: (a) Collect and compare the laws of this and other states pertaining to any subject upon which they are requested to report by the Governor or any committee or member of the General Assembly; (b) Collect upon request of the General Assembly all available information relating to any matter which is the subject of proposed legislation by the General Assembly; (c) Prepare or advise in the preparation of any bill or resolution when requested to do so by the Governor or any member of the General Assembly; (d) Upon request of the Governor, advise the Governor concerning any bill which has been passed by the General Assembly and has been or is to be presented to the Governor for his approval or disapproval; (e) Before any bill is favorably reported to either branch of the General Assembly, either commissioner shall approve its form and note his certification to such effect on such bill. If such commissioner disapproves of the form of any bill submitted to him, he shall return such bill to the committee from which it was received with his disapproval and the reasons therefor noted thereon. Either commissioner shall, on request of the member introducing an amendment, examine the same as to form and return it to the member with his approval, or with his disapproval with the reasons therefor noted thereon. After all amendments to any bill have been adopted by either house of the General Assembly before final passage, such bill and the amendments shall be immediately turned over to either commissioner by the clerk of such house. Such commissioner shall examine such bill, as amended, as to its form, shall cause the amended sections of it to be reprinted as amended, unless reprinting is waived by the majority and minority leaders of such house, and shall return it to such clerk with his approval or disapproval, with the reasons therefor, noted thereon. If such bill, as amended, is disapproved as to form, such clerk shall call such disapproval to the attention of the General Assembly. If any bill is amended during the last five session days, it shall be so submitted to either commissioner but the amended sections of it need not be reprinted. This subsection shall not apply to any amendment adopted solely for the correction of clerical errors or errors as to form or dates, except that a copy of any such amendment shall be immediately transmitted to either commissioner by the clerk of the house in which it is first adopted; (f) Render such research and advisory services to the Joint Committee on Legislative Management as said committee requests; (g) Consolidate and codify all the statutes and public acts of the state, and arrange and codify the same under chapter and sections with headnotes, annotations and references to original text and to any decisions of the Supreme Court interpreting the same, and revise such volumes thereof as have become obsolete by reason of the number of amendments thereto or related legislation subsequently enacted. One copy of such consolidation and codification and of each revised volume shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of the State. See Sec. 2-29 re commissioners' direction of bill engrossing process.

Legislative History

(1949 Rev., S. 3524; 1957, P.A. 1, S. 14; S.A. 605, S. 2; 1959, P.A. 109, S. 1; 478, S. 6; 1961, P.A. 108; 1972, P.A. 9, S. 1; 294, S. 1.) History: 1959 acts made technical changes consistent with change from one to two commissioners, confined reprinting of amended bills to amended section only and authorized waiver of reprinting by majority and minority leaders; 1961 act authorized approval of amendment on request of member introducing it; 1972 acts required that amendments correcting clerical errors, form or dates be sent to legislative commissioners' office immediately after adoption and replaced references to legislative council with references to legislative management committee. Subsec. (g): Cited. 195 C. 598. Biennial codifications compiled by the Legislative Commissioners' Office pursuant to Subsec. and thereafter ratified by the legislature constitute an authoritative source for the statutory law of the state at the time they went into effect and the content of such revisions are presumptively correct, and a party seeking to overcome that presumption bears the burden of proving its infirmity. 337 C. 806. Codification of public acts is administrative duty of legislative commissioners; it is within their discretion to arrange and codify public acts; they are not lawmakers; public acts and statutes are synonymous; important since case law always speaks of “statutes” rather than “public acts” when dealing with construction; statute must not be interpreted in any way to thwart its purpose; statute (act) shall be construed so as to give effect to legislative intent; parts of P.A. 75-637 were codified in different titles but all sections are properly construed as a single comprehensive act. 35 CS 177.