Florida Legislation and Legislative History

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Florida Legislationand Legislative History

• Robin R. Gault
• March 3, 2005

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Researching Florida Legislation

• The first question to ask is whether the statute
  you are seeking is a permanent, general law (as
  opposed to an appropriations act or a
  special/local law).
• Permanent, general laws are codified in Florida
  Statutes, which is divided into titles, chapters,
  and sections. They are normally cited by section
  numbers.

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Florida Statutes

• Since 1999 the official Florida Statutes has been
  published every year. Prior to that it was
  issued in odd-numbered years, with a bound
  supplement in even years.
• Florida Statutes was first published in 1941.
  Regular publication begin in 1949.
• KFF 30 (year) A27

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• Useful features in official Florida Statutes
• Preface (printed in each volume)
• Table of Section Changes from the most recent
  legislature
• Table Tracing Session Laws to Florida Statutes
  (current vol. begins with 1995 session)
• Table of Repealed and Transferred Sections
  (1943-present).

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• Final volume has comprehensive index. Note that
  popular names of acts are listed under SHORT
  TITLES in index.
• Florida Statutes are also available on the Web
• http//www.flsenate.gov

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Florida Statutes Annotated

• Florida Statutes Annotated (West) contains more
  detailed history notes, references to other
  sources, case annotations. KFF 30 1943 A4
• F.S.A. also contains annotated court and bar
  rules and older constitutions.
• Updated with pocket parts, interim supplements,
  replacement volumes. Paperbound index published
  yearly.

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Florida Annotated Statutes

• Florida Annotated Statutes (Lexis/Nexis) newest
  unofficial version. Paperbound set is published
  yearly. KFF 30 2002 A4
• Fewer (and different!) case annotations,
  different references to other materials.
• F.A.S. is smaller than F.S.A., does not contain
  court rules.

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Florida Session Laws

• Moving between Fla. Statutes and session laws
• The History note at the end of each section of
  the Fla. Statutes lists the session laws that
  created or amended that section. Annotated
  statutes have more detailed history notes.
• The Table Tracing Session Laws to Florida
  Statutes (in last vol. of official statutes) lets
  you see where a session law is codified.

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• Session laws are available on web from Division
  of Elections
• http//election.dos.state.fl.us/laws/laws_proced.s
  html
• Official print version is Laws of Florida, in
  paper or microfiche. KFF 25 A3

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• Session laws are numbered as chapters.
• Since 1957, numbering includes year as well as
  sequential number Ch. 99-178, Ch. 2002-65.
  Prior to that, numbers were continuous sequence
  beginning 1845. Example Ch. 28156 (passed in
  1953).

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• General laws are numbered in sequence as they are
  passed special laws (affecting only limited
  area/group) are assigned numbers at the end.
• Index to general laws in Laws of Florida is
  separate from index to special laws.
• Special and local laws have their own published
  index in two volumes 1845-1970 and 1971-present.
  KFF 40 L43

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Florida Legislative History

• Beginning with Florida Statutes
• Examine History notes at the end of each section.
  These are usually most extensive in Florida
  Statutes Annotated.
• History notes indicate the derivation of the
  statute. They indicate the sections of the
  session laws that created and amended this
  legislation.

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• Moving to Laws of Florida
• Take your session law references and go to the
  session law to see whether it is relevant.
• Session laws 1997 to present are on Dept. of
  State webpage
• http//election.dos.state.fl.us/laws/laws_proced.s
  htmlGL
• Printed Laws of Florida in Law Library KFF 25
  A3

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• If the session law is relevant, note the session
  law number, the section within the session law,
  and the bill number.
• Remember that section numbers within the session
  laws do not correspond to Florida Statutes
  section numbers.

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• Once you have the bill number, you can start
  looking to see what information is available
  about that bill, including other versions of the
  bill and other published and unpublished
  information about it.

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• To understand the Florida legislative process,
  see How an Idea Becomes a Law on Fla. Senate
  page. (Click on links under Information
  Center.)
• http//www.flsenate.gov/Welcome/index.cfm

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• Bills in Florida go through a lengthy process of
  consideration by one or more committees, as well
  as floor debates. However, very little
  documentation of this process is published.

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• Printed legislative history documentation
• Bills
• Numbers will have a letter added for a special
  session. Committee substitute bills have C or
  CS added. The Law Library has bills back to 1972
  at KFF 6.
• Bills are on the Web since 1998. Go to link
  under Session on Senate page.

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• Staff Analysis
• Prepared by staff of each committee that
  considers a bill.
• Cautionary language on current staff analyses
  This Senate staff analysis does not reflect the
  intent or official position of the bills sponsor
  or the Florida Senate. Similar language on House
  staff analyses.

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• Staff Analysis, cont.
• Since 1998 they are on the web, linked to the
  individual bills. Search by House or Senate bill
  number.
• Private company microfilmed them 1988-1996. (Law
  Library MICR KFF 11.6 .A2) They produced 1997
  and 1998 on CD, available on Law Library
  computers. See catalog entry for Florida
  Legislative History Documentation.

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• House and Senate Journals
• Official records of the formal actions of each
  house. They do not contain the text of hearings
  or debates.
• Law Library has journals 1897-present at KFF 18.
• Senate journals are on Senate web page beginning
  1998. Click on Session link, choose Journals and
  session date.

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• House Journals
• House journals are available from Senate link for
  1998-2001. For more recent journals, go to
• http//www.myfloridahouse.gov/publications.aspx
• Click on Session link.

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• Bill History
• Lists the action taken on each bill, with dates.
  On the Web this is linked to each specific bill.
  The printed version has various titles, such as
  History of Legislation. KFF 6 .Z2
• This information tells you what dates are
  relevant for your search for action on your
  legislation.

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• Unpublished documentation
• Committee files
• Legislative committees may collect information
  from a variety of sources. These files (or some
  portion of them) will eventually end up in the
  State Archives.

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• Audiotapes
• Committee hearings and floor debates on bills are
  audiotaped. The tapes are kept in the State
  Archives, which can provide copies. The tapes
  are organized chronologically, not by subject, so
  you need to know when your bill was discussed.
  The Bill History and Official Journals can help
  with this.

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• Research in the State Archives
• Present system of archiving information was
  created with 1968 Constitution. Archives has
  very limited information from 1969 - 1975.
• Very recent committee information may not yet
  have reached the Archives. Committees typically
  hold their files for several years.
• Information from State Archives
• http//dlis.dos.state.fl.us/barm/fsa/legislativere
  search.htm

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• State Archives does limited research for a fee.
  They can also supply names of research companies.
• You can also directly contact the sponsor of a
  bill or the committee that considered a bill.
  Legislative web pages have contact information.

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Bill Tracking

• To identify upcoming bills that you may want to
  track, check the Subject Index under Bill
  Information Citator on Senate page.
• You can search bills by number on the Senate
  page. Be sure that you are searching the correct
  session.