Illinois Legislative History  

House and Senate debates are the primary source for determining legislative intent in Illinois. Publication of the debates, however, did not begin until 1971, when the new Illinois Constitution required that the floor debates of each chamber be transcribed. As a result, compiling a legislative history can be a frustrating experience due to the lack of published hearings, reports and documents.

The Illinois General Assembly website includes legislative information for the current General Assembly and for prior General Assemblies. The electronic content varies; the earlier the General Assembly, the less information that is available in a usable format. When a previous General Assembly is selected, a menu showing the content available for that particular year is displayed. Types of content available include: legislation, public acts, journals, transcripts and summary reports.

The following are the steps to take in order to compile an Illinois legislative history. For a a more detailed guide, consult Chapter 2 of the Illinois Legal Research Guide (D'Angelo Law, Reference, XXKFI1275.W42 2006) . The Legislative Reference Bureau's research guide also discusses the legislative process in detail. A diagram of the Illinois legislative process can be found here.

This PowerPoint presentation below goes through these steps using an example from the Illinois Compiled Statutes.

To compile a legislative history for a law, you must first locate the Public Act (P.A.) number for the statute.  You can do this by looking at the statute in an annotated code such as:

• Illinois Compiled Statutes Annotated (West)
  Print: D'Angelo Law, Reading Room, XXKFI1230 1993
  
• Illinois Compiled Statutes Annotated (Lexis/Michie)
  Print: D'Angelo Law, Bookstacks XXKFI1230 1993 .A4
  (or via LexisNexis Academic)

Check the history note to find a reference to Public Acts (P.A.) number. Note that the first number refers to a General Assembly number, not a year. If you find a reference to "Laws," the session law is pre-1970, and transcripts of debates do not exist.