Chapter 4 Legislative History Flashcards
What is a researcher attempting to discern by reviewing legislative history documents?
The researcher is attempting to discern the legislature’s intent when drafting the statute.
What are legislative history documents? Can you give an example?
Legislative history documents are documents generated as the bill makes its way through the legislative process. An example is a committee report.
If a statute’s meaning is clear, can a court support its interpretation of the statute with legislative history?
If a statute’s meaning is clear, the court can support its interpretation with legislative history, but it cannot use the legislative history to create an ambiguity. Where the court has determined that the language of the statute is clear, the court’s legislative history analysis would be dicta.
Why would an annotated code be useful in determining whether the courts have already interpreted the statutory language?
An annotated code would be useful in determining whether the courts have interpreted the statutory language because the annotated code lists annotations from cases that have interpreted the statute.
What is the difference between bill tracking and conducting a legislative history search?
The difference between bill tracking and conducting a legislative history search is that a legislative history search looks backwards in time for documents generated as the bill went through the legislative process, while bill tracking involves monitoring what will happen to a bill in the future.
Are some legislative history documents more persuasive than others? Why?
Some legislative history documents are more persuasive than others because they better represent the legislature’s intent. For example, comparing an old version of a bill with the enacted version may demonstrate the legislative intent more than testimony from a lobbyist in a hearing on the bill.
