REVISOR OF STATUTES

Revisor corps in the trenches for lawmakers


One of the oldest Minnesota state legislative staff offices also
has one of the lowest public profiles. The Office of the Revisor
of Statutes, created in 1939, is a vital behind-the-scenes link
in the legislative process.

The nonpartisan office translates legislative bill proposals into
proper legal form so they can be introduced into the House of
Representatives and/or the Senate. It also publishes state laws
and administrative rules, and provides computer services to many
departments involved in the legislative process.

Most of the session is spent working with legislators. The first
step in the process is for a bill drafter to discuss a proposed
bill with a legislator, and then write a draft. 

"We try to deliver what legislators want, when they want it,"
says Steve Cross, the revisor since 1978. The more lead-time
drafters have, the better job they can do, he says.  

As the bill moves through committees, other drafts are sometimes
substituted 
for the original and amendments are written and added. Whenever
the bill is changed, the office produces an engrossment which
combines the bill and its amendments.  

After a bill passes both the House and the Senate, the revisor's
office checks the House and Senate files to ensure the passed
bills are identical. The bill is then printed on special paper
and sent to the governor to be signed or vetoed. If a bill passed
by both houses of the Legislature differs from the one signed by
the governor, the measure would be declared invalid. 

While only a fraction of the bills proposed each year cross the
governor's desk, all involve the revisor's office. During the
1989 session, over 3,400 
bills were introduced in the House and the Senate. The governor
signed 353 
into law.

Publishing is interim priority 


The focus during the interim (the time between sessions) is
publishing. Three major publications come out of the Revisor's
office:  Laws of Minnesota, Minnesota Statutes, and Minnesota
Rules.

Laws of Minnesota records the bills and resolutions adopted
during a particular session. Published each year, it provides a
historical record of the Legislature. It's a good place to look
up new law, but an inefficient way to find all the law on a
particular topic, Cross says.

Minnesota Statutes, a 10-volume set that lists all Minnesota
laws, is more con-venient, he says. It's published every two
years, with the MinnesotaStatutesSupple-ment published in the
intervening years.

Also published is Minnesota Rules, a compilation of Minnesota's
administrative rules. All of the publications are indexed, which
is a major undertaking. The office is now double-indexing the
Minnesota Statutes.

Present builds on past 


Other responsibilities of the office include examining other
states' laws; giving a yearly report on court decisions that
criticized, or declared invalid, Minnesota laws; and giving
advice on statutes upon request.

The department has 60 staff members during session, including 13
attorneys and 18 bill-drafting and editorial assistants. But the
total staff is cut to 48 during the interim. 

When the department was created it was placed under the
jurisdiction of the Minnesota Supreme Court. Its job was to
compile the state laws passed each year. 

In 1947, it was given the task of drafting bills. But it was not
until 1973 that the office was moved from the judicial branch to
the Legislature. 

The office computerized in 1970, making it the first in the
Legislature to do so. The office's computer staff recently
completed work on the electronic mail and scheduling system,
which is known as the MLIS, or Minnesota Legislative Information
System.



Originally published in 1990 in the Session Weekly, a weekly
newsmagazine published by the Minnesota House Public Information
Office.

***Last Update 8/5/94 (jtt) Last Review 8/5/94 (jtt) ***