CHAPTER 3. ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTION OF BUREAU
ORGANIZATION, OFFICERS AND EMPLOYES Sec.
3.1. Organization of Bureau.
3.2. Director.
3.3. Assistant Director.
3.4. Employes.
3.5. Prohibition against lobbying.
3.6. Disclosure of unpublished matter.
3.7. Legal opinion to citizens.
BUREAU FUNCTIONS GENERALLY
3.11. Purpose of Bureau.
3.12. Location and office hours.
3.13. Services to General Assembly and Commonwealth agencies.
3.14. Services to citizens.
3.15. Revision and codification of laws.
3.16. Compilations and other documents.
3.17. Legislation of other states.
3.18. Newspaper clippings and printed material.
3.19. Government reports and public documents.
3.20. Laws and legislative documents.
FUNCTIONS OF BUREAU SECTIONS
3.31. Bill Drafting Section.
3.32. Transcribing Section.
3.33. Proofreading Section.
3.34. Legislative History Section.
3.35. General Services Section.
3.36. Administrative Services Section.
3.37. Documents Law Section.
3.38. Library.
ORGANIZATION, OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES
§ 3.1. Organization of Bureau.
The Bureau is organized as follows:
Director
Assistant Director
Bill Drafting Section
Transcribing Section
Proofreading Section
Legislative History Section
General Services Section
Administrative Services Section
Documents Law Section
§ 3.2. Director.
(a) General. Section 2 of the act (46 P. S. § 452) provides that the Bureau shall operate under the direction of a Director who shall be elected biennially before the first day of February in each odd-numbered year by the Senate and House in joint session.
(b) Qualifications. Section 3 of the act (46 P. S. § 453) provides that the Director shall be qualified by experience, knowledge and ability to conduct the work of the Bureau and shall be well versed in legislative procedure and parliamentary practice.
§ 3.3. Assistant Director.
(a) General. Section 4 of the act (46 P. S. § 454) provides that the Director shall appoint an Assistant Director who shall perform the duties of the Director in the case of a vacancy in said office or in case of the absence or inability of the Director to act, and such other duties as may be assigned to the Assistant Director by the Director.
(b) Qualifications. Section 4 of the act (46 P. S. § 454) provides that the Assistant Director shall be learned in the law and shall be a skilled bill drafter.
§ 3.4. Employes.
Section 5 of the act (46 P. S. § 455) provides that the Director shall appoint a trained librarian and such attorneys-at-law, clerks, secretaries, stenographers, typists, messengers and other employes as he deems necessary, and for such periods and on such terms as he deems advantageous, to conduct the work of the Bureau at all times.
§ 3.5. Prohibition against lobbying.
Section 8 of the act (46 P. S. § 458) provides that the Director and the staff of the Bureau shall neither oppose nor urge legislation.
§ 3.6. Disclosure of unpublished matter.
Section 8 of the act (46 P. S. § 458) provides that no officer or employe of the Bureau shall reveal to any person outside the Bureau the contents or nature of any matter not yet published, without the consent of the person bringing such matter before the Bureau.
§ 3.7. Legal opinion to citizens.
Section 9 of the act (46 P. S. § 459) provides that in no case and under no circumstances shall any officer or employe in his official capacity furnish any opinion on any legal matter to any private citizen.
BUREAU FUNCTIONS GENERALLY
§ 3.11. Purpose of Bureau.
Section 1 of the act (46 P. S. § 451) provides that the Bureau is created for the use and information of the members of the General Assembly, the Governor, the heads of executive departments, and such citizens of this Commonwealth as may desire to consult the Bureau.
§ 3.12. Location and office hours.
(a) Location. The Bureau is located at 641 Main Capitol, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 17120.
(b) Office hours. Office hours of the Bureau are:
(1) From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, except official Federal and Commonwealth holidays.
(2) When the General Assembly is in session, at such hours, day and night, as are most convenient to its members.
§ 3.13. Services to General Assembly and Commonwealth agencies.
Section 8 of the act (46 P. S. § 458) provides that the Director and the Assistant Director shall, upon request, aid and assist the members of the General Assembly, the Governor, and the heads of Commonwealth agencies, by advising as to bills and resolutions, by drafting bills and resolutions into proper form, and by furnishing to them the fullest information upon all matters within the scope of the Bureau which relate to their public duties.
§ 3.14. Services to citizens.
Section 9 of the act (46 P. S. § 459) provides that the Bureau shall be available for consultation freely by citizens of this Commonwealth as to such general information as the Bureau may be able to furnish and as to the statutory laws of this Commonwealth and other states on particular subjects, and shall furnish to citizens upon request copies of such statutes as are available for distribution.
§ 3.15. Revision and codification of laws.
Section 7 of the act (46 P. S. § 457) provides that the Director shall:
(1) Assist in or supervise, when called upon by any proper authority, or when directed by the General Assembly to do so, the compilation and preparation of any general revision and codification of the existing laws of the Commonwealth.
(2) From time to time, cause to be prepared, for adoption or rejection by the General Assembly, codes, by topics, of the existing general statutes, arranged by chapters or articles and sections under suitable headings, and add thereto lists of statutes of the existing law to be repealed.
§ 3.16. Compilations and other documents.
Section 7 of the act (46 P. S. § 457) provides that the Director shall from time to time prepare and publish such bulletins, pamphlets and circulars, containing information collected by the Bureau, and such compilations of this or other states, as he shall deem to be of service to the Governor, the several departments of the Commonwealth Government, the members of the General Assembly, and the citizens of this Commonwealth.
§ 3.17. Legislation of other states.
Section 7 of the act (46 P. S. § 457) provides that the Director shall establish a system of exchanges with such other states as is expedient and practicable and, when requested by members of the General Assembly or the Governor or heads of departments, promptly procure available information, not on file in the Bureau, relating to legislation of other states, and investigate the manner in which such laws have operated.
§ 3.18. Newspaper clippings and printed material.
Section 7 of the act (46 P. S. § 457) provides that the Director shall prepare and have available for use files of newspaper and periodical clippings, and of such other printed matter as may be proper for the purposes of the Bureau.
§ 3.19. Government reports and public documents.
Section 7 of the act (46 P. S. § 457) provides that the Director shall prepare and have available for use catalogue files of reports of departments, boards, and commissions, and other public documents of this Commonwealth.
§ 3.20. Laws and legislative documents.
Section 7 of the act (46 P. S. § 457) provides that the Director shall prepare, and have available for use, indices of Pennsylvania laws, digests of such public laws of this and other states as may be of use for legislative information, records and files of all bills and resolutions presented in either branch of the General Assembly and loose leaf files of acts of Assembly.
FUNCTIONS OF BUREAU SECTIONS
§ 3.31. Bill Drafting Section.
(a) General. The Bill Drafting Section consists of attorneys and other technical personnel who draft all legislative documents for introduction by members of the General Assembly.
(b) Drafting procedure. The Bill Drafting Section takes and reviews requests for preparation of legislative documents, conducts necessary research, prepares drafts for transcribing, resolves any questions from the Transcribing and Proofreading Sections, checks final documents and arranges for their delivery.
(c) Other matters. The Bill Drafting Section exercises the following functions in addition to its primary function of drafting legislative documents:
(1) Prepare compilations of various laws and update existing compilations for use by the Bureau and distribution to the public.
(2) Prepare routine analyses of certain legislative documents.
(3) When requested, and at other times when time permits, prepare codifications of laws for consideration by the General Assembly.
(4) Prepare rules and procedures for drafting and transcribing legislative documents.
(5) Prepare subject index and chronological table for each publication of the Laws of Pennsylvania.
§ 3.32. Transcribing Section.
(a) General. The Transcribing Section consists of legal technician typists who transcribe all legislative documents drafted by the Bureau, either on a computer terminal or standard typewriter, and prepare all conference reports, backs, folders and cards for transmitting legislative documents and filing.
(b) Amendments. As soon as amendments to bills are adopted by either house, they are transmitted to the Transcribing Section which, by the use of computer terminals, inserts them at their proper location in the current print of the bill.
§ 3.33. Proofreading Section.
(a) General. The Proofreading Section checks for accuracy in all legislative documents prior to their introduction and all final enactments and compilations prior to their printing and publication.
(b) Matters generally. The Proofreading Section checks all legislative documents with particular reference to the following matters:
(1) Conformity to supplied draft.
(2) Conformity to rules on structure and style.
(3) Conformity to rules on citing statutes and regulations.
(4) Errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar.
(c) Amendatory bills. The Proofreading Section also checks amendatory bills with particular reference to the following additional matters:
(1) Inclusion of references to and language of prior amendments to the provision affected.
(2) Conformity to structure and style of statute amended.
(3) Proper insertion of brackets and underscoring.
(4) Inclusion of reenactment of penalty clause when appropriate.
(d) Printing of statutes. The Proofreading Section, under the supervision of the Director and Assistant Director and in consultation with the Legislative Printing Clerk and Legislative Data Processing Center, prepares final enactments for printing and publication.
§ 3.34. Legislative History Section.
(a) General. The Legislative History Section compiles, indexes and updates the House History for weekly publication and maintains files on the current status of Senate and House legislative documents under consideration or passed by the General Assembly.
(b) Status of documents. A reporter is assigned to each house and reports actions as soon as they are taken by each house. This information is placed in the cardex files for use by employes of the Bureau and for providing information to the General Assembly, Commonwealth agencies and the public upon request.
(c) Legislative enactments. As soon as the Governor signs or vetoes or fails to act on a bill in the time prescribed by law, the Department of State transmits this information to the Legislative History Section which records it in the cardex file and distributes appropriately marked bills to employes of the Bureau.
§ 3.35. General Services Section.
(a) General. The General Services Section provides and maintains adequate documents, materials, furniture, equipment, supplies and services to enable the Bureau to perform its various functions and supplies copies of available statutes and documents to the General Assembly, Commonwealth agencies and the public upon request.
(b) Files. The General Services Section maintains files and records for all legislative documents prepared by the Bureau which are filed according to subject matter, the document number, the sponsor, or a combination of the foregoing, depending upon the nature of the particular document. These files are confidential and available only to employes of the Bureau.
(c) Duplicating. The General Services Section duplicates all legislative documents after they are prepared by the Bureau, places them in proper folders and distributes them to the Bill Drafting Section for review and final distribution.
§ 3.36. Administrative Services Section.
The Administrative Services Section provides general support for other sections of the Bureau including administrative matters, handling of incoming telephone calls and mail, insuring the proper transmission of legislative and other documents prepared or supplied by the Bureau and providing stenographic and typing services to the Director, Assistant Director and attorneys.
§ 3.37. Documents Law Section.
The Documents Law Section carries out the functions of the Bureau as the publisher of the Pennsylvania Bulletin and Pennsylvania Code under the Commonwealth Documents Law (45 P. S. § 1101 et seq.) and Part I of Title 1 of the Pennsylvania Code (relating to Joint Committee on Documents).
§ 3.38. Library.
(a) General. The Library is primarily a reference library for legal research by attorneys in the Bureau involved in drafting legislative documents and is open for use by the Bureau at all times during the working hours of the Bureau.
(b) Contents. The Library contains a comprehensive selection of research material including, but not limited to:
(1) Books such as Uniform State Laws, court reports, legal encyclopedias and dictionaries, digests, Shephard’s Citations, treatises, form and practice books, indices, directories, almanacs, legislative histories and journals, Attorney General’s Opinions, Pennsylvania law school reviews, loose-leaf services, and annotated statutes of 12 of the major states.
(2) Periodicals which are chiefly legal periodicals or publications pertaining to government, such as State Government, State Government News, Suggested State Legislation and Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly.
(3) Newspapers such as New York Times, National Observer, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Harrisburg Patriot News, Wall Street Journal and Legal Intelligencer.
(4) Pamphlets such as Federal publications, publications of other states, the Council of State Governments, Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, private associations and reports or studies of special committees or commissions.
(5) Opinions, studies and research materials prepared from time to time by the Bureau.
(c) Unavailable material. Whenever members of the General Assembly or employes of the Bureau request material not available in the Library, the librarian obtains such material from other sources such as the State Library, the Federal Government and other states where it is available.
(d) Use. The Library is available for use by persons not employed by the Bureau from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. but they are not permitted to remove material from the Library. However, in certain cases, the librarian will duplicate or permit the duplication of material in the Library for distribution upon request and, when appropriate, charge a reasonable fee to cover the expense of duplication and materials.
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