Legislative counsel offers clarity and interpretation for federal and state guidelines and their regulations and statutes. Legislative intent services will locate documentation related to the legislative history surround the question. This helps you to understand current laws surrounding it. It also helps bring to light what circumstances caused the enactment of the law or the amendment.
The constitution was created over 200 years ago. This can make some of the information in it hard to understand. Some amendments to it can become confusing as well. To this date there have been 27 total amendments to the constitution. This is where legislative research comes in handy and can help.
Legislative counsel services also help with research which affects why certain laws were enacted. This helps people gain general knowledge of government processes and activities affecting those processes. State courts have looked at legislative intent for over one hundred years when it comes to construing state law.
When a certain statute is clear and unquestionable, typically courts require that inquiry stops there. When the statute is capable of being interpreted more than one way the decision differs. This is when legislative intent is to be derived from different sources other than the physical text of the statute.
Legislative services can help research information on a variety of subjects. State statues and amendments to those statutes are commonly researched. Federal regulations and all the relevant codes associated with them are popular categories as well. Facts concerning a complicated or unknown history are another area of expertise. A full history of statue can be researched to provide information on how it was historically derived.
A variety of materials are used in the research and history. Materials include the bill in an amended version, information about its final history, all legislative bill files and any other related material that concerns the bill. Legislative research includes statutes and codes and local ordinances. Constitutional provisions as well as state and federal information is also included in research.