How to amend an illinois public act

Updated September 2017 by Legislative Reference Bureau staff

This page describes how to research the legislative history of a Public Act. Other aspects of legislative history, such as previous statutes on the same subject and court decisions to which the legislation was a response, are not covered by this page, although they may be revealed while researching legislative history. Interpretations of statutes by administrative agencies, the Attorney General, and the courts are also not covered. What weight a court may give to any particular element of legislative history in construing a statute is not covered. The intent of this page is merely to describe the documents and actions that make up legislative history and to give guidance on how and where to find the records relating to those documents and actions.

The cardinal rule of statutory construction is to determine and give effect to the legislature's intent. Sulser v. Country Mutual Ins. Co. , 147 Ill. 2d 548 (1992). A court should interpret a statute, where possible, according to the plain and ordinary meaning of the language used. Orlak v. Loyola University Health System , 228 Ill.2d 1 (2007). Intrinsic aids, such as canons of construction, may assist in the interpretation of a statute.

If the statutory language admits of more than one reasonable construction and is thus ambiguous, courts will consider extrinsic aids to construction. People v. Eppinger , 2013 IL 114121. Legislative history is an extrinsic aid to interpretation.

Legislative history includes legislative documents such as bills, adopted amendments, defeated amendments, and conference committee reports; committee testimony, records, debates, and actions; floor debates and actions; and the Governor's messages and actions.

LEGISLATIVE DOCUMENTS AND PROCESS

The basic legislative documents and actions that make up legislative history as they occur in the legislative process are:

Legislative documents and bill status from the 90th General Assembly (1997-98) onward.
Senate Journals and House Journals from 1999 onward.
Transcripts of floor debates from October 1971 onward.
Public Acts from the 90th General Assembly (1997-98) onward.

For General Assemblies other than the current General Assembly, use the Previous General Assemblies page.

In addition, records to be used in compiling the legislative history of a statute may be found at the following places:

Copies of bills (introduced, engrossed, and enrolled), amendments (including both adopted amendments and defeated amendments), conference committee reports, and motions can usually be obtained from the State Archives division of the Secretary of State's office. In some cases, committee documents or reports may also be available. If the General Assembly recently considered the bill, then legislative documents for that bill may not yet be available from the State Archives. Contact instead the Office of the Secretary of the Senate and the Office of the Clerk of the House. The text of amendments, conference committee reports, and motions (but not bills) is also found in the House Journals and Senate Journals.
Committee hearings have been recorded by the House since 1972. Recordings are available from the Office of the Clerk of the House. The Senate does not record its committee hearings.
Transcripts of floor debates may be obtained from the Index Department of the Secretary of State's office. These are available for both chambers dating from October 1971 onward. If transcripts are not yet available on the website or from the Index Department, contact the Office of the Secretary of the Senate and the Office of the Clerk of the House.
Copies of individual Public Acts may be obtained from the Index Department of the Secretary of State's office. Public Acts for each General Assembly are also found in the Laws of Illinois, often referred to as the session laws, published by the Secretary of State.

The Legislative Synopsis and Digest, which is published by the Legislative Reference Bureau, traces the actions taken on bills as they move through the General Assembly from introduction through final action. A synopsis of each bill, amendment, and conference committee report is given, but it should not be considered an analysis. The Digest indices are valuable research tools. Bills are indexed by statutes amended, sponsors, and subject matter. PDF versions of final digests from the 92nd General Assembly onward are available. Scans of final digests from 1985 to 2005 are available from the University of Illinois.
Senate Journals and House Journals are published after each session of the General Assembly. The last volume for each chamber includes an index that shows all actions taken on a bill by reference to page numbers of the Journal.
West's Smith-Hurd Illinois Compiled Statutes Annotated lists Public Acts that have amended a Section of an Act together with "Historical and Statutory Notes" that summarize the changes made by all, or at least the most recent, of those Public Acts. West's unannotated Illinois Compiled Statutes lists Public Acts that have amended the Section. The LexisNexis Illinois Compiled Statutes Annotated lists the most recent, and sometimes all, Public Acts that have amended a Section.
Public Acts are published each year by the Secretary of State in the Laws of Illinois. When a bill becomes law, the Secretary of State assigns a Public Act number. For example, P.A. 85-837 was the 837th Public Act of the 85th General Assembly. The Laws of Illinois are indexed by statutes amended and subject matter. Before the 76th General Assembly, Public Act numbers were not assigned and Public Acts were cited by page numbers in session law volumes.

ADDRESSES AND PHONE NUMBERS

Office of the Clerk
Illinois House of Representatives
115 State House
Springfield, IL 62706
Phone: (217) 782-8223

Office of the Secretary
Illinois Senate
403 State House
Springfield, IL 62706
Phone: (217) 782-5715

Illinois State Archives
Margaret Cross Norton Bldg.
Capitol Complex
Springfield, IL 62756
Phone: (217) 782-4866

Index Department
111 East Monroe
Springfield, IL 62756
Phone: (217) 782-7017

Legislative Reference Bureau
112 State House
Springfield, IL 62706
Phone: (217) 782-6625

Suppose that a question arises concerning jury instructions if certain hearsay testimony is admitted at trial. These instructions are required by subsection (c) of Section 115-10 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (725 ILCS 5/115-10(c)).

A search of Section 115-10 in the annotated statutes reveals that the requirement to give jury instructions was added to that Section by P.A. 85-837.

The next step is to determine what bill became P.A. 85-837 and when the bill was passed. This is found by looking up the Public Act in the Laws of Illinois. P.A. 85-837 was House Bill 2591 of the 85th General Assembly and was passed on June 30, 1987.

The final Legislative Synopsis and Digest for the calendar year 1987 is the next place to look. The synopses reveal that the jury instruction requirement was added to the bill by Senate Amendment No. 1. Senate Amendments Nos. 2 and 3, which did not relate to jury instructions, were also adopted. No amendments were offered and defeated; if any amendments had been offered and defeated, they might be an indication of what the legislature did not intend by House Bill 2591. Sponsors, committee assignments, total votes, and other matters are also indicated in the Digest. The bill was heard in the House Judiciary II Committee and in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The House Journal and Senate Journal indicate the following concerning House Bill 2591:

(1) Heard in the House Judiciary II Committee on May 7, 1987.

(2) Passed the House on a Consent Calendar on May 22, 1987. Because the bill was on a Consent Calendar, there is virtually no likelihood that there was floor debate.

(3) Heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 10, 1987.

(4) Senate Amendment No.1 was adopted on the floor of the Senate on June 23, 1987. Senate Amendments Nos. 2 and 3 were adopted on June 25, 1987.

(5) The bill, as amended, passed the Senate on June 26, 1987.

(6) On June 27, 1987 the House concurred in Senate Amendments Nos. 1 and 2 and refused to concur in Senate Amendment No. 3.

(7) The Senate refused to recede from Senate Amendment No. 3 on June 29, 1987, and a conference committee was requested and appointed.

(8) On June 30, 1987 both the House and Senate approved the first conference committee report.

A copy of Senate Amendment No. 1, which adds the new language concerning jury instructions, is found in the Senate Journal for June 23, 1987 and may also be obtained from the State Archives.

A recording of the House Judiciary II Committee hearing on May 7, 1987 is available from the Office of the Clerk of the House. The recording, however, contains no discussion of the jury instruction requirement because that language was added later by Senate amendment. As previously noted, recordings are not available for Senate committee hearings.

Transcripts of the Senate and House floor debates may be obtained from the General Assembly website or from the Index Department. The transcripts, however, contain no debate on the jury instruction issue.

The search of the legislative history of House Bill 2591 has so far proved fruitless. That is not necessarily the end of the story, however. Often in the legislative process, proposed language will migrate from bill to bill as the sponsor looks for a way to pass the proposal out of both chambers. This may be revealed through additional searching.

The Senate sponsor of House Bill 2591 indicated in floor debate that Senate Amendment No. 1, which contained the jury instruction language, was the same as Senate Bill 1377 of the 85th General Assembly. A search of the Legislative Synopsis and Digest indices and synopses also would have indicated this. Thus, the next step is to compile a legislative history of Senate Bill 1377 because it contained language identical to that in Senate Amendment No. 1 to House Bill 2591.

If a search of Senate Bill 1377 also proves fruitless, a search of the Legislative Synopsis and Digest indices for the same as well as one or more previous General Assemblies may help. As is often the case with legislative proposals, the language may have been around for several years before becoming law. Somewhere along the way someone may have said or done something significant with respect to the jury instruction issue.

Finally, bills may have been introduced in the General Assembly after the passage of House Bill 2591 (P.A. 85-837) to amend the jury instruction language. Even though these bills did not become law, they still could have a bearing on the interpretation of the jury instruction language. For example, the changes proposed by a failed bill could be an indication of what the language of P.A. 85-837 does not mean; otherwise, presumably, the changes would not have been proposed. Whatever implications may be drawn from these failed bills, it is worth the effort to search for them. This search begins by checking the statute index of the Legislative Synopsis and Digest for all periods of time around and after the date when House Bill 2591 passed the General Assembly.

As the example shows, compiling a legislative history requires thoroughness and persistence. Although the search may not yield positive results, it is nevertheless worth the effort because occasionally the search reveals something that aids in interpreting a statute.

Note: A version of this page appeared in the Illinois Bar Journal , Vol. 84, No. 4, April 1996.

Other websites with resources concerning researching Illinois legislative history: