SUPPORT SERVICES
860-240-0333
Room 1210, LOB
The bill room, which is located on the first floor of the Legislative Office Building, operates during legislative session periods. Copies of bills and legislative documents may be obtained from the bill room staff.
Documents Available in the Bill Room
In addition to bills, the List of Bills, the Legislative Bulletin, daily journals, and daily calendars are also available to the public in the bill room. A copy of each of these documents is placed on each legislator's desk on each session day.
A List of Bills is adopted by each chamber on almost every session day during the early weeks of a regular session. Adoption of a list constitutes the first reading of each bill appearing on it. The daily lists should be retained for reference until a cumulative index has been printed.
The Legislative Bulletin is published daily throughout the session. It contains information on public hearings, committee meetings and other legislative activities.
The Senate and House Journals are the official constitutional records of actions taken by the two chambers of the General Assembly. They are published daily throughout the session, with a final comprehensive compilation printed for each house several months after the conclusion of each regular session.
The Senate and House Calendars are published daily and constitute the agenda of bills for the current and subsequent session days. A bill that has received final committee action appears on the calendar on the day after it has been officially read-in in the chamber. It is listed by introductory number, by calendar number and title (and also by file number once that has been assigned) on the first day. On the next following calendar, that listing will include one star and, on the subsequent calendar, the listing will have two stars. At that point, the bill is ready for action by the chamber.
860-240-0555
Room 103, Capitol
The information room is in operation throughout each regular legislative session and for a few weeks after adjournment. Through use of the General Assembly's computerized bill-status system, the information room staff can provide an up-to-the-minute status report of any bill introduced into the Senate or House.
Information Services Available on Legislative Action
Two computer terminals are available in the information room to provide information on bill status, bills by subject and bills by introducer.
The information that appears on the computer terminal screen is listed in abbreviated form and in chronological order. If the last action listed is "Ref. to Committee," the bill has not been reported out of committee. If the last action is "Filed L.C.," the bill has been reported out by the committee and is in the Legislative Commissioners' Office for preparation of a favorable report and return to the house of origin to be read-in and placed upon the Calendar. If a committee has reported unfavorably on a bill, the computer terminal screen will read "Filed L.C., Unfavorable."
"Amendment Adopted, Ref. L.C.," means that the bill has been amended and returned to the Legislative Commissioners' Office for reprinting in the files and will return to the Calendar to be acted upon as amended.
"House Passed" and "Senate Passed" means the bill has passed and will be going to the other house for action. Bills are held one day for reconsideration unless the rules are suspended for immediate transmittal. The screen will indicate "R/S" in cases where the rules have been suspended for transmittal. The same code is used to indicate a bill has been acted upon under a suspension of the rules.
After a bill has passed both houses in identical form, it is returned to the Legislative Commissioners' Office to be engrossed. The engrossed copy is signed by one of the Legislative Commissioners and by the Clerks of both chambers, and then transmitted to the Secretary of the State who, in turn, transmits it to the Governor for his signature or veto. Each of these actions, if taken, are also recorded under a bill's history.
If the last action listed on the computer terminal screen indicates that the bill is still in committee, further information on the bill may be obtained from the committee clerk or secretary in the committee's office.
LEGISLATIVE INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
860-240-0520
Room 1600, LOB
In recognition of the importance of providing college and graduate students with opportunities that are not typically available in a traditional academic setting, the General Assembly sponsors a college and graduate student internship program. The program, which is coordinated by a bipartisan twelve-member committee of legislators, encourages a high level of personal contact and interaction between legislators and the student interns.
The basic purpose of the legislative internship program is to afford students an opportunity to participate in the legislative process firsthand while, at the same time, providing legislators with staff assistance. Interns spend a majority of their time doing legislative work and are exposed to the wide variety of experiences available in the General Assembly. The program also seeks to provide a sound theoretical understanding of State government by inclusion of a strong academic component.
Some of the legislative interns serve on a full-time basis while others serve part-time. Appointments are announced in December by the Legislative Internship Committee which selects the individual interns after interviewing each applicant for the program.
The Legislative Internship Committee assigns the interns to individual legislators with preference given to legislative leaders, committee chairmen and ranking members. A workable and mutually beneficial relationship between legislator and intern is a major goal of the intern program. Every effort is made to assure a match satisfactory to both legislator and intern.
STATE LIBRARY
LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE SECTION
860-566-4544 or 860-566-4601
State Library Building
231 Capitol Avenue
The Legislative Reference Section of the State Library is part of the executive branch of the State government. It provides a number of services to legislators and the public. Among the most valuable are: providing copies of bills introduced in previous legislative sessions; searching for and photocopying statutes of other states; and checking on the history of legislation introduced in previous sessions of the General Assembly.
STATE CAPITOL AND
LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING TOURS
860-240-0222
Room 101, State Capitol
1st Floor, West Foyer, Legislative Office Building
Tours of the Capitol and Legislative Office Buildings are conducted for the Legislative Management Committee by the League of Women Voters of Connecticut. Tours are conducted on each regular work day and on Saturdays from April through October. Advance reservations may be made by calling the Capitol Information and Tours office between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. on regular work days.
LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY ENTERPRISE SERVICES
In March of 1997, the Connecticut General Assembly began a program to modernize the computer systems used in the Legislative process. This project is called Legislative Information Technology Enterprise Services (LITES). All computing platforms at the General Assembly where updated as a part of this program. Legislators were provided with the option of receiving a laptop computer and every permanent full time employee of the General Assembly was provided a desktop or laptop computer. Additionally, a number of new Information Technology Services were provided as part of the LITES project.
Electronic Mail
All employees of the General Assembly are provided an electronic mail account. This account is configured for internal mail and for access to Internet mail.
Electronic Calendar
Employees of the General Assembly are also provided with an electronic calendar package. This package provides employees with the capability to electronically schedule meetings with their colleagues.
Internet Access
High speed Internet access is also available.
LITES Intranet
A new LITES Intranet page has been designed for the General Assembly. It contains important employee information and it also provides an easy to use and flexible way to access Legislative Information such as Bill History and Bill Text.
LITES Internet
The Connecticut General Assembly’s home page is www.cga.ct.gov. This page provides information about the General Assembly and easy access to Legislative Information.
Standard PC Software
Every desktop and laptop computer at the General Assembly is configured with a standard desktop software suite. This suite includes a word processing program, a spread sheet program, a graphics presentation program, and a database access program.
LIN
The Legislative Information Network is the system used by the General Assembly employees to create Statutes of Connecticut. It provides bill drafting capabilities and a host of other features that are used to run the business processes at the General Assembly.
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