Section 200.300  Description of the Organization

a)         The Legislative Reference Bureau is a service agency of the Illinois General Assembly.

b)         It is charged by statute:

1)         to establish in the State Capitol a reference bureau in which would be collected such laws, reports, books, periodicals and other printed or written matter as may aid the members of the General Assembly in the performance of their official duties;

2)         to digest and index all bills, resolutions and amendments introduced in the General Assembly and furnish copies of the digest and index to members of the General Assembly each week during its session;

3)         to afford to any member of the General Assembly, upon request, such legal assistance and information as may be practicable in the preparation of bills, resolutions and amendments for introduction into the General Assembly;

4)         to recommend the revision, simplification and rearrangement of existing statutory law and the elimination from such law of obsolete, superseded, duplicated and unconstitutional statutes or parts of statutes and to propose legislation to revise the existing statutory law to conform to any reorganization of the executive branch which takes effect pursuant to an executive order of the Governor under Section 11 of Article V of the Illinois Constitution of 1970;

5)         to create a computer memory system containing the Illinois Revised Statutes and to revise the data base periodically to keep it current and to provide information from that system for the members and agencies of the General Assembly and the Attorney General; and

6)         to review all reported decisions of the Federal courts, the Illinois Supreme Court and the Illinois Appellate Court which affect the interpretation of the Illinois Constitution and statutes and report the results of its research to the General Assembly each year, recommending technical corrections in the statutes to comply with decisions and pointing out where substantive issues arise.

c)         The Bureau is not charged with the provision of any services directly to members of the public but the Legislative Synopsis and Digest prepared by the Bureau for the General Assembly is available to the public by subscription for the statutory fee.

d)         The Legislative Reference Bureau consists of and is governed by a board of 12 members of the General Assembly.

e)         The Board appoints an executive secretary and two deputy secretaries who administer the operations of the Bureau under the direction of the Board.

f)         The executive secretary is the Freedom of Information Officer.

g)         The office of the Bureau is in Room 112 in the State Capitol, Springfield, Illinois 62706.  Its phone number is (217) 782-6625.  The Bureau's regular office hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, state holidays excepted.