§ 13.23. Bills of past sessions.
(a) General. The next step is to determine whether the desired bill has been introduced at or prepared for an earlier legislative session. For this, the indexes of bills in the Senate and House histories are used. It is usually not worthwhile going back more than two or three sessions. The Bureau’s typewritten drafts filed under the appropriate classification number are also helpful. If a bill is found that accomplishes what is requested or something similar to it, it can be revised in much less time than it takes to write a new bill.
(b) Precautions. No bill prepared for an earlier session is used without checking for changes in the law since it was prepared, nor without being quite sure that all dates appearing in the draft are made current. It is also frequently possible to improve the style and substance of the draft. It must not be assumed that because a bill has been used it is perfect. A great many very badly drawn bills are introduced each legislative session. It is particularly important to review an earlier bill with a view to conforming it to intervening changes in related laws (e.g. appeal procedures, change in names of government agencies, etc.).
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