(25 ILCS 135/0.01) (from Ch. 63, par. 24m)
Sec. 0.01. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Legislative Reference Bureau Act.
(Source: P.A. 86-1324.)
(25 ILCS 135/1) (from Ch. 63, par. 25)
Sec. 1. There is established a joint Legislative Reference Bureau, hereafter in this Act referred to as the "Bureau", as a legislative support services agency subject to the Legislative Commission Reorganization Act of 1984.
(Source: P.A. 83-1257.)
(25 ILCS 135/5) (from Ch. 63, par. 29)
Sec. 5. The reference bureau has the duties enumerated in Sections 5.01 through 5.07.
(Source: P.A. 83-1257.)
(25 ILCS 135/5.01) (from Ch. 63, par. 29.1)
Sec. 5.01. To establish in the State Capitol a reference bureau, which shall be open daily, except Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, and at other times when the General Assembly is in session, in which shall be collected and kept, in such manner as to be readily accessible, such laws, reports, books, periodicals, documents, catalogues, check-lists, digests, summaries of the laws of other states upon current legislation, and such other printed or written matter as may aid the members of the General Assembly in the performance of their official duties.
(Source: Laws 1965, p. 2527.)
(25 ILCS 135/5.02) (from Ch. 63, par. 29.2)
Sec. 5.02. Legislative Synopsis and Digest.
(a) The Legislative Reference Bureau shall collect, catalogue, classify, index, completely digest, topically index, and summarize all bills, resolutions, and orders introduced in each branch of the General Assembly, as well as related amendments, conference committee reports, and veto messages, as soon as practicable after they have been printed or otherwise published.
(b) The Digest shall be published online each week during the regular and special sessions of the General Assembly when practical. Cumulative editions of the Digest shall be published online and in printed form after the first year, and after adjournment sine die, of each General Assembly.
(c) The Legislative Reference Bureau shall furnish the printed cumulative edition of the Digest, without cost, as follows: 2 copies of the Digest to each member of the General Assembly, 1 copy to each elected State officer in the executive department, 40 copies to the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives and 30 copies to the Secretary of the Senate for the use of the committee clerks and employees of the respective offices, 15 copies to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, and the number of copies requested in writing by the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, the Minority Leader of the Senate, and the Minority Leader of the House.
(d) The Legislative Reference Bureau shall also furnish to each county clerk, without cost, one copy of the printed cumulative edition of the Digest for each 100,000 inhabitants or fraction thereof in his or her county according to the last preceding federal decennial census.
(d-5) Any person to whom a set number of copies of the printed cumulative edition is to be provided under subsection (c) or (d) may receive a lesser number of copies upon request.
(e) Upon receipt of an application from any other person, signed by the applicant and accompanied by the payment of a fee of $55, the Legislative Reference Bureau shall furnish to the applicant a copy of the printed cumulative edition of the Digest for the calendar year issued after receipt of the application.
(f) For the calendar year beginning January 1, 2018, and each calendar year thereafter, any person who receives one or more copies of the printed cumulative edition under subsection (c), (d), or (e) may, upon request, receive a set of the printed interim editions for that year. Requests for printed interim editions must be received before January 1 of the year to which the request applies.
(Source: P.A. 100-239, eff. 8-18-17; 100-1148, eff. 12-10-18.)
(25 ILCS 135/5.03) (from Ch. 63, par. 29.3)
Sec. 5.03. The reference bureau shall afford to any member of the General Assembly, upon his request, such legal assistance and information as may be practicable in the preparation of bills, memorials, resolutions, orders and amendments, alterations, changes thereto, and revisions and substitutes thereof, proposed to be introduced into the General Assembly by that member.
(Source: Laws 1965, p. 2527.)
(25 ILCS 135/5.04) (from Ch. 63, par. 29.4)
Sec. 5.04. Codification and revision of statutes.
(a) As soon as possible after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1992, the Legislative Reference Bureau shall file with the Index Division of the Office of the Secretary of State, the General Assembly, the Governor, and the Supreme Court a compilation of the general Acts of Illinois. At that time and at any other time the Legislative Reference Bureau may file with the Index Division of the Office of the Secretary of State cross-reference tables comparing the compilation and the Illinois Revised Statutes. The Legislative Reference Bureau shall provide copies of the documents that are filed to each individual or entity that delivers a written request for copies to the Legislative Reference Bureau; the Legislative Reference Bureau, by resolution, may establish and charge a reasonable fee for providing copies. The compilation shall take effect on January 1, 1993. The compilation shall be cited as the "Illinois Compiled Statutes" or as "ILCS". The Illinois Compiled Statutes, including the statutes themselves and the organizational and numbering scheme, shall be an official compilation of the general Acts of Illinois and shall be entirely in the public domain for purposes of federal copyright law.
(b) The compilation document that is filed under subsection (a) shall divide the general Acts into major topic areas and into chapters within those areas; the document shall list the general Acts by title or short title, but need not contain the text of the statutes or specify individual Sections of Acts. Chapters shall be numbered. Each Act shall be assigned to a chapter and shall be ordered within that chapter. An Act prefix number shall be designated for each Act within each chapter. Chapters may be divided into subheadings. Citation to a section of ILCS shall be in the form "X ILCS Y/Z(A)", where X is the chapter number, Y is the Act prefix number, Z is the Section number of the Act, Y/Z is the section number in the chapter of ILCS, and A is the year of publication, if applicable.
(c) The Legislative Reference Bureau shall make additions, deletions, and changes to the organizational or numbering scheme of the Illinois Compiled Statutes by filing appropriate documents with the Index Division of the Office of the Secretary of State. The Legislative Reference Bureau shall also provide copies of the documents that are filed to each individual or entity that delivers a written request for copies to the Legislative Reference Bureau; the Legislative Reference Bureau, by resolution, may establish and charge a reasonable fee for providing copies. The additions, deletions, and changes to the organizational or numbering scheme of the Illinois Compiled Statutes shall take effect 30 days after filing with the Index Division.
(d) Omission of an effective Act or Section of an Act from ILCS does not alter the effectiveness of that Act or Section. Inclusion of a repealed Act or Section of an Act in ILCS does not affect the repeal of that Act or Section.
(e) In order to allow for an efficient transition to the organizational and numbering scheme of the Illinois Compiled Statutes, the State, units of local government, school districts, and other governmental entities may, for a reasonable period of time, continue to use forms, computer software, systems, and data, published rules, and any other electronically stored information and printed documents that contain references to the Illinois Revised Statutes. However, reports of criminal, traffic, and other offenses and violations that are part of a state-wide reporting system shall continue to be made by reference to the Illinois Revised Statutes until July 1, 1994, and on and after that date shall be made by reference to the Illinois Compiled Statutes, except that an earlier conversion date may be established by agreement among all of the following: the Supreme Court, the Secretary of State, the Director of State Police, the Circuit Clerk of Cook County, and the Circuit Clerk of DuPage County, or the designee of each. References to the Illinois Revised Statutes are deemed to be references to the corresponding provisions of the Illinois Compiled Statutes.
(f) The Legislative Reference Bureau, with the assistance of the Legislative Information System, shall make its electronically stored database of the statutes and the compilation available in an electronically stored medium to those who request it; the Legislative Reference Bureau, by resolution, shall establish and charge a reasonable fee for providing the information.
(g) Amounts received under this Section shall be deposited into the General Assembly Computer Equipment Revolving Fund.
(h) The Legislative Reference Bureau shall select subjects and chapters of the statutory law that it considers most in need of a revision and present to the next regular session of the General Assembly bills covering those revisions. In connection with those revisions, the Legislative Reference Bureau has full authority and responsibility to recommend the revision, simplification, and rearrangement of existing statutory law and the elimination from that law of obsolete, superseded, duplicated, and unconstitutional statutes or parts of statutes, but shall make no other changes in the substance of existing statutes, except to the extent those changes in substance are necessary for coherent revision, simplification, rearrangement, or elimination. Revisions reported to the General Assembly may be accompanied by explanatory statements of changes in existing statutes or parts of statutes that those revisions, if enacted, would effect.
(Source: P.A. 86-523; 87-1005.)
(25 ILCS 135/5.05) (from Ch. 63, par. 29.5)
Sec. 5.05. Case Report. The Legislative Reference Bureau shall review all reported decisions of Federal courts, the Illinois Supreme Court, and the Illinois Appellate Court that affect the interpretation of the Illinois Constitution or statutes and shall report the results of its research to the General Assembly by December 31 of each year. The report shall recommend any necessary technical corrections in the Illinois laws to comply with the decisions and may point out where substantive issues arise, without making any judgment on those issues. The requirement for reporting to the General Assembly shall be satisfied by filing copies of the report as required by Section 3.1 of the General Assembly Organization Act and paragraph (t) of Section 7 of the State Library Act.
(Source: P.A. 87-918.)
(25 ILCS 135/5.06) (from Ch. 63, par. 29.6)
Sec. 5.06. The reference bureau shall prepare bills for introduction to revise the existing statutory law to conform the statutes to any reorganization of the executive branch taking effect pursuant to executive order of the Governor under Article V, Section 11 of the Constitution and the Executive Reorganization Implementation Act. Such bills shall be prepared for introduction in the annual session of the General Assembly next occurring after a reorganization takes effect.
(Source: P.A. 81-984.)
(25 ILCS 135/5.07) (from Ch. 63, par. 29.7)
Sec. 5.07. Uniform State Laws. The Legislative Reference Bureau shall examine all subjects on which uniformity is desirable with the laws of other states to ascertain the best means to effect uniformity in the laws of the States. The Legislative Reference Bureau shall supervise the participation of the State of Illinois in the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. To represent the State of Illinois on the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, there shall be 9 persons: 5 persons appointed by the Governor and one each by the President of the Senate, the Senate Minority Leader, the Speaker of the House, and the House Minority Leader, who shall hold office for the term of 4 years, respectively, and until their successors are appointed, and the Executive Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau, who shall be an ex-officio member of the National Conference. The Legislative Reference Bureau shall report to the Governor by December 31 of each year, and the Governor shall submit the report to the General Assembly with his or her recommendations, if any, in reference to the report. The requirement for reporting to the General Assembly shall be satisfied by filing copies of the report as required by Section 3.1 of the General Assembly Organization Act and paragraph (t) of Section 7 of the State Library Act.
(Source: P.A. 87-918.)
(25 ILCS 135/6) (from Ch. 63, par. 30)
Sec. 6. The Architect of the Capitol shall provide the Legislative Reference Bureau with suitable offices in the legislative complex, as defined in the Legislative Commission Reorganization Act of 1984, convenient to the place of meeting of the General Assembly.
(Source: P.A. 93-632, eff. 2-1-04.)
(25 ILCS 135/7) (from Ch. 63, par. 31)
Sec. 7. The Secretary of State, as librarian of the State library, shall cooperate with the reference bureau and shall make the facilities of the State library accessible, so far as practicable, for the use of the reference bureau, and may loan to the reference bureau any books, periodicals, documents, reports or other printed or written matter belonging to the State library.
(Source: Laws 1967, p. 2612.)