(1)  There is established an Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel as a permanent staff office for the Legislature.

Terms Used In Utah Code 36-12-12

  • Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
  • Interim committees: includes a commission, committee, council, task force, board, or panel, in which legislative participation is required by law, which committee functions between sessions of the Legislature. See Utah Code 36-12-1
  • Person: means :Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of a judicial proceeding. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
  • Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
  • Utah Code: means the 1953 recodification of the Utah Code, as amended, unless the text expressly references a portion of the 1953 recodification of the Utah Code as it existed:Utah Code 68-3-12.5
(2)  The powers, functions, and duties of the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel under the supervision of the director shall be:

(a)  to provide research and legal staff assistance to all standing, special, and interim committees as follows:

(i)  to assist each committee chairman in planning the work of the committee;

(ii)  to prepare and present research and legal information in accordance with committee instructions or instructions of the committee chairman;

(iii)  to prepare progress reports of committee work when requested; and

(iv)  to prepare a final committee report in accordance with committee instructions, that includes relevant research information, committee policy recommendations, and recommended legislation;

(b)  to collect and examine the acts and official reports of any state and report their contents to any committee or member of the Legislature;

(c)  to provide research and legal analysis services to any interim committee, legislative standing committee, or individual legislator on actual or proposed legislation or subjects of general legislative concern;

(d) 

(i)  to exercise under the direction of the general counsel the constitutional authority provided in Utah Constitution, Article VI, Section 32, in serving as legal counsel to the Legislature, majority and minority leadership of the House or Senate, any of the Legislature’s committees or subcommittees, individual legislators, any of the Legislature’s staff offices, or any of the legislative staff; and

(ii)  to represent the Legislature, majority and minority leadership of the House of Representatives or Senate, any of the Legislature’s committees or subcommittees, individual legislators, any of the Legislature’s staff offices, or any of the legislative staff in cases and controversies before courts and administrative agencies and tribunals;

(e)  to prepare and assist in the preparation of legislative bills, resolutions, memorials, amendments, and other documents or instruments required in the legislative process and, under the direction of the general counsel, give advice and counsel regarding them to the Legislature, majority and minority leadership of the House of Representatives or Senate, any of its members or members-elect, any of its committees or subcommittees, or the legislative staff;

(f)  under the direction of the general counsel:

(i)  to review, examine, and correct any technical errors when:

(A)  preparing legislation that passed both houses to enroll the legislation and prepare the laws for publication; or

(B)  maintaining the accuracy of the electronic code database; and

(ii)  to deliver enrolled legislation to the House of Representatives and the Senate for submission to the governor for gubernatorial action;

(g) 

(i)  to exercise control over and to act as the repository and custodian of the official copy and database of the current version of the Utah Constitution;

(ii)  to incorporate into the Utah Constitution any amendments to the Utah Constitution that pass during a regular general election; and

(iii)  to update and maintain the bold face descriptive titles to sections of the Utah Constitution;

(h)  to prepare the laws for publication;

(i) 

(i)  to maintain, exercise control over, and act as the repository and custodian of the official copy and database of the Utah Code, organized by title, chapter, part, and section; and

(ii)  to keep the Utah Code database current, including updating the database to reflect:

(A)  any duly enacted legislation making changes, including future changes, to the Utah Code; and

(B)  any corrections of technical errors;

(j)  to formulate recommendations for the revision, clarification, classification, arrangement, codification, annotation, and indexing of Utah statutes, and to develop proposed legislation to effectuate the recommendations;

(k)  to appoint and develop a professional staff within budget limitations; and

(l)  to prepare and submit the annual budget request for the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel.

(3) 

(a)  If, under Utah Constitution, Article VI, Section 10, the House of Representatives or Senate determines that an individual is not qualified to serve in the House of Representatives or Senate, or expels an individual from the respective chamber, but the individual continues to hold his or her elected legislative office, the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel may not provide legislative staff services, including legal services, to the individual.

(b)  Notwithstanding Subsection (3)(a), the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel may provide legal services for an individual described in Subsection (3)(a) if the legal services are approved by the Legislative Management Committee described in Section 36-12-7.

(4)  The statutory authorization of the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel to correct technical errors provided in Subsection (2)(f), to prepare the laws for publication in Subsection (2)(h), and to modify the electronic record to correct technical errors under Subsection (2)(i)(ii)(B) includes:

(a)  adopting a uniform system of punctuation, capitalization, numbering, and wording for enrolled legislation and the Laws of Utah;

(b)  eliminating duplication and the repeal of laws directly or by implication, including renumbering when necessary;

(c)  correcting defective or inconsistent title, chapter, part, section, and subsection structure in the arrangement of the subject matter of existing statutes;

(d)  eliminating obsolete and redundant words;

(e)  correcting:

(i)  obvious typographical and grammatical errors; and

(ii)  other obvious inconsistencies, including those involving punctuation, capitalization, cross references, numbering, and wording;

(f)  inserting or changing the boldface to more accurately reflect the substance of each section, part, chapter, or title;

(g)  merging or determining priority of any amendments, enactments, or repealers to the same code provisions that are passed by the Legislature;

(h)  renumbering and rearranging of a title, chapter, part, section, or provisions of a section;

(i)  transferring sections or dividing sections to assign separate sections numbers to distinct subject matters;

(j)  modifying cross references to agree with renamed or renumbered titles, chapters, parts, or sections;

(k)  substituting the proper section or chapter number for the terms “this act,” “this bill,” or similar terms;

(l)  substituting the proper calendar date in the database and in the Laws of Utah;

(m)  modifying the highlighted provisions of legislation to correct an inconsistency between the highlighted provisions and the enacted provisions of the legislation;

(n)  correcting the names of agencies, departments, and similar units of government;

(o)  rearranging any misplaced statutory material, incorporating any omitted statutory material, and correcting other obvious errors of addition or omission;

(p)  correcting or incorporating a special clause that was publicly available on the Legislature’s website but is errantly omitted, modified, or retained during the legislative process due to obvious technological or human error, including:

(i)  a severability clause;

(ii)  an effective date clause;

(iii)  a retrospective operation clause;

(iv)  an uncodified repeal date clause;

(v)  a revisor instruction clause; or

(vi)  a coordination clause;

(q)  correcting the incorporation of an amendment due to obvious technological or human error; and

(r)  alphabetizing definition sections.

(5)  In carrying out the duties provided for in this section, the director of the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel may obtain access to all records, documents, and reports necessary to the scope of the director’s duties according to the procedures contained in Chapter 14, Legislative Subpoena Powers.

(6)  In organizing the management of the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel, the Legislative Management Committee may either:

(a)  select a person to serve as both the director of the office and as general counsel. In such case, the director of the office shall be a lawyer admitted to practice in Utah and shall have practical management experience or equivalent academic training; or

(b)  select a person to serve as director of the office who would have general supervisory authority and select another person to serve as the legislative general counsel within the office. In such case, the director of the office shall have a master’s degree in public or business administration, economics, or the equivalent in academic or practical experience and the legislative general counsel shall be a lawyer admitted to practice in Utah.

Amended by Chapter 21, 2023 General Session, (Coordination Clause)
Amended by Chapter 21, 2023 General Session
Amended by Chapter 291, 2023 General Session

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