"APPROPRIATE MINUTES OF ALL MEETINGS REQUIRED . . .
TO BE OPEN SHALL BE KEPT . . ."

A Report to the 55th Legislature
on Senate Joint Resolution No. 4

November 1996

Prepared by Connie Erickson
Legislative Research Analyst
Office of Research and Policy Analysis
Montana Legislative Services Division

Published by:

Montana Legislative Council
Senator John "J.D." Lynch, Presiding Officer

Montana Legislative Services Division
Robert B. Person, Executive Director
David D. Bohyer, Director, Office of Research and Policy Analysis
Gregory J. Petesch, Director, Legal Services TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE

CHAPTER TWO
 LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES IN MONTANA

CHAPTER THREE
 LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES IN OTHER STATES

CHAPTER FOUR
 FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

CHAPTER FIVE
 ISSUES AND OPTIONS FOR LEGISLATIVE
 COMMITTEE MINUTES

  ISSUE NUMBER TWO

CHAPTER SIX
 CONCLUSION

Legislative standing committees serve an extremely important function in thelegislative process. Standing committees serve as the filter and the refiner oflegislation presented for consideration by a state legislature or assembly. Generally, the committee may pass a bill, amend a bill, "kill" a bill, table a bill,or postpone it indefinitely. In only a few states must a standing committeereport all bills referred to it. Every standing committee can amend legislationthat is referred to it. Oftentimes, committee amendments can solve problemsor conflicts that occur in legislation before the legislation is placed forconsideration before the entire legislative body.

Legislative standing committees also provide the opportunity for the public tobe heard on legislation. It is during the hearing on a specific bill that citizensand interest groups can provide formal input into the legislative decisionmakingprocess. Every state requires that legislative committee meetings be open tothe public. Almost every state requires advance public notice of committeehearings. The legendary smoke-filled rooms of the past are quickly fading asthe public and the media demand access to and openness in the legislativeprocess.

In Montana, the minutes of what happens in a committee are the only officialrecord of what the concerns were that prompted the introduction of a bill, whothe bill affects, and what the questions were regarding the bill and its purpose. Because there are no written guidelines as to what should be included in a setof minutes, there are considerable variations in the contents of meeting minutesfrom committee to committee and from session to session. With few standardsto measure against, there is a significant lack of consistency and quality amongthe minutes of the various committees, resulting in complaints from users andin a historical record that is often unclear and incomplete.

In addition, it has not been unusual for committee minutes to be unavailable forup to six months after the adjournment of a session. After the 1995 LegislativeSession, one set of committee minutes was not available until January 1996. This lack of timeliness is especially problematic for state agencies attemptingto draft rules implementing legislation and for the legal community preparing forlitigation.

iAs a result of these concerns, the 54th Montana Legislature passed SenateJoint Resolution No. 4, requesting the Legislative Council to conduct a study oflegislative committee minutes and to propose a clear definition of thecomponents to be included in committee minutes. In order to complete thestudy, staff reviewed what little literature there is on committee minutes;interviewed committee secretaries, staff from the Legislative Services Division,legislators, legislative agency staff, and House and Senate employees fromMontana as well as other states; surveyed state agency staff, legislative agencystaff, selected lobbyists and attorneys, and House and Senate staffs in otherstates; and reviewed legislative rules from numerous states. In addition, aworking group, composed of people with a great deal of interest in theproduction and utility of legislative committee minutes was formed to assiststaff in the study. Staff wishes to acknowledge the assistance of the followingpeople:

 Joyce Andrus, former Chief Clerk of the House
 Senator Sue Bartlett
 Claudia Clifford, former Secretary of the Senate
 Elizabeth Furbush, Legislative Librarian
 Judy Meadows, State Law Librarian
 Marilyn Miller, Chief Clerk of the House
 Kathie Otto, State Archivist
 Rosana Skelton, Secretary of the Senate
 Lynn Staley, secretary to Senate Finance and Claims Committee

ii CHAPTER ONE

CONSTITUTIONAL, STATUTORY, AND ARCHIVALREQUIREMENTS FOR LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES

INTRODUCTION

In January of every odd-numbered year, the Montana Legislature convenes inHelena to take up the work of governing the state of Montana. For the next90 legislative days, Senators and Representatives introduce and debatelegislation that, if approved, will affect the citizens of the state for manyyears to come. An integral part of that debate are the public hearings onlegislation that are held by the various standing committees. It is in thesepublic hearings that legislation is presented, explained, supported, opposed,questioned, debated, amended, and accepted or rejected. While it is mainlylobbyists who testify for or against legislation in committee, more and moremembers of the public are traveling to Helena to have their say on legislationthat will affect them personally. Because there is no written record of theproceedings when legislation is debated on second reading in the Committeeof the Whole, the minutes of legislative committee meetings are the onlydescriptive record of the discussion and debate and constitute an essentialpart of the permanent legal and historical record of legislative consideration. State agencies consult the minutes when drafting administrative rules toimplement the legislation. Private attorneys consult the minutes whenpreparing litigation challenging a state statute. Courts consult the minutes todetermine the intent of a statute. Other people consult the minutes todetermine why a particular bill passed or failed.

What, then, are the requirements for a set of legislative committee minutes? What do the Montana Constitution and the Montana Code Annotated sayabout legislative committee minutes? CONSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENTS

The 1889 Constitution made no mention of legislative committees. ArticleV, section 24, stated only that passage of a bill required a majority vote ofall members present in each house and that, upon final passage, the namesof those voting be entered on the journal. The 1972 Constitution requiresthat every vote of each member on each substantive question, either incommittee or in the Committee of the Whole, be recorded and made public(Article V, section 11, subsection (2)). This requirement makes it imperativethat the votes in standing committees be recorded.

STATUTORY REQUIREMENTS

Meetings of legislative committees are bound by Montana's open meetingslaw (Title 2, chapter 3, part 2, MCA). Part of that law includes the right ofthe public to inspect minutes of all meetings governed by the law (2-3-212,MCA). The law stipulates that the minutes of an open meeting must include:
 (1) the date, time, and place of the meeting;
 (2) a list of the individual members of the public body, agency, ororganization in attendance;
 (3) the substance of all matters proposed, discussed, or decided;and
 (4) at the request of any member, a record by individual membersof any votes taken.

There are no statutory requirements specifically regarding legislativecommittee minutes. The statutes do allow each legislative house toestablish its own rules, and it is within the rules of the respective housesthat the standing committee requirements are found.

SENATE RULES
Senate rules require a standing committee chair to designate a secretary totake and transcribe minutes of committee meetings (S10-90). Thecommittee presiding officer must authenticate committee reports andminutes by signing them (S30-50). The original minutes plus two copies arethen turned over to the Secretary of the Senate, who delivers them to theMontana Legislative Library to be copied on microfiche. Microfiche copiesare retained by the Montana Legislative Library, and a second set is providedto the State Law Library. The Legislative Fiscal Division receives amicrofiche copy of the minutes of the Senate Finance and Claims Committee. All original minutes are archived in the Montana Historical Society.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES RULES
The rules of the House of Representatives regarding committee minutes aresimilar to the Senate's rules. The presiding officer of a standing committeeis responsible for certifying committee reports and minutes (H30-20). Thesame copying procedure contained in the Senate rules is followed for theHouse committee minutes. A microfiche copy of the minutes of the HouseAppropriations Committee is sent to the Legislative Fiscal Division (H10-70). All original minutes are archived in the Montana Historical Society.

ARCHIVAL REQUIREMENTS

Title 22, chapter 3, part 2, MCA, creates a State Archives in the MontanaHistorical Society for the preservation of noncurrent records of permanentvalue to the state and to local governments. In addition, the State Archivistis authorized to work, upon request, with the Executive, Legislative, andJudicial Branches of state government in the establishment of recordsmanagement programs.

The State Archives is the repository for records of the Montana Legislaturethat date back to territorial days. The records are a valuable resource forresearchers seeking to understand and interpret Montana's past. Because ofthe research value of the records, the archivists are concerned about thephysical preservation of the records.

The State Archivist requires that the original legislative committee minutesbe typed on archival-quality paper that can be preserved for many years tocome. In past years, once the committee minutes were transcribed from theaudiotapes, the tapes were reused. In 1995, for the first time, the originaltapes were sent to the State Archives for storage. However, audiotapes arean unstable medium and can be kept for no longer than about 10 yearsbefore they become unusable. Because many of the research requestsrelating to committee minutes refer to more recent legislative sessions, thestaff of the State Archives hopes that requests for tapes of committeemeetings of a particular session will taper off within 10 years after thatsession, and therefore, storage of the tapes will no longer be necessary. While the State Archivist is looking at preservation methods that use newtechnological advances, for the time being, the best medium for storingthese legislative records is paper.

SUMMARY

While legislative committee minutes are recognized as a valuable resourcenot only for helping determine legislative intent but also for futureinterpretation of past events, there are few guidelines to follow indetermining what constitutes a complete set of quality minutes. The onlyconstitutional requirement is that every substantive vote taken by eachmember of the Legislature be recorded and made public. The Montana CodeAnnotated is silent on the issue of legislative committee minutes except forthe requirement that legislative committees abide by the open meetings law. House and Senate rules require only that minutes be taken, signed by thecommittee presiding officer, and transferred to the Montana LegislativeLibrary for copying on microfiche and for distribution to certain agencies. The State Archives requires that the original minutes be typed on archival-quality paper for permanent storage.

CHAPTER TWO

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES IN MONTANA

PRODUCTION OF COMMITTEE MINUTES

The standing committees of the Montana Senate and the House ofRepresentatives are required by the Rules of the Montana Legislature to keepminutes of their meetings (S30-50 and H30-20). Traditionally, it has beenthe responsibility of the committee secretary to prepare the minutes. Inaddition, the secretary is responsible for numerous other duties related tolegislative committees. The duties outlined below are generally the same inthe House of Representatives and in the Senate. There are some differencesin procedure between the two legislative bodies, but they are minor.

PRIOR TO MEETING
Once the secretary has been notified of the bills assigned to the committee,the secretary informs the committee presiding officer, who then sets thehearing dates. Once the date has been set, the secretary enters the billnumbers and the dates on the wall calendar and in the secretary's binder. Hearing notices are prepared for the committee members, legislative staff,the Senate Secretary or the House Chief Clerk, the Information Office, andthe bill sponsor. The notices are taken to the Office of the Sergeant-at-Armsfor delivery to the appropriate persons. If a meeting is cancelled or if ahearing on a particular bill is cancelled, it is the secretary's duty to note thecancellation in the appropriate places and then prepare and deliver thecancellation notices in the same manner as the hearing notices. The sameprocedure is followed when meetings are rescheduled.

The secretary is responsible for preparing the committee schedule for thecommittee presiding officer on a daily basis. The schedule includes the billnumber, sponsor, short title, date, and a copy of the first page of the bill. Ifmultiple bills are being heard on the same day, then the information isrepeated for each bill. The secretary orders bills and fiscal notes for eachcommittee member, tabs each bill, and then places the bills and fiscal notesin the committee member's binder.

DAY OF MEETING
On the day of the meeting, the secretary sets up the meeting room byputting out the binder, along with a notepad, pencil, and name plate, at eachcommittee member's seat. The visitor register and witness sheets, withpens, are placed at the entrance of the meeting room. At the secretary'sseat, the tape recorder, blank tapes, notepads, pens and pencils, gavel,exhibit stamp and stamp pad, and minutes folders are placed. Finally, thecoffee, cups, napkins, sugar, creamer, and tissues are set out. In recentsessions, committee aides have been hired to assist the secretary is settingup the committee room. This frees the secretary to concentrate on otherresponsibilities.

During the meeting, the secretary records the proceedings, marking eachtape used with the committee's name and the date of the meeting. Thesecretary also takes notes during the meeting to assist in the preparation ofthe written minutes. The secretary is responsible for collecting and stampingthe exhibits and making sure that copies of amendments are collected. When the meeting is over, the secretary collects the visitor register, witnesssheets, and secretarial materials. Material collected that is pertinent to themeeting becomes part of the minutes. The members' binders are placed onthe shelves in the committee room. If there are materials that werepresented to the members during the hearing, these are punched and placedin the binders. The room is then cleaned. Again, committee aides are usedin helping to clean up after a meeting.

FOLLOWING THE MEETING
Immediately following the meeting, the secretary prepares the committeereport request form, attaches copies of any amendments, and takes therequest form to the amendments coordinator. The coordinator prepares thecommittee report for the presiding officer's signature.

Once all of this is completed and preparations are made for the next meetingof the committee, the secretary begins the minutes. The secretary preparesthe minutes using the WordPerfect macros developed by the Office ofLegislative Information Technology of the Legislative Services Division. These macros provide a standard format for recording committee action. Once the written minutes are completed, the secretary gives a copy tosomeone to proofread. A final copy is then given to the committee presidingofficer for review and signature. A complete set of minutes includes thewritten transcription, the roll call sheet, the roll call vote sheet, a copy of thestanding committee report, exhibits and amendments, witness sheets, andvisitor register. At the end of the session, the sets of minutes for eachcommittee are delivered to the Library at the Legislative Services Division tobe checked for completeness and to be prepared for microfiching. Onemicrofiche copy is kept by the Legislative Library and one copy is sent to theState Law Library. The original written minutes are sent to the StateArchives at the Montana Historical Society, along with the original taperecordings of the committee meetings.

Currently, the written minutes include a summary of the important eventsthat occurred at the meeting. Where the summary becomes especiallyimportant is during the question and answer period and during executiveaction on a bill. Unfortunately, there is no consistent standard for the levelof detail to be captured in the minutes; the level varies from secretary tosecretary. Some secretaries attempt to capture the essence of thediscussion, while other secretaries transcribe the executive action almostverbatim. If a secretary is unfamiliar with the topic under discussion or if thetopic is highly complex or technical, the secretary may inadvertently excludeimportant information. If the minutes are not reviewed by the committeepresiding officer close to the completion of the meeting, the missinginformation might not be noticed.

Although the ideal situation would be for the secretary to begin the minutesas soon as the meeting is completed, this does not happen, especially forthose committees that meet every day. Generally, the minutes are notbegun until later in the session after the committee's work is completed. This often results in some secretaries working on the committee minuteslong after the legislative session ends and the legislators have left Helena.

SECRETARIAL SERVICES

Committee secretaries are hired by the House and by the Senate for alegislative session. The hiring is generally done by the Chief Clerk and theSecretary of the Senate, although some committee presiding officers mayalso be involved in the hiring process. The hiring is done in November andDecember, after the general election and the party caucuses. Although thereare no specific job descriptions for committee secretaries, people who arehired generally have some secretarial experience and familiarity with wordprocessing. Once in a while, a legislator asks that a specific individual behired, qualifications notwithstanding. This sort of patronage hiring, at leastfor secretaries, is becoming less and less common. However, it is becomingmore and more difficult to hire session secretaries because those with goodsecretarial skills and experience are often looking for full-time work. Thereare some secretaries who return session after session; however, eachsession brings a new supply of secretaries unfamiliar with the legislativeprocess and the pressures of the legislative environment. In more recentyears, the House and Senate administrations have attempted to providesome training for new secretaries to familiarize them with the work they willbe doing. Because most secretaries do not begin work until Decemberbefore a session, training becomes more of an orientation: where thecommittee rooms are, how to order supplies, who is responsible for what,what forms go with what procedure, etc. Secretarial handbooks have beendeveloped to assist a secretary in performing the required duties. Included inthe handbook are some guidelines for a secretary to follow in preparingcommittee minutes. The guidelines list all of the components of a set ofminutes: written minutes, roll call of members, standing committee reports,roll call votes, exhibits, and visitor register. In preparing the written minutes,secretaries are instructed to use clear and precise language that conveys aconcise account of the decisionmaking process with no suggestion of bias. The exact language of all motions is to be preserved.

A CRITIQUE

How good, then, are legislative committee minutes? Do they provide theinformation that researchers, historians, attorneys, judges, and othersrequire? If not, what are the problems? What are the solutions? In order toanswer these questions, a survey was sent to the legal division of each stateagency, to research and fiscal analysts and attorneys within the legislativeagencies, and to a selected number of private attorneys and organizationswho work as lobbyists and have used legislative committee minutes in theirwork. Those surveyed were asked to comment on their satisfaction withlegislative committee minutes, to identify problems with the minutes, tocomment on the methods for producing the minutes, and to offersuggestions for improving the minutes. A total of 98 surveys were mailedout; 71 were completed and returned for a return rate of 72%. The

following is a summary of the survey responses to specific questionsregarding legislative committee minutes. Some of the questions allowed formore than one answer. Therefore, the percentages do not add up to 100%.

(1) Have you found the legislative committee minutes satisfactory foryour purpose?
  () Yes
  () Uncertain
  () No

This question asked for only one response from each respondent. Themajority, 55%, said that they were uncertain as to whether the committeeminutes were satisfactory for their purpose. Twenty-seven percentresponded no, while only 17% responded yes.

(2) If you answered "no" or "uncertain" to the previous question, whatwere some of the problems you encountered?
  () Minutes did not provide sufficient detail.
  () Minutes were erroneous.
  () Minutes were poorly written.
  () Issue was not discussed.
  () Minutes were not available when I needed them.
  () Other

Over three-fourths, 79%, of the responses to this question, said that theminutes did not provide sufficient detail. Forty-four percent felt the minuteswere poorly written; 39% found that the issue they were interested in wasnot discussed in the minutes; 25% decried the lack of availability of theminutes when needed; and 24% said that the minutes were erroneous. Ofthose who responded "other", some of the identified issues were problemswith the exhibits and poor recording of legislators' comments.

(3) Would the minutes be better if prepared in a different manner?
  () audio tape only with exhibits attached
  () videotape only with exhibits attached
  () audio tape with written record of motions, votes,witnesses, and exhibits
  () verbatim transcript with exhibits
  () current method (summary minutes with exhibits)
  () Other

The vast majority of the responses to this question indicated that a writtenrecord was preferable to an audio or video record only. As far as a writtenrecord was concerned, 48% favored a verbatim transcript, while the currentmethod and the audiotape with written record of motions, votes, witnesses,and exhibits each garnered 25%. However, in the "other" category, thelargest number of responses asked for an improvement on the currentmethod. There was also support for a verbatim transcript of executiveaction only.

(4) What suggestions would you offer for improving the effectiveness oflegislative committee minutes?

The responses to this question elicited a number of suggestions. Because itwas an open-ended question, a breakdown of responses by category withcorresponding percentages was not possible. However, the suggestion thatappeared repeatedly in the responses was the need for better-trained andbetter-paid secretaries. Other suggestions included the need for developingstandards for committee minutes, better reporting of a committee'sexecutive session, better reporting of the questions and discussion bycommittee members, and the use of new technologies such as CD-ROMs.

(5) Other comments?

As with Question No. (4), this was open-ended and simply offered anopportunity for respondents to make additional comments. Respondentsstressed the need for better-trained, better-qualified secretaries andexpressed the need for more detail in the minutes, especially when recordinglegislators' questions and comments. Timeliness was an issue forrespondents who were involved in drafting administrative rules. Manyrespondents commented on the disparity in secretarial ability: somesecretaries provided well-written minutes that documented the meetingaccurately, while others produced minutes that were slightly better thanworthless. Comments were also made as to the need to impress uponcommittee presiding officers the importance of good committee minutes.
One suggestion made by a respondent was to have the secretaries hired andsupervised by the Legislative Services Division (LSD), provided that LSD hadthe time and resources to handle the job. One respondent suggested thatthe study look at how other states handle the hiring and supervision ofcommittee secretaries.

One respondent stated that:
 If the quality, completeness, accuracy, and timeliness ofstanding committee minutes cannot be improved throughcommitment of adequate resources, training, and oversight,the standards for standing committee minutes should beclearly set at nothing more than: date, time, and place ofmeeting; committee members in attendance; bills heard; billsacted upon; roll call votes; (and) list of visitors. The skeletonminutes should be prepared daily and adopted by thecommittee as the first order of business each day.

CHAPTER THREE

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES IN OTHER STATES

PRODUCTION OF COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES

Every state legislative body keeps some form of written record of theproceedings of standing committees. These records range from a simplecommittee report to an extensive transcription of the proceedings. Manystates record the meetings on audiotapes that are transcribed and reused,transcribed and archived, or simply archived.

The minutes are generally required by legislative rule. A review of the rulesof 24 state legislatures reveals a variety of requirements for committeeminutes. (See Table I.) Some legislative rules simply state that minutesmust be taken; others mandate what must be included in a set of minutes. Of the 24 legislatures reviewed, 18 had definite requirements for thecontents of committee minutes. The common required contents included:

 (1) time and place of meeting;
 (2) members in attendance;
 (3) names and addresses of witnesses;
 (4) list of bills, resolutions, etc., considered by the committee; and
 (5) action of committee on items under consideration, includingamendments and votes.

A few chambers asked for brief summaries of witness testimony andcommittee debate. Other information required by some chambers includedbill summaries, minority statements, statements regarding legislative intent,and references to the recording log if the meeting was tape recorded.

In addition to specifying what should be included in the committee minutes,eight of the legislatures set specific deadlines, other than the end of thesession, for the completion of the minutes. (See Table I.) One chamber set30 days after adjournment as the deadline. Eight states set deadlines thatwere a certain number of days or even hours from the meeting. Forexample, in the Arizona House, minutes must be filed with the Chief Clerkwithin 72 hours from the completion of the meeting (Rule 9, Committees). In the Nevada Senate, minutes must be filed with the Secretary of theSenate not later than two weeks after the day on which the meeting washeld (Rule 53, Committee Rules). In the Minnesota House, the minutes mustbe approved by the committee at its next regular meeting (Rule 6.06,Committee Records). In the New York Senate, the minutes of a committee'sexecutive session must be completed one week after the executive sessionoccurs (Rule VII, Standing Committees).

TABLE I

STATE	MINUTES REQUIREMENTS IN RULES	DEADLINES
Alaska Joint	Yes	No
Arizona House	No	Yes, 72 hours
Delaware Senate	No	No
Georgia Senate	Yes	No
Indiana House	No	No
Indiana Senate	No	No
Iowa House	No	No
Kansas Senate	Yes	No
Louisiana House	Yes	No
Missouri House	Yes	No
Missouri Senate	No	No
Minnesota House	Yes	Yes, next regularmeeting
Nevada Senate	Yes	Yes, 2 weeks aftermeeting
New Hampshire House	Yes	No
New York Assembly	No	No
New York Senate	Yes	Yes, 1 week afterexecutive session
North Carolina Senate	Yes	Yes, not later than30 after adjournment
North Dakota Senate	Yes	No
Oregon Senate	Yes	No
South Dakota Joint	Yes	Yes, 2 days aftermeeting
Texas Senate	No	Yes, 7 days aftermeeting
Texas House	Yes	Yes, 5 days aftermeeting
Virginia House	No	No
Virginia Senate	No	No

In recent years, more and more legislative chambers have begun taperecording their committee proceedings. (See Tables II and III.) In fact, out of99 legislative chambers in the United States (Nebraska has a unicamerallegislature), less than one-third do not do any taping. Thirty chambers tapeall committee meetings. The remainder tape meetings ranging from mostcommittee meetings to only specific types of meetings; e.g. confirmationhearings. Over half of the states tape committee meetings in bothchambers.

The tapes are used for a variety of reasons, the most prominent being forlegislative history and determining legislative intent. A few states use thetapes to aid the secretaries in preparing the committee minutes. Almost halfof the chambers archive the tapes, while one-third transcribe the tapes. Many states make the tapes available for public listening, either at a centrallocation or through the purchase of the tapes. The tapes are available forpurchase in about one-fourth of the legislative chambers.

TABLE II

STATES THAT TAPE LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE MEETINGS
SENATE

STATE	TO WHAT EXTENT?	TRANSCRIBED	ARCHIVED
Alaska	All	Yes	Yes
Arizona	Most	No	No
Arkansas	Less than half	No	Yes
Colorado	All	Yes, if requested	Yes
Connecticut	All	Yes	Yes
Delaware, ifrequested byChair	Less than half	No	Yes
Florida	All	No	Yes
Georgia	Less than half	Yes	No
Idaho	Joint Finance/Approp.Comm.; others atsecretary's discretion	No	Yes
Indiana	Less than half	Yes, some	No
Kentucky	Less than half	Yes	Yes
Louisiana	All	Yes	Yes
Maine	Only confirmationsessions	No	Yes
Michigan	All	No	Yes
Minnesota	All	No	Yes
Missouri	Less than half	Yes	No
Montana	All	Yes	Yes
Nebraska	All	Yes	Yes
Nevada	All	Yes	Yes
NewHampshire	All	Yes	Yes
New Jersey	Less than half	Yes	No
New York:no audiotape; usecourtreporters	All	Yes	No
NorthCarolina	All	Yes	No
NorthDakota	All	No	Yes
Ohio	Less than half	No	No
Oklahoma	Less than half	No	No
Oregon	All	No	Yes
Pennsylvania	Less than half	Yes	Yes
SouthCarolina	Most	Yes	No
Tennessee	All	Yes	Yes
Texas	All	Yes	Yes
Utah	All	No	Yes
Vermont	One-half	No	No
Washington	All	Yes	Yes
WestVirginia	Most	No	No

TABLE III

STATES THAT TAPE LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE MEETINGS
HOUSE

STATE	TO WHAT EXTENT?	TRANSCRIBED	ARCHIVED
Alabama, if requested	Less than half	Yes	No
Alaska	All	No	Yes
Arizona	Most	No	No
Arkansas	All	Yes	No
Colorado	All	Yes, at request of member	Yes
Connecticut	All	Yes	Yes
Delaware	Less than half	No	Yes
Florida	All	No	Yes
Illinois	All	No	Yes
Indiana	Most	No	No
Kentucky	All	Yes	Yes
Louisiana	All	No	Yes
Maine	Only confirmation sessions	No	Yes
Michigan	Less than half	Yes	No
Minnesota	All	No	Yes
Montana	All	Yes	Yes
Nevada	All	Yes	Yes
NewHampshire	Less than half	No	Yes
New Jersey	Only announced public hearings	Yes	Yes
New Mexico	All	Yes	Yes
NorthCarolina	Most	Yes	No
NorthDakota	All	No	Yes
Oregon	All	No	Yes
SouthCarolina	Most	Yes	Yes
Tennessee	All	No	Yes
Texas	All	No	Yes
Utah	All	No	No
Vermont	Only at chair's request	Yes	Yes
Washington	All	Yes, as needed	Yes
WestVirginia	All	No	Yes

COMMITTEE SECRETARIAL SERVICES

Although the legislative rules usually refer to the keeping of minutes as theresponsibility of the committee or the committee presiding officer, it isgenerally the committee secretary to whom this responsibility falls. In Aprilof this year, staff sent surveys to 25 state legislative bodies seekinginformation on standing committee secretarial services. The legislativebodies chosen were those that closely resembled Montana's legislativebodies; i.e., part-time legislators and, in some instances, bodies meeting inbiennial sessions. The following is a summary of the survey responses tospecific questions regarding legislative committee secretarial services.

(1) Who hires the secretaries for the standing committees?
 () Chief Clerk/Senate Secretary
 () Committee chairpersons
 () Legislative agency
 () Other

The answers to Question (1) were fairly evenly divided among the fourpossibilities. Committee presiding officers and legislative agency eachgarnered 21% of the responses. Chief Clerk/Senate Secretary received 29%as did "Other". The responses listed under "Other" included: staff director,supervisor of secretaries, employment committee in each house, and acommittee made up of legislative leadership.

(2) Is there a job description that includes qualifications for a committeesecretary?

The response to this question was evenly divided between "yes" and "no" at43%. Fourteen percent did not respond.

(3) Who supervises the committee secretaries?
 () Chief Clerk/Senate Secretary
 ()  Committee chairperson
 ()  Legislative agency
 ()  Other

While one might expect that the responses to this question would closelymirror the responses to Question (1), that did not occur. The person orentity that hires the secretary does not necessarily supervise the secretary. Twenty-nine percent responded that the committee presiding officer wasresponsible for supervision. The Chief Clerk/Senate Secretary supervised in14% of the survey responses as did a legislative agency. Fifty percentresponded that some other person or entity was responsible for supervision. Those "others" included: staff director, committee research staff, secretarialsupervisor, committee coordinator, committee staff administrator, and acommittee services director.

(4) Besides Committee minutes and committee reports, what other dutiesare assigned to a committee secretary?
 ()  Hearing notification
 ()  Committee room setup
 ()  Secretarial duties for committee chairperson
 () Secretarial duties for other legislators and/or staff
 ()  Other

Every survey, with one exception, answered this question with more thanone response. Eighty-six percent responded that hearing notification was theresponsibility of the committee secretary. This was followed by 79% forsecretarial duties for committee presiding officers or other legislators/staff,57% for room setup, and 21% for "Other", including secretarial duties forthe committee administrator, meeting agendas as directed by the committeeanalyst, and duties as assigned by the committee presiding officer. Sevenpercent did not respond.

(5) Is one secretary assigned to one committee for the entire session?

 ()  Yes
 ()  No

(6) Are there committees that have more than one secretary?
 ()  Yes
 ()  No

Generally speaking, one secretary is assigned to one committee and remainswith that committee for the duration of the legislative session. However,43% responded that some committees have more than one secretary. TheNevada Senate, for example, assigns no fewer than two secretaries to eachcommittee. If a committee meets five days a week, three secretaries areassigned: one schedules meetings and handles all other clerical duties, whilethe other two prepare for meetings, record the meetings, and transcribe theminutes. Other legislative bodies reported that committees with heavyworkloads have assistant secretaries, staff support persons, and committeeclerks. One survey said that a committee can have a staff ranging from twoto seven people; staffing varies at the discretion of the committee presidingofficer.

(7) Is training provided to committee secretaries prior to the beginning ofa legislative session?

 ()  Yes
 ()  No

Everyone who answered this question answered "yes". The length of thetraining ranged from half a day to one week. The training generallyconsisted of work with computers or word processing and with committeeprocedures: contents of minutes; preparing amendments, hearing schedules,and committee reports; using the bill status system; legislative process andrules; protocol and ethics; and general administrative responsibilities. Onestate reported that weekly staff meetings are held to discuss procedures,problems, etc.

(8) What kind of technical and staff assistance is provided to committeesecretaries?
 ()  Committee aide
 ()  Proofreaders
 ()  Other

Almost all of the responses indicated that committee secretaries are providedwith some form of personnel assistance. The most common is a committeeaide or clerk who helps set up the committee room, makes copies, puts billsinto the committee members' books, and runs errands. Some legislativebodies use transcribers to prepare rough drafts of the committee minutesfrom the audiotapes; some transcribers actually prepare the final copy.

(9) Is there a deadline by which committee secretaries must have theircommittee minutes completed?
 ()  Yes
 ()  No

Fifty percent of the responses stated that deadlines were imposed, while43% answered "no". The deadlines ranged from the next committeemeeting to three weeks after the end of the session. Two of the legislativebodies that replied no said that secretaries are encouraged to complete theminutes within two weeks of the meeting; their progress toward meetingthat timeframe is closely monitored.

(10) Other Comments:

Among the most interesting comments were those from the ColoradoGeneral Assembly. The Colorado Legislative Council provides an analyst foreach committee. The analyst's duties include preparing a meeting summary,scheduling bills, preparing the committee report, writing amendments,serving as a liaison to the public, and performing research. A staffassistance pool assists the analyst by formatting the committee documents,including the meeting summaries and committee reports. In more recentyears, however, the meeting summary has become less important, and manycommittee analysts no longer write them. CHAPTER FOUR

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

FINDINGS

1. There are very few guidelines or consistent standards for a secretary to follow in determining what constitutes a complete set of quality committee minutes.
2. Committee secretaries are minimally qualified when hired and receive little relevant training to prepare them for their principal responsibility--recording committee activities.
3. Committee secretaries have many other duties and responsibilities that make it difficult for them to complete their minutes in a timely manner.
4. Standing committee secretarial positions are not highly sought by well-qualified, professional secretaries, partially because of the seasonal nature of the work and partially because of the pay levels, among other factors.
5. Only one in six of the people who responded to the survey--people who use legislative committee minutes--felt that committee minutes meet their needs.
6. Nearly four out of five respondents indicated that committee minutes lack sufficient detail.
7. Almost half of the respondents favored a verbatim transcript of committee action.
8. A majority of respondents indicated an overall desire for better-trained and better-qualified secretaries, more detail in the minutes, and more timely minutes.
9. Many legislatures in other states have definite requirements for the content of committee minutes and impose deadlines for the completion of the minutes.
10. Close to one-half of the respondents to the survey of state legislative bodies indicated that they have specific qualifications for committee secretaries.
11. Many legislatures in other states allocate more staff resources to standing committees than does Montana.

CONCLUSIONS

1. People who use legislative committee minutes to meet their business or public responsibilities see a need for improved records of committee activities.
2. Resources allocated to recording committee activities do not meet the demands of the users of those records.
3. To meet the expressed desires of people who use committee minutes, the Legislature needs to provide for better-qualified, better-trained, and additional numbers of secretaries.
4. Committee presiding officers should take more responsibility for reviewing committee minutes.
5. The current requirement for summary minutes, coupled with the other duties and responsibilities, make it extremely difficult for committee secretaries to produce the minutes in a timely manner.
6. If the Legislature is unwilling or unable to commit adequate resources for the production of high-quality summary minutes in a timely manner, the current method of producing summary minutes should be replaced with a more simplified version of the minutes.

CHAPTER FIVE

ISSUES AND OPTIONS FOR
LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES

INTRODUCTION

After compiling and analyzing the various surveys and reviewing the smallamount of literature available on this subject, staff developed a number of"Issues and Options" papers. Each of these papers identified a problem withthe current system of producing legislative committee minutes, providedbackground information on the problem, and offered some suggestions forsolving the problem. The "Issues and Options" papers were presented to theLegislative Council on September 12, 1996, for its consideration.

ISSUE NUMBER ONE

There is no clear definition of the components of a set of committee minutes. In the absence of such a definition, secretaries are left to decide whatinformation should be included in and what should be left out of the minutes. This leads to inconsistencies in the amount and the quality of theinformation.

BACKGROUND
Article V, section 11(2) of the Montana Constitution declares that:
 Every vote of each member of the legislature on eachsubstantive question in the legislature, in any committee, or incommittee of the whole shall be recorded and made public. On final passage, the vote shall be taken by ayes and noes andthe names entered on the journal.

In addition, 2-3-212, MCA, states that the minutes of all meetings of publicagencies must include the date, time, and place of the meeting; a list of theindividual members in attendance; the substance of all matters proposed,discussed, or decided; and, if requested by any member, a record byindividual members of any vote taken. In a legislative committee, the"substance of all matters proposed, discussed, or decided" could simply bethe number and title of each bill along with any proposed amendments.

Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure does not address legislativecommittee minutes in a manner that would assist secretaries in determiningwhat should be included. Robert's Rules of Order, on the other hand,devotes an entire section to the proceedings, or "minutes", of a committee. According to Robert's, the minutes should contain:

 (1) the name of the organization;
 (2) the date, time, and place of the meeting;
 (3) the attendance of the presiding officer and secretary;
 (4) whether the minutes of the previous meeting were read andapproved;
 (5) the subject matter considered and all motions pertaining to thesubject matter;
 (6) all main motions, secondary motions, and notices of motions;
 (7) all points of order and appeals; and
 (8) the hour of adjournment.

Robert's maintains that, unless the minutes are to be published, the minutesshould contain a record of what was done at the meeting, not what was saidby the members. If the minutes are to be published, the minutes shouldinclude a list of all speakers on each side of every question, with an abstractor the text of each address. No mention is made of including any discussionof the subject matter by the members.

Some state legislative bodies define the components of a set of committeeminutes in the legislative rules. Some of the common components are date,time, and place of the meeting; list of members in attendance; list ofwitnesses; bills and amendments considered; action of committee on eachbill and amendment; and vote of individual members on all motions. Somestates do require some sort of brief statement or summary of remarks bywitnesses or members.

Based on the results of the survey sent to the users of Montana legislativecommittee minutes, people who use the minutes want more detail in theminutes, especially during the question and answer period and duringexecutive session.

OPTIONS
1. Include in the minutes only those components required by theMontana Constitution and Montana law.

The components under this option would be:

 (1) date, time, and place of the meeting;
 (2) names of committee members in attendance;
 (3) titles of bills considered by the committee;
 (4) all of the substantive motions made in the meeting; and
 (5) every vote of each member on each substantive question.

The current House and Senate Journals consist of these components. Standing committee minutes composed of these components would lookvery much like the journals.

2. Prepare "simplified" minutes.

The components of a set of "simplified" minutes would be:

 (1) date, time, and place of the meeting;
 (2) committee members in attendance, excused, or absent;
 (3) bills heard;
 (4) list of witnesses;
 (5) bills acted upon, including amendments;
 (6) motions and votes;
 (7) list of visitors; and
 (8) attached exhibits.

This option would meet the constitutional and statutory requirements whileproviding additional information that could prove useful to researchers andother users of committee minutes.

3. Use Option No. 2 with an additional component: a digest of importantpoints made by witnesses and by committee members.

This option is basically what the current minutes attempt to include. However, the problem is determining what exactly are the important points. Right now, that determination is made by the committee secretary who mayor may not have the necessary expertise to make the determination.

How does the committee secretary go about determining what are theimportant points made by witnesses before the committee and by thecommittee members? One possibility would be to require that witnessesprovide a written copy of their remarks before the committee, even if theyare just handwritten. Another possibility would be to have the minutesavailable at the next meeting or within one week of the meeting for reviewby the entire committee.

ISSUE NUMBER TWO

The quality of legislative committee minutes is inconsistent. While someminutes are very well written, others are poorly written. Some of theproblems identified by users of the minutes include: lack of sufficient detail;mistakes in the recording of statements, motions, or other important matters;and omission of the discussion of some issues that occurred at the meeting.

BACKGROUND
The minutes of legislative committee meetings constitute a permanenthistorical record of legislative activity. The minutes record the nature of thecommittee's discussion, the scope of the legislation's provisions, the plannedor perceived impact of the legislation on various groups and individuals, andthe views of interested persons.

Because the minutes are an important historical record, it is the job of thesecretary to make sure that the minutes accurately reflect the deliberationsof the committee on the legislation under consideration. There is little roomfor mistakes.

Unfortunately, mistakes do occur, and some minutes are so poorly written asto be useless. In response to the survey question about satisfaction withcommittee minutes (see Chapter Two), only 17% of the users of committeeminutes found them satisfactory.OPTIONS
1. Provide verbatim transcripts instead of summary minutes.

The current policy regarding committee minutes is to provide summaryminutes. These minutes are a synopsis of the meeting, capturing the majorpoints of the discussion in a succinct manner and accurately recording themotions and votes. Summary minutes lend themselves to mistakes. Thesummarization is left to the committee secretary who may or may not befamiliar with the topic under discussion. The most difficult portion ofsummary minutes is the discussion by the committee of the bill underconsideration. Attempting to paraphrase the members' questions andcomments can be very difficult, especially if the secretary is unfamiliar withthe subject or the member is not particularly articulate.

To avoid the mistakes or errors that can occur in summary minutes, averbatim transcript of the meeting can be made. In a verbatim transcript, theproceedings of the meeting are transcribed word for word. There is littleroom for interpretation or error.

Verbatim transcripts could be prepared by the committee secretary or bysomeone in the word processing pool. If the secretary is selected to do thetranscription, the secretary would have to be freed from some of the othersecretarial duties because verbatim transcripts take a great deal of time toprepare. If the word processing pool is selected to do the verbatimtranscripts, more word processors (equipment and personnel) may benecessary. Additionally, committee meetings, especially questions, answers,and discussion, would have to be conducted more formally.

A compromise between summary and verbatim minutes may be tosummarize the testimony portion of the meeting but to transcribe verbatimthe question and answer portion and the executive session.

2. Rely on audiotapes of the meeting and prepare only "simplified"minutes.

Another option for preparing minutes that would avoid the identifiedproblems with the current summary minutes would be to rely on theaudiotapes of the meeting for the testimony, questions and answers, andcommittee discussion and to prepare only a "simplified" set of minutes asthe written record. A "simplified" set of minutes would include such itemsas:

 (1) date, time, and place of the meeting;
 (2) committee members in attendance, excused, or absent;
 (3) bills heard;
 (4) list of witnesses;
 (5) bills acted upon, including amendments;
 (6) motions and votes;
 (7) list of visitors; and
 (8) attached exhibits.

A recording log would also have to accompany the written minutes. This logwould serve as an index, allowing a listener to find the approximate place onthe tape that the listener was looking for.

If this option were chosen, great care would have to be taken to ensure thatthe audiotapes were of good quality and would be readily available for use. Currently, the tapes are available only at the Montana Historical Society. Inorder to make the tapes more accessible, more repositories for the tapeswould have to be found.

3. Hire better-qualified secretaries.

Currently, there are no job qualifications nor are there job descriptions forcommittee secretaries. Secretaries are hired through the House and Senateand not through the Montana Job Service. While there are someexperienced secretaries who return session after session, others are hired fora variety of reasons, qualifications notwithstanding. It is possible that asession secretary will have no experience with secretarial work nor anyexperience with word processing.

An option for consideration is to initiate a more standardized hiring processthat includes developing a job description for a committee secretary and thenestablishing qualifications for the position. The House and Senate could stillhire, but at least those who are hired would meet minimum job qualifications.The House and Senate could go one step further and hire secretaries in thesame manner as all state employees are hired.

One suggestion that was made by a respondent to the survey of users ofcommittee minutes was to have the committee secretaries hired andsupervised by the Legislative Services Division (LSD). This would allow LSDto develop job descriptions, set minimum qualifications, and hire secretariesin the same manner that other LSD session employees are hired. However,the supervision would involve a significant outlay of time on the part ofsomeone on the LSD staff during a legislative session, when staff resourcesare already stretched to the limit. It would probably necessitate the hiring ofa temporary secretarial supervisor whose sole job would be to ensure thatthe minutes were intelligible, completed in a timely manner, signed by thecommittee presiding officer, and distributed, along with the audiotapes, tothe proper repositories.

4. Hire professional editors as part of the session staff.

Professional editors would be a valuable asset to the staffs of both theHouse and the Senate. The editors' job would be to review and editcommittee minutes, although editors could also edit other documents suchas the legislative journals and floor amendments not written by staff of theLegislative Services Division.

ISSUE NUMBER THREE

The minutes are not completed and available in a reasonable amount of time. In some cases, the minutes are not available until many months after the endof the legislative session. For example, after the 1995 Session, the minutesof one Senate Committee were not available until January 1996.

BACKGROUND
The minutes of a legislative committee are vitally important for the staff ofstate agencies who are preparing administrative rules to implement newlyenacted laws. Generally, administrative rules are promulgated during thesummer following a session in order to be in place by October 1, the generaleffective date for most legislation. If someone wants to challenge newlyenacted legislation in the courts, attorneys may rely on legislative committeeminutes in preparing for litigation. Other uses of committee minutes thatdemand timely availability include preparing for interim studies, compilinglegislative histories, answering requests for information about newly enactedlaws, and reporting to constituent groups on a recently completed legislativesession. When the minutes are not available in a timely manner, it makes itvery difficult for state agencies, private attorneys, lobbyists, and legislatorsto fulfill their responsibilities to their clients and constituents.

Many state legislative bodies have placed deadlines in their rules for thecompletion of committee minutes. These deadlines range from the nextregularly scheduled meeting of the committee to one month after the end ofthe legislative session. Some legislative bodies do not have deadlines, butencourage secretaries to complete the minutes within two weeks of themeeting; their progress toward meeting that timeframe is closely monitored.

OPTIONS
1. Establish a deadline for the completion of legislative committeeminutes.

There is currently no deadline by which legislative committee minutes mustbe completed. While secretaries are encouraged to complete the minutes assoon as possible, there are no sanctions imposed on the secretary or thepresiding officer for minutes completed well after the end of a legislativesession. In some instances, the minutes are completed in a timely mannerbut are delayed when a committee presiding officer fails to read and signthem in a timely manner.

If the Montana House and Senate were to establish deadlines for thecompletion of minutes, other changes would most likely have to be made toaccommodate those deadlines. Those changes could include the hiring ofadditional secretaries, freeing up secretaries from some of their other dutiesin order to concentrate on completing the minutes, or changing the formatfor committee minutes from summary minutes to "simplified" minutes. Also,some form of sanctions for secretaries, presiding officers, or both for failureto meet the deadlines might have to be instituted in order to make thedeadlines more effective.

If secretaries were required to have committee minutes completed before theend of a legislative session, the schedule could include time for a review ofthe minutes by the committee members. If the deadline was set forsometime after the session ended, the schedule would have to allow for atimely review by the committee presiding officer.

2. Hire additional secretaries, especially for the Class 1 committees.

There are many legislative committees that carry very heavy loads. Mostoften, these are the Class 1 committees that meet every day. Butsometimes, it can be a Class 2 or Class 3 committee that handles particularlycontroversial issues that result in long and often difficult meetings. In theseinstances, the work of the committee secretary becomes almostoverwhelming. To handle this heavy workload, an additional secretary couldbe assigned. The Nevada Senate, for example, assigns no fewer than twosecretaries to each committee. If a committee meets five days a week, threesecretaries are assigned: one schedules meetings and handles all otherclerical duties, while the other two prepare for meetings, record themeetings, and transcribe the minutes.

During the 1995 Legislative Session, the Senate Judiciary Committee, aClass 1 committee, had two secretaries who took turns taking the minutes ofthe committee meetings. The secretaries worked very well together andwere able to produce quality minutes in a timely manner. Such anarrangement could work with other committees.

3. Hire additional staff to assist committee secretaries.

In addition to recording committee activities, committee secretaries performa number of other duties: meeting notification; preparation of the committeeschedule; ordering of bills and fiscal notes; maintaining the members'notebooks; setting up meeting rooms; collecting exhibits, witness sheets,and visitor registers; taping committee meetings; cleaning up meeting rooms;preparing committee reports; and transcribing minutes. Each of these tasksinvolves other tasks. In some instances, committee secretaries performsecretarial duties for the committee presiding officer, such as answeringconstituent correspondence, making phone calls, and arranging forcommittee social events.

Each of the above-listed tasks takes away from the time needed to preparethe committee minutes. The hiring of additional staff could relieve thesecretary of many of these other duties. Other states' legislative bodiesassign additional staff to committees, such as assistant secretaries, staffsupport persons, and committee clerks. During more recent sessions of theMontana Legislature, committee aides have been hired to assist the secretarywith such duties as preparing the meeting room and maintaining themembers' notebooks.

ISSUE NUMBER FOUR

The lines of authority regarding the hiring and the supervision of committeesecretaries are very hazy. Legislative leadership, the LegislativeAdministration Committees, the standing committee presiding officers, theSecretary of the Senate, and the Chief Clerk of the House are all mentionedas having hiring and supervisory authority over Senate and Houseemployees. For committee secretaries, it is especially confusing becauseboth the committee presiding officer and either the Secretary of the Senateor the Chief Clerk of the House have supervisory authority over them.

BACKGROUND
The Senate Rules state that the Senate shall employ staff as recommendedby the leadership and the Legislative Administration Committee. The Rulesgo on to say that a committee presiding officer shall designate a secretary totake and transcribe the minutes of committee meetings. The secretary isimmediately responsible to the presiding officer but works under the directionof the Secretary of the Senate, subject to the authority of the presidingofficer. The House Rules state that the Speaker shall recommend to theLegislative Administration Committee the employment of necessary staff. Acommittee secretary is responsible to the committee presiding officer butworks under the direction of the Chief Clerk.

In more recent sessions, a word processing supervisor has been hired in theSenate and in the House. This supervisor also has been given someauthority over the committee secretaries, although this authority is notspelled out in the Rules of either body.

OPTIONS
1. Make committee secretaries directly responsible to the Chief Clerk orSecretary of the Senate.

This option would change the relationship between the committee presidingofficer and the committee secretary. No longer would the committeesecretary be considered a secretary to the presiding officer and, therefore,available to do private correspondence. The word processing pool would beavailable to provide secretarial assistance to a committee presiding officer. This would give the Chief Clerk or Secretary of the Senate the authority,either directly or through the word processing supervisor, to more closelymonitor a secretary's progress in completing committee minutes in a timelymanner.

2. Make the committee presiding officer the sole supervisor of thecommittee secretary; eliminate the supervisory role of the Chief Clerkand Secretary of the Senate.

This option would place greater responsibility on the committee presidingofficer. It would mean that the committee presiding officer would beresponsible for monitoring the progress of the secretary in completing theminutes. This responsibility might not end with the end of the session butcould continue after the session until the secretary was finished with theminutes. This option would pose difficulties in that legislators leave Helenaas soon as the session is over, which would make it very difficult for them tomonitor the secretaries' progress.

3. Write a job description for committee secretaries that specificallydelineates the lines of authority and supervision as well as the dutiesof a committee secretary.

A job description would go a long way in assisting committee secretaries inunderstanding exactly what their duties are and are not and to whom theyare responsible. If personal secretarial duties for a committee presidingofficer are deemed appropriate duties for a committee secretary, then thatwould be included in the job description. The same would be true for otherduties, such as organizing committee social events. The job descriptioncould also clarify to whom a secretary is responsible for what duties.

ISSUE NUMBER FIVE

Microfiche copies of legislative committee minutes are distributed to librariesthroughout the state through the depository library system. However,microfiche is difficult to read and is not searchable through the use ofkeywords or phrases. If the date on which a bill was considered is recordedincorrectly, the search for the hearing on that bill can become veryfrustrating.

BACKGROUND
Committee minutes have been microfiched since 1987. Microfiche hasproven to be a relatively efficient means of storing committee minutes. Aset of minutes from an entire legislative session can be kept in a single three-ring binder as opposed to a three-drawer file cabinet. Searching microficheis also easier than poring over reams and reams of paper. If copies arenecessary, they can be made right off of the microfiche reader with the pushof a button.

However, with the rapid advances in computer technology, more and moreinformation is now being stored on CD-ROMs. In 1993, the LegislativeServices Division began making the Montana Code Annotated available onCD-ROM. In 1995, the House and Senate Journals were published onCD-ROM. As more and more people hop onto the information superhighway,they will want easier and quicker access to information, including legislativecommittee minutes.

OPTION
Put legislative committee minutes on a CD-ROM and make them available inthe same manner as other legislative publications.

The Legislative Services Division has the capability and the experience ofputting legislative information on a CD-ROM. Adding the committee minutesis technically feasible, providing that staff assistance is available to createthe CD-ROM and to scan the meeting exhibits into an electronic format sothat they can be included on the CD-ROM. Paper copies and microfichewould still be available as backup resources.

RECOMMENDATION

At its meeting on September 12, 1996, the Legislative Council heard apresentation on the "Issues and Options" for changing the current method ofproducing legislative committee minutes. The Council members questionedthe need for continuing the current method of producing committee minutes. If determining legislative intent was necessary for a particular piece oflegislation, then the audiotapes of the meeting at which the legislation wasconsidered would be more valuable than a written record produced by asecretary. If a secretary has too many other duties and responsibilities thatpreclude completing the minutes in a timely manner, then the type ofminutes being produced should be changed. Expecting the presiding officerof a committee to take a greater role in reviewing the minutes wasunrealistic. Council members also saw no need to change the current hiringpractices nor the roles of the committee presiding officer and the SenateSecretary and House Chief Clerk in supervising the committee secretaries. Ifthe House and Senate administrations saw a need for more than onesecretary for a committee, they already had the flexibility to make thatdecision. Deadlines were generally favored by the Council members, but nodecision was made to establish specific deadlines. It was felt that theSenate and House administration could set deadlines without formal adoptionby the Rules Committees.

Following the presentation and after some discussion, the Council adoptedthe following motion:

 To change minutes to simplified minutes with copies of tapesavailable as appropriate, written statements allowed fortestimony, encourage deadlines, and store minutes onCD-ROM.

This recommendation will be forwarded to the House and Senate RulesCommittees for consideration and adoption. The Rules Committees will notmeet until after the legislative caucuses that are scheduled for November 23,1996. At that time, staff will provide further information as to theimplementation and costs of the proposal.

The written minutes of a committee meeting will still be the official record ofthe meeting. The original written minutes, including the exhibits and otherattachments, will be stored in the State Archives at the Montana HistoricalSociety. The written minutes will no longer be microfiched but will beavailable on CD-ROM for review or for purchase. The State Law Library willeither keep a paper copy of the minutes or will use the CD-ROM. Theaudiotapes will be kept by the State Archives, and copies will be available forpurchase. The State Archivist is recommending that the tapes be kept fortwo sessions and then recycled. In the past, the written minutes and thetapes were not available for use until after the legislative session ended. Under this proposal, it is anticipated that the written minutes and the tapeswill be available during the session.

Currently, the written summary minutes are available at libraries across thestate. Under this new proposal, the written minutes will still be available inlibraries, but for a more complete discussion of what occurred during acommittee meeting, a person will have to personally go to the State Archivesto listen to the tape or will have to purchase a copy of the particular tape.

Because this proposal is a departure from the summary minutes that have been produced, staff recommends that the Legislative Council, with the assistance of the State Archives, the State Law Library, and the Senate and House administrations, review and critique this new method next interim and, if necessary, refine the process or return to the summary minutes.

CHAPTER SIX

CONCLUSION

The decision made by the Legislative Council on September 12, 1996,represents a significant break from the past. No longer will attorneys,lobbyists, public employees, legislators, or members of the public be able toread the minutes of a legislative committee to determine what transpired orwhat the thought processes of a committee were in accepting or rejecting aparticular piece of legislation. This information will now have to be gleanedfrom the audiotape of the meeting.

Critics of the proposal believe it is a step backward in providing publicaccess to the legislative process. The written minutes will be virtuallyuseless except as a record of how individual members voted on a particularpiece of legislation. The reasoning behind their votes, if expressed duringthe committee meeting, will no longer be as readily available as it was in thepast.

Supporters of the proposal maintain that it is better to listen to the tape toglean intent or the reasons for a particular vote than to rely on a secretary'sdecision as to what information should or should not be included in theminutes. One of the persistent criticisms of the current method is a lack ofdetail. Short of a verbatim transcript, summary minutes will never containeverything that everyone thinks should be included.

For good or ill, the proposal has been adopted by the Legislative Council andwill be recommended to the Rules Committees for adoption. Members of theSenate Joint Resolution No. 4 working group continue to meet to deviseways to best implement the proposal and to determine the costs of therecommendation.

As with any type of change, to depart from the familiar and the comfortableis difficult. However, it behooves those most affected by the change toassist in effecting the change in a manner that causes the least disruption. Should the proposal prove ineffective or detrimental to the legislativeprocess, change is always possible.

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