Mr. President, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Legislative Drafting Service, which we now know as the Office of the Legislative Counsel. In recognition of the…
Mr. President, this year marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Legislative Drafting Service, which we now know as the Office of the Legislative Counsel. In recognition of the anniversary, I would like to make a few comments about the history of the office.
During the first 130 years of Congress, 1789-1918, legislation for Congress was drafted by Members of Congress, congressional staff, Executive agencies, and outside individuals and groups which sometimes led to legislation that was not always clear, consistent, organized, and well written.
In 1911, Columbia University established a Legislative Drafting Research Fund to conduct research and work toward the better drafting of statutes and sent Professor Middleton Beaman and Thomas Parkinson to Congress to demonstrate the feasibility and value of the use by Congress of a full-time staff of professional legislative drafters.
The positive experiences of committees, Members, and staff of Congress, including the Ways and Means Committee of the House of Representatives, in working with professional legislative drafters led to the introduction and consideration of legislation to establish a Legislative Drafting Bureau, including S. 1240, 63rd Congress, which was reported to the Senate on June 17, 1913.
During the debate on the establishment of a Legislative Drafting Bureau, Senator Elihu Root of New York argued in favor of establishment citing the use of counsel by the British House of Commons and stating that ``[t]he fundamental idea . . . to give the benefit of a trained, experienced student in the preparation of bills. . . . We need trained and intelligent assistance in the drafting of laws.''
On February 24, 1919, Congress enacted section 1303 of the Revenue Act
of 1918, 2 U.S.C. 271 et seq., which established the Legislative Drafting Service.
The House of Representatives and the Senate were initially served by a single office with two branches that received a single appropriation that was equally divided and transferred employees between the branches to meet special needs.
The two individuals who carried out the demonstration by the Legislative Drafting Research Fund became the first Legislative Counsels of the Legislative Drafting Service with Middleton Beaman appointed in February 1919 as the first Legislative Counsel of the House of Representatives branch of the Service and Thomas Parkinson appointed in March 1919 as the first Legislative Counsel of the Senate branch of the Service.
In 1924, the name of the office was changed from the Legislative Drafting Service to the Office of the Legislative Counsel.
The House of Representatives and the Senate branches of the Office of the Legislative Counsel began to evolve separately during the 1930s when the Senate branch, while continuing to meet the drafting needs of Senate committees, began to devote a significant part of the resources of the Office to the drafting requests of individual Senators while the House branch continued to limit the services of the branch to committees of the House.
The House of Representatives and the Senate branches of the Office continued to separate in 1958 when, for the first time, the two branches received separate and not equal appropriations and were officially separated in 1970 when a separate charter was established for the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the House by title V of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, 2 U.S.C. 281 et seq.
The first attorneys joined the Office to work only for a session or on a particular project and then moved on to other positions, with Thomas Parkinson, the first Legislative Counsel of the Senate, and John E. Walker, the successor of Parkinson, each serving fewer than 2 years and Frederic P. Lee, the third Legislative Counsel of the Senate, being the first to serve a substantial term of about 8 years.
The career tradition of the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the Senate was established with successors to Frederic P. Lee who served the Senate in the Office for their careers or long periods of employment, including Charles Boots--1922-1961, 32 years; Henry Wood-- 1926-1943, 17 years; Stephen Rice--1933-1950, 17 years; John Simms-- 1936-1966, 30 years; Dwight Pinion--1942-1969, 27 years; John Herberg-- 1947-1971, 24 years; Harry Littell--1947-1980, 33 years; Douglas Hester--1952-1990, 38 years; Francis Burk--1970-1998, 28 years; James Fransen--1975-2014, 39 years; Gary Endicott--1981-2018, 38 years; and Bill Baird--2010-present, 33 years, who served as attorneys of the Office and Legislative Counsels of the Senate.
During the 100-year history of the Office, the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the Senate has served the Senate well by providing a steady, reliable source of nonpartisan and nonpolitical professionally drafted legislation for committees, Members, and staff.
The attorneys and staff members of the Office have established and maintained traditions of professionalism and dedication that have helped to provide to the Senate a sense of continuity and institutional memory.
There has been a dramatic growth in the use of the Office by the Senate where, during the 66th and 67th Congresses--1919-1923--704 requests were drafted by three attorneys for an average of 117 drafts per attorney for both Congresses, to the most recently ended 115th Congress--2017-2018--where 72,106 requests were drafted by 37 attorneys for an average of 1,948 drafts per attorney for that Congress.
To deal with its increasing workload, in 1990, the Office established teams with multiple attorneys per team that were responsible for drafting legislation under the jurisdiction of one or more Senate committees which has provided the Office with the flexibility and resources to respond to and meet the growing demands placed on the Office for ever-changing areas and complexity of active legislation.
Attorneys in the Office and the House Legislative Counsel's Office use a uniform drafting style to improve the quality and consistency of Federal legislation and Federal law, including whenever practicable plain English, brevity, consistent organization and terms, and captions and subdivisions to organize drafts and make the drafts more readable and improve the administration and interpretation of and compliance with laws enacted by Congress.
After the anthrax attacks on the Senate in October 2001, the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the Senate continued to draft legislation for the Senate by working in temporary facilities outside the Office while the Dirksen Senate Office Building was decontaminated for 1 month and has since developed an effective long-term capability to deal with emergencies, reflecting the can-do attitude of the Office.
The role of the Office in the legislative work of the Senate is not often acknowledged, but it is understood and appreciated by all Senators.
The 262 current and former employees of the Office have worked very hard over its first 100 years to provide consistently a high quantity of high-quality legislation for the committees, Members, and staff of the Senate.
As the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the Senate celebrates its 100th anniversary, the Office is well prepared to continue to provide the Senate and its committees and officers quality drafting service and sound legal advice with the spirit of quiet professionalism that has been the tradition of the Office throughout its history.
I know that all Senators join me in congratulating the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the Senate on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Office.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a listing of the men and women of the current staff of the Office of the Legislative Counsel be printed in the Congressional Record.
