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Statutory Revision Panel introduces bill to move buried definitions into definition sections
Summary
The Statutory Revision Committee voted to introduce a draft bill that relocates definitions placed inside statute text into formal definition sections to make them easier to find; drafters said the change makes no substantive policy changes.
Kristen Forrestal, attorney with the Office of Legislative Legal Services, told the Statutory Revision Committee that the draft bill would move “hidden definitions to a definition section that already exists or created a definition section for the definitions that were buried in the body of the statutes.”
Forrestal said the draft does not make substantive policy changes: “It's not updating language. It's not doing the shell to must language. It's not changing gender neutral language. ... the bill is exactly what I said it is and nothing more.” The drafter agreed to fix a minor inconsistency—changing a stray “shall includes” to match surrounding statutory language—at the committee’s request.
Committee members raised no substantive objections and the committee moved to introduce LLS 25‑00012 as a statutory revision committee bill. Members discussed where to start the bill, and several said they preferred beginning in the Senate to move the bill more quickly. The committee recorded co-prime sponsors in both chambers to advance the draft.
Because the draft is described as a housekeeping change and the drafter said it “is not making any substantive changes,” committee members framed the measure as a statutory‑revision clean‑up rather than a policy shift. The committee did not take other policy actions on the subject at the meeting.
The committee staff will finalize the minor drafting correction Forrestal described before formal introduction and will file the draft under the statutory revision committee process with sponsors in both chambers.
