Legislative Council walks House Human Services committee through bill drafting, confidentiality and website tools

Jennifer Tarvey, deputy chief counsel in the Office of Legislative Counsel, and attorney Katie Hickman briefed the House Human Services Committee on the office’s role, bill-drafting procedures, confidentiality rules and online resources during an extended informational session.

The presentation covered four practical areas committee members requested help with: who in Legislative Council handles which topics, how to request and draft bills (short form versus standard form), when draft work becomes public, and how to find bills, acts, statutes and committee testimony on the legislature website.

“We are sort of like the law firm for all 180 members of the General Assembly. So we’re your staff,” Tarvey said, explaining the office’s nonpartisan role and the subject teams that will support committee work. She and Hickman described a new team structure in the office intended to improve continuity and mentorship among attorneys.

Tarvey and Hickman reiterated that draft work done for an individual member remains confidential until the member approves the text for introduction. “You’re our client. And unless and until you decide you want that information shared more broadly, we keep it to ourselves,” Tarvey said, noting the attorney–client nature of one-on-one drafting help. They contrasted that confidentiality with committee-level work, which is public: “Anything you’re doing in your committee capacity… with very few exceptions is… public and not confidential,” Tarvey added.

On bill formats, the attorneys explained short-form bills versus standard (long-form) bills. A short form records a member’s concept and statement of purpose and can be used to get an idea onto the wall without full drafting; it does not contain the statutory mechanics. If the committee decides to develop a short-form concept into a standard-form bill, House rules require a committee vote to direct drafting of the full text.

Tarvey and Hickman described other drafting practice points: Legislative Council drafts most bills and amendments for committee members, prepares section-by-section summaries on request, conducts legal and policy research, and follows bills as they move between committees. They said the office handles many requests each session — roughly 1,000 drafting requests across the House and Senate — and that Legislative Council has about 18 attorneys spread across topic teams including health care and human services.

The attorneys spent substantial time showing the legislature’s website: how to read the bill status page, find the bill as introduced versus the version passed by a chamber, read act summaries and locate statutes in the Vermont Statutes Annotated (the “green books”). Hickman walked members through the distinction between session law (time-limited provisions and effective-date language) and codified statute language in the green books, and how to use the website’s filters to search current and prior bienniums.

For scheduling and testimony, the office recommended first contacting Legislative Council by email to arrange meetings. Committee staff member Lori was identified as the calendar manager who can invite attorneys to hearings. “I think sending an email is always the best way to get ahold of us because we’re back and forth between the buildings,” Hickman said.

Committee members asked procedural questions about introduction and the bill process; the chair noted two near-term committee priorities mentioned during the session: an emergency shelter bill Jubilee is expected to reintroduce and H.13, a Medicaid payment rate bill.

The presentation closed with a reminder that editors and drafting operations review all bills and amendments before they are released and that members should plan time for that editing step when scheduling legislation for committee action.