By PATRICK O'GRADY

In this interview, Stanley M. Johnston, head of the Legislative Reference Bureau, describes the bureau's work of drafting and trucking the thousands of bills and amendments each session and making sure that the ever-changing Illinois statutes are up-to-date, technically correct and in order

ON A TYPICAL day, hundreds of students, tourists and other visitors may take a guided tour of the State Capitol. The tour guides explain the legislative process and how a bill becomes law. They point out important offices, and the camera-laden visitors hope for a glimpse of someone they recognize. But located on the first floor of the Capitol is an office that isn't mentioned on the tour. The people who work there are not well-known. Yet what they do is critical to the legislative process. The office is the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB).

LRB is the legislature's law firm. While the various partisan staffs employ several lawyers, the day-to-day details, technicalities and routine work required to keep the statutes current and the legislative process moving are all handled by LRB. (For a description of LRB's principal duties, see box on page 15.)

Like most law firms, LRB provides its services quietly. If it were in the private sector, any firm with LRB's 69-year history of working on extremely sensitive issues for some of the state's most powerful clients would have an office richly paneled in dark wood, with wing-back leather chairs and plush carpeting. But that is not the case. This is, after all, a government office. The walls have been freshly painted, but the surroundings are simple and efficient. The staff lawyers work in cubicles large enough to accommodate a standard size steel desk and maybe a chair or two. For LRB, the status symbols are its windows looking out on the Capitol lawn and its proximity to political power, not luxurious offices.

In order to get a better understanding of what LRB does, I interviewed Stanley M. Johnston, 53, who was recently appointed the eighth executive secretary of the Legislative Reference Bureau. I talked with Stan in his office one afternoon after the legislature had adjourned for the weekend. His office has four tall bookcases crammed with legal books and reports, a ceiling about 20-feet high, and windows to match. A few plants give a comfortable touch, and Stan's sense of humor is shown by a statue on a credenza. The statue, a takeoff on Rodin's "The Thinker," has a monkey comtemplating the skull of a man.

Stan is a personable man who has a gravelly voice and a quick wit. As with most legislative staff who shy from the limelight but take pride in their work, he uses "we" frequently when talking about the positive accomplishments of the legislative process.

Q: According to the statute, LRB has responsibility for preparing revisory bills (bills to simplify and rearrange existing law in order to eliminate obsolete, duplicative or unconstitutional statutes). What does that mean? What is involved?

JOHNSTON: The primary element is for us to collate the changes in the text. Some sections might get amended six times during a session.

Q: Do you ever have conflicting changes that are passed?

JOHNSTON: Occasionally, but the rule is that all of the changes take effect unless they conflict with each other. If they do, the last change acted on by the legislature is the one that counts. What takes precedence is not decided by when bills are signed by the governor. It's uncommon to have a conflict like that.

Another responsibility is to revise the cross references in the statutes which refer to other acts and other amendments.

A third revisory duty relates to the power of the governor to reorganize the executive branch. If the governor's executive order to reorganize is not changed by the legislature, we go back and make the statutes say what the law [executive order] really is. If the legislature rejects the executive order, it's dead. If neither house rejects it within 60 days, it stands, notwithstanding statutes to the contrary. If the legislature doesn't correct the statutes, LRB does.

Q: How do you go about doing that?

JOHNSTON: We look at the executive order. We look at all the places in the statutes where the agency is mentioned. Revisory bills are lengthy. The revisory bill for the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (H.B. 1400 in 1979) had 400 pages of text. Any revisory bill is an exception to the single-subject rule in the Illinois Constitution. [Illinois bills must be limited to a single subject so that ideas can be considered on their merits rather than because undesirable ideas have been paired with desirable ones.] I remember H.B. 1400. The bill was long and an amendment to change the agency name was also quite long.

Q: With a bill that lengthy, was it all correct?

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JOHNSTON: Oh, there are always errors, but nothing major. The bill was 800 pages when it came over from the House, before it was amended in the Senate. And then in conference committee another revisory bill was added. The final bill was hundreds and hundreds of pages long.

Q: Within LRB, who was responsible for that bill and how was it handled?

JOHNSTON: Ordinarily for a bill like that, several people work on it. Combining is done by sections. At the time a reorganization is proposed, one or two people start working on it. But the actual assembling and editing is done by several people.

Q: What about revision of the statutes to eliminate obsolete provisions, and cleanup of that sort? How are subject areas chosen?

JOHNSTON: Our only limitation is a matter of time. If no single version of a statute exists, then it's important to revise it. There's always more than we can do or the General Assembly can assimilate.

Q: Can the statutes be simplified and put in layman's terms?

JOHNSTON: Sometimes simplifying by substituting can be treacherous. It's not as easy as it sounds because whenever an old word is changed for a new one, some questions can arise. Every time you rewrite something, it doesn't say the same thing. Even if words are very similar, a different word changes the nuances and changes the margins of what the law says. And it's the near cases that go to court. When you rewrite, it's hard not to move that margin. The problem is complicated because we're constantly amending the law. Much of the time not all of the law is in print. [Recent statutory changes may not be printed and available in published law books; however, certified copies of all statutory changes are filed with the Secretary of State's Office.]

Q: If it's true that much of the time not all of the law is in print, and the law is constantly changing, who knows what the law is? Who tells the publisher what to print?

JOHNSTON: The official version for the published Illinois Revised Statutes comes from LRB. Enrolling and Engrossing [another legislative service office] compiles the bills. They make several copies. LRB gets three or four copies, and the secretary of state tells us when bills are filed. Then LRB consolidates all of the changes in a particular section and sends an official copy to the publisher, using prepaid envelopes.

Q: LRB has responsibility for preparing the Legislative Synopsis and Digest. How is that done? How do you keep all the bills and amendments straight?

JOHNSTON: The drafter does the synopsis for each bill. The key word index in the Digest is prepared by the Digest editor. The Digest — and the LRB — started in 1913. The LRB was the first legislative service agency — and was the only one for several years. Back then, the synopsis was more brief than it is today.

Q: Tell me more about the Digest.

JOHNSTON: It used to be that it was prepared by making changes in the margins of last week's issue. The whole book was torn apart and rewritten. Now it's part of the computerized bill status system. LRB does each synopsis, with citations and also does the subject-matter index. The clerk of the House and the secretary of the Senate do the transactional information [a list of specific actions taken on a bill]. LRB adds the summaries of the amendments. It has to be composed for each page, so that camera-ready copy is delivered to the printer. Copies go to the members of the legislature, the staff and subscribers. Each county clerk gets one set for each 100,000 population.

Q: When is the Digest prepared?

JOHNSTON: The Digest is prepared each Friday during session, so that it can be printed by Tuesday. It is printed locally by bid.

Q: What responsibility does LRB have for reviewing court cases?

JOHNSTON: LRB reviews court cases and prepares a report which makes recommendations for technical corrections [in the statutes] which are needed for constitutional reasons.

Q: Drafting bills and amendments is what LRB is best known for. What is the workload like?

JOHNSTON: For the 81st General Assembly, during the full biennium, we had 11,159 file numbers. [All amendments drafted for a bill are shown in the same file number, even if they were never introduced.] Our informal count of documents comes to a total of 17,000 plus. We have a total number of documents stored by name of 18,600. That includes all ammendments, conference reports, and a fair percentage of that number is resolutions. Some of the resolutions are substantive, like proposed contitutional amendments. Others are less formal, such as a congratulatory resolution. That's part of how the General Assembly maintains its relations with the public.

Q: Will your workload drop due to the cutback of House membership?

JOHNSTON: There will be no signified difference. The state will have the same general problems. They'll just be dealt with by fewer legislators. The amount of legislation and number of bill quests per legislator is not uniform. Maybe half our bill load comes from 20 percent of the legislators. If that top quarter is gone, we're out of work. lt depends on who is gone. Our work is generated in response to the needs of the state. Those here will still have to deal with the problems.

Q: How does the workload compare with other states?

JOHNSTON: The organization of a particular legislature affects the workload. Most states have a lower total because of limits on session time. There are different patterns. In Connecticut, members propose bill ideas to a joint committee for approval, then they are drafted. In New York, the members can't cosponsor bills, so of course that leads to many more bills because every member has to have his own version of the same idea.

Q: What will happen to bill drafting in the next five to 10 years?

JOHNSTON: More material will be on computer, but I don't expect much more technical change. We were starting with computers in 1968; we've been through three generations of computer hardware since then. This process is deeply involved with computerization. We won't get any more computerization capability, but maybe direct computer

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Photo by Mark Raeber

access will be provided for more people.

Q: Could the legislature survive without the photocopy machine?

JOHNSTON: We did. Typists would type eight carbons. If a mistake was made all eight copies would have to be corrected. The 1870 Illinois Constitution also required [as does the 1970 Illinois Constitution] that the entire section which is being amended must be printed in a bill. Bill drafters and legislators also tried to divide the text into shorter sections. If they didn't, for example, the state school aid apportionment formula was 18-20 pages long, and the whole thing had to be typed to change one word.

Q: How many people does it take LRB to do its job?

JOHNSTON: We have 35 people. We have 17 lawyers, plus people who work with the Digest, the library, word processing and duplicating.

Q: Where do the staff lawyers come from? And where do they go when they leave? Does the job pay well?

JOHNSTON: We have about three lawyers from out-of-state. The remainder are from Illinois law schools. Turnover is rapid;

Duties of the Legislative Reference Bureau ESTABLISHED in 1913, the Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) is the oldest of the General Assembly's service agencies. According to the statutes (Illinois Revised Statutes, 1981, Chapter 63, Sees. 25-31), LRB is required to: • Maintain an office with a legal and legislative library in the State Capitol which is open daily and whenever the General Assembly is in session. • Collect, classify, index and summarize all bills, memorials, resolutions and orders, as well as any substitutes and amendments introduced in the General Assembly as soon as practicable after they have been printed. This information is printed weekly, when the legislature is in session, in the Legislative Synopsis and Digest — in one, two or three-volume sets which typically run 1,500 pages. • Provide any member of the General Assembly, upon request, such legal assistance and information as may be needed in the preparation of bills, amendments and resolutions. To accomplish this task, LRB drafts hundreds of documents per week. • Select subjects and chapters of the statutes which are considered in need of revision. LRB has the responsibility of recommending the simplification and rearrangement of existing statutory law in order to eliminate obsolete, duplicative or unconstitutional statutes, short of proposing changes in the substance of existing statutes. This includes simple housekeeping to delete outdated provisions, but can also include preparation of lengthy bills to implement an executive order to reorganize state departments. • Review all reported decisions of federal courts, the Illinois Supreme Court and the Illinois appellate courts which affect the interpretation of the Illinois Constitution and statutes. LRB recommends any technical corrections in Illinois laws which are needed to comply with the decisions and may point out where substantive issues arise, without making judgments.

many only stay a year or two; others stay longer. LRB pays a new lawyer about $18,000 per year, which is reasonably competitive. There's a great deal of diversity in where they go when they leave. Some go to state agencies. Some do trial work, and some are city attorneys. There's no real pattern.

Q: What attributes are needed for a lawyer on your staff?

JOHNSTON: The best motivation is an interest in government and a desire to be involved with the action and the people. It's a stimulating environment.

Q: What prepares lawyers to be bill drafters?

JOHNSTON: Not much that is different from the normal legal education. There was a course in Illinois constitutional law that I took that is most helpful. The trend now is to teach drafting and legal writing.

Q: What do you tell new lawyers to expect when they are hired?

JOHNSTON: There are two requirements. We stay until the job is done, no matter how long it takes. And, the office is open whenever the legislature is in session. That includes nights and weekends. In the course of a session, a lawyer will work 300-600 hours beyond the regular Monday through Friday hours.

Q: How are lawyers assigned to bills? Do they specialize?

JOHNSTON: We have only some ad hoc specialization. We're not formally organized that way. We try to give all some diversity. We try to avoid having only one person for a particular area. There's a lot of cross consultation. On a bill to reorganize the executive branch, some might work more in one area. But on a bill to restructure the Regional Transportation Authority — which always runs 100-200 pages in length, and involves transportation, revenue, etc. — several people will do parts.

Q: Does a bill ever get all the way through with an error that isn't caught?

JOHNSTON: Several years ago a bill lost the last page somewhere, and it went all the way through. The law ended in midsentence. But it was corrected the next session. There wasn't much of a time lag.

Q: What do you do if a legislator wants a bill to implement a simply awful idea?

JOHNSTON: If there are legal, constitutional or practical administrative problems, we point them out and try to work out solutions that are legal, constitutional and practical. The sponsor may want it his way, notwithstanding. If so, we write what is requested. The reference bureau doesn't endorse any of it, but we do our best for it to be technically sound. We draft it the best we can. If the problem is just a policy difference, we say nothing. We avoid involvement in policy; we're particularly conscious of that.

Q: How does an LRB lawyer handle drafting bills and amendments for both sides on an issue, or even on the same bill?

JOHNSTON: The same person may draft for both sides, but we consider requests to be confidential. You wouldn't use one legislator's idea on another's bill. But if four people ask for the same thing, they get the same thing. We don't attempt to make artificial differences.

Q: When you see the same good or bad bills, year after year, how do you deal with cynicism? How does the staff deal with it?

JOHNSTON: I'm not sure there's one

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answer. Different people handle it different ways. We avoid involving ourselves in policy. You rely on the General Assembly to kill bad bills, and you realize defects are not always removed. They are part of the process. We devote attention to the technical side. A great amount of attention is paid to detail. We try to draft bills that are good from a technical viewpoint.

Q: What gives you satisfaction?

JOHNSTON: I get satisfaction from the revisory process. It's housekeeping, but it keeps the printed statutes up to date. I also get satisfaction working with someone to find an effective way to achieve a change in the law to accomplish the policy and purpose intended. A contribution is satisfying if it

'A drafter won't last long if he is offended by someone changing what he has drafted and thought was perfect'

resolves a problem. You try to point out solutions.

Q: Any other examples?

JOHNSTON: We get satisfaction from the respect shown by the legislature for our work. Our revisory bills are customarily advanced without a committee hearing. If the legislature can pass a bill with 300-1,600 pages with complete reliance on what we offer them, that's good. We're not always as successful with the appropriations committees, but we get along well with them too.

Q: How is LRB viewed by the press and others?

JOHNSTON: We haven't appeared in the press much. We've had no harsh experience with the press. We just keep a low profile. Being in the press is not part of the excitement. Excitement comes from seeing bills achieve the intended policy. If there were a [hard news] story here, then something is wrong.

Q: Is LRB ever made to be the scapegoat?

JOHNSTON: Sometimes a bill gets called back because of an error and LRB is blamed for it. Or, the sponsor might say his bill request has been in LRB for a week. Then I might hear screams from the back room, if we've only had the request a couple of days. We do a lot of work in much less time than a private law firm does. We draft hundreds of documents in a week. So, of course, we make mistakes. If we find an error in a bill we drafted, we send a correction to the sponsor, along with a note of explanation.

Q: How do you react to news stories about bills that you've drafted, when you know the background on the bills?

JOHNSTON: Sometimes it's funny to compare the press release on a bill with the drafting instructions we were given. Do you want us to implement the instructions, or do you want us to implement the press release? What is in the press is occasionally not part of our instructions. It's not surprising that press releases and bill drafting instructions differ, though. Our instructions may be relayed through two or three people. And, a sponsor might talk to someone and change his idea. Most things come out of the process differently from how they went in. A drafter won't last long if he is offended by someone changing what he has drafted and thought was perfect.

Q: How do you feel on July 1, when the legislature has adjourned?

JOHNSTON: Too tired to figure it out. It takes time to recover. There was one year we were here until 3 a.m. the last two or three days running, plus all the working weekends before.

Q: Does anyone ever say thank you?

JOHNSTON: Often people will stop back to say thanks, but most take it for granted.

Q: Do you enjoy all of this?

JOHNSTON: It's pleasant getting acquainted with interesting people who are involved in government. I feel good about being a part of it. Yes, I enjoy it. I've spent a lot of time at it. With some of the legislators, knowing them and working with them is a privilege. Being close to what is going on is enjoyable. I am proud to be in charge of LRB. No one in the state may know what I do, but in the Capitol, this agency is well respected.

A former member of the Senate Republican staff, Patrick O'Grady is now manager of the State Mandates Review Office in the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. An article of his on legislative staffers appeared in the November 1981 Illinois Issues.

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