About

Confidentiality

The Office of the Legislative Counsel provides drafting and related assistance to the Members of the House, the House committees, and the conference committees between the House and the Senate. All communications with our Office are confidential and are subject to the attorney-client relationship... read more.

History and Charter

Professional legislative drafting in the House of Representatives began in 1916 as an experiment offered to the House by the Legislative Drafting Research Fund at Columbia University.  Under the Fund’s auspices, Middleton Beaman, a Columbia law professor, assisted the Committee on Ways and Means in drafting several pieces of legislation over the next two years... read more.

Our Services

The Office of the Legislative Counsel provides assistance in drafting the following types of legislative documents:

  • New bills and resolutions for introduction in the House.
  • Amendments to be offered to bills and resolutions when they are considered at committee markups or on the House floor.
  • The proposed statutory language for reports of conference committees to resolve differences between House- and Senate-passed measures. 
  • The text of certain motions to be offered on the House floor.  These include motions to suspend the rules (but only if an amendment to the introduced version of the bill is involved), motions to recommit, and motions to instruct conferees... read more.