Better State Government Through Better Legislative Services

• Author: Gilbert G. Lentz
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295701000217
• Date: 01 June 1957
• Published date: 01 June 1957
• Subject Matter: Articles

448

BETTER

STATE

GOVERNMENT

THROUGH

BETTER

LEGISLATIVE

SERVICES

GILBERT G.

LENTZ*

*

Assistant

Legislative

Auditor,

Joint

Legislative

Budget

Committee,

State

of

California.

I

shall

not

attempt

to

make

the

case

that

state

government

in

the

broadest

terms

is

any

better

or

any

worse

because

of

the

character

of

legis-

lative

services,

but

rather

to

speak

of

legislative

services

in

relationship

to

the

branch

of

government

which

they

serve,

and

more

especially

in

rela-

tionship

to

the

task

of

the

legislator.

The

character

of

legislative

work

in

recent

times

has

undergone

a

tremendous

change.

Both

volume and

complexity

of

bills

have

contributed

to

this

change.

With

respect

to

volume

alone

it

must

be

remembered

that

the

first

Congress

of

the

United

States

met

and

performed

its

function

by

the

enactment

of

five

bills

and

two

resolutions.

The

current

session

of

the

California

Legislature

already

has

before

it

7,037

bills

and

resolutions,

2,400

of

which

will

have

been

approved

by

the

date

of

adjournment.

If

there

is

one

characteristic

of

legislative

services,

as

that

term

is

used

in

this

paper,

it

is

the

universal

lack

of

uniformity,

especially

in

termi-

nology.

Combinations

of

legislative

services

and

legislative

service

agencies

have

grown

up

under

a

wide

variety

of

conditions

and

circumstances

which

have

been

influenced

by

differences

in

constitutional

provisions,

political

atmosphere,

tradition,

and

pure

expediency.

Various

efforts

have

been

made

to

classify

legislative

service

agencies

and

types

of

legislative

service.

None

of

these

classifications

appears

to

be

completely

satisfactory,

largely

because

of

the

overlapping

which

occurs.

Another

type

of

classification

which

might

be

suggested

is

based

upon

three

broad

phases

of

the

legislative

process

and

is

used

here

partly

because

legis-

lative

services,

at

least

at

the

level

of

state

government,

have

developed

somewhat

in

this

sequence.

’

In

the

first

category

are

those

services

which

are

designed

to

assist

the

legislature

in

processing

its

work

unit

and

in

keeping

its

necessary

records.

This

is

the

first

and

primary

service

to

the

legislature.

These

services

are

performed

largely

through

the

presiding

officers,

the

clerks,

the

sergeants-

at-arms

and

their

staffs,

but

also

include

services

connected

with

preparing

and

processing

bills.

This

phase

of

legislative

service

has

undergone

little

change

over

the

years

except

in

size

of

staff.

The

second

broad

category

of

legislative

service

includes

those

which

have

been

created

for

the

purpose

of

assisting

the

legislature

in

deciding

policy.

This

type

of

service

had

its

greatest

emphasis

in

the

creation

of

reference

bureaus

and

in

the

legislative

council

idea.

These

services

range