Vol. 30, No. 5, #7. The Legislative Service Office and It's Attorneys.

Wyoming Bar Journal

2007.

Vol. 30, No. 5, #7.

The Legislative Service Office and It's Attorneys

Wyoming Bar Journal Vol. 30, No. 5, #7 Issue: October, 2007

The Legislative Service Office and It's AttorneysThe Legislative Service Office (LSO) was created by statute in 1971 to provide services to the Legislature on a non-partisan basis. Before the LSO was created, the Legislature was staffed on a part-time basis for its sessions, which are Constitutionally limited to sixty days each biennium. Currently the LSO is comprised of 32 full-time employees who, together with staff retained by each House for the session, provide services for Wyoming's Legislature, its committees and individual State Representatives and Senators.

The LSO is responsible for revision and recompilation of the laws of Wyoming; preparation of copy and contracting for the printing and publication of all revisions, compilations, session laws, journals and digests; and accounting for all legislative expenditures, supplies, and properties. In addition, members of the LSO prepare administrative rule reviews, conduct evaluations of state programs, conduct fiscal studies and budget analyses, coordinate legislative activities related to school finance, and provide general research and information services to the Legislature. While the LSO provides services to the public, its primary mission is to serve the Wyoming Legislature.

Legislators in Wyoming do not have individual staff. Staffing is available to individual legislators through the LSO. We help legislators identify and articulate legislative issues, research and provide information related to those issues, identify possible solutions, and provide information about the pros and cons of those solutions.

LSO provides services during the sessions and the interims. Legal services generally are provided by seven attorneys who form the legal division. Directed by Dan J. Pauli who is assisted by D. Mark Quiner, those seven attorneys are Lynda G. Cook, David K. Gruver, Gerald W. Laska, Matthew D. Obrecht, John H. Rivera, Ian D. Shaw and Maxine R. Weaver. Their work falls into one of the following categories:

1. Bill and Amendment Drafting

2. Committee Staffing

3. State Agency Rule Reviews

   Bill and Amendment Drafting

   The LSO is responsible for drafting all legislation. While lobbyists and others may initially draft...