An informational and educational resource for the Colorado General Assembly by the Office of Legislative Legal Services.
by Kate Meyer
Most people associate the Office of Legislative Legal Services with its most visible, and most important, function: serving as the bill drafting office for the Colorado General Assembly. The OLLS is open year-round, though, which causes many people to wonder what staff does to keep busy when the legislature is not in session. (more…)
by Dan Cartin
You may recall from your New Member Orientation experience the presentation by the OLLS on the variety of services we can provide for you in addition to your bill and amendment drafting needs. Hopefully, you have used the OLLS attorneys and legislative assistants during your time in the General Assembly to access these ancillary services. As the 2012 session begins, we want to remind you of the availability of these materials and services and of some limitations on what we can provide you due to the OLLS’ nonpartisan role. (more…)
Anyone may request an audit and no specific form is required. However, to ensure the Office of the State Auditor receives the request, it is recommended that you address your request to the State Auditor or to the State Auditor and the Chair of the Legislative Audit Committee.
Although you don’t need to use a specific form or format to submit a request for an audit, your letter requesting the audit should state the program or function that is the subject of the request and the problem or reason giving rise to the request, as well as contact information.
When the State Auditor receives audit requests from members of the General Assembly or the Governor, the Office conducts initial research on the topic and evaluates whether the Office has the authority to audit the area of interest. The Office also considers whether a similar audit has recently been performed in the area, whether the topic is a stand-alone audit or could be incorporated into an existing audit, and the resources and expertise required for the audit, among other things. The Office then presents this information to the Legislative Audit Committee and makes a recommendation to the Committee regarding the audit request. A majority of the Committee must vote to proceed with the request before the Office undertakes the audit.
The Office of the State Auditor receives audit requests from many other sources as well, including state employees, local government officials, special interest and advocacy groups, and private citizens. While the Office of the State Auditor considers the audit requests it receives from sources other than members of the General Assembly or the Governor, it does not present them to the Legislative Audit Committee. The Office may use the request for a discretionary audit, initiated by the State Auditor, or include it in an existing audit, but it does not take any public action regarding these requests.
There are four non-partisan legislative service agencies:
The Office of Legislative Legal Services
The Office of Legislative Legal Services (OLLS) is the non-partisan, in-house counsel for the Colorado General Assembly. The OLLS writes laws, produces statutes, reviews administrative rules, comments on initiated measures, and serves as a resource of legislative information for the public. Attorneys from the OLLS draft bills and amendments for legislators and provide legal counsel to the General Assembly as a body as well as to individual members with regard to legislative matters, such as open records act requests. The OLLS publications team edits, proofreads, and prepares the Colorado Revised Statutes and the Colorado Session Laws for publication each year.
Legislative Council Staff
The Legislative Council Staff (LCS) are the permanent research staff of the Colorado General Assembly, providing public policy research at the request of members. The LCS provides staff for most committees of the General Assembly, including interim committees, by scheduling and assisting with meetings and preparing meeting summaries, minutes, and reports. The LCS also includes economists who provide revenue and economic forecasting and fiscal analysts who write the fiscal notes for the bills. Prior to each general election, the LCS publishes the blue book that explains the initiatives that appear on the statewide ballots. In addition, the LCS operates the legislative library, develops and maintains the software and hardware for the computer system for the General Assembly and the legislative staff, and assists members in responding to constituent questions and requests.
Joint Budget Committee Staff
The General Assembly’s permanent fiscal and budget review agency, the Joint Budget Committee Staff (JBC Staff), writes the annual appropriations bill – called the Long Bill – for the operations of state government. The Joint Budget Committee Staff is charged with analyzing the management, operations, programs, and fiscal needs of the departments of state government and making recommendations to the members of the Joint Budget Committee as they build the state’s budget. The JBC Staff also assists the Joint Budget Committee in holding hearings during the interim and during the legislative session and in reviewing the executive budget requests for each state agency and institution. During the legislative session, the JBC staff prepares fiscal analyses and amendments, when necessary, for bills that are assigned to the House or Senate Appropriations committee and staffs the Appropriations Committees.
State Auditor’s Office
The State Auditor’s Office (SAO) seeks to hold state government agencies accountable through performance, financial, and information technology audits of all state departments, colleges, and universities. Audits focus on reducing costs; increasing efficiency; improving the quality of services; ensuring the accuracy and integrity of financial information; and ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the state’s critical computer systems and taxpayer data. The SAO’s Local Government Audit Division tracks about 4,000 Colorado local governments for compliance with the local government audit law, which requires submission of an annual independent financial audit. The SAO staff submits its audit reports to the Legislative Audit Committee at regular meetings and assists in preparing legislation when requested by the Committee as the result of an audit report.
When a citizen proposes a ballot initiative, he or she must first submit it to the Legislative Council Staff (LCS). At that point, staff from both the OLLS and LCS review the measure and write a memo asking technical questions and substantive questions about the meaning of the initiative. The staff and the proponent then participate in a review-and-comment hearing, which is open to the public, at which they discuss the memo and allow the proponent to explain his or her initiative on the record. After the hearing, the proponent can submit the initiative to the Secretary of State’s office, or the proponent may make changes to the initiative and resubmit it to the LCS for another review and hearing.
Although we review the proposed initiatives and may raise issues for the proponents to consider, the OLLS has no statutory authority to draft initiative measures for the proponents nor to edit, approve, or reject any initiated proposals.
Sometimes legislators participate in the initiative process as proponents or as consultants to proponents. Because of the conflict of interest issues involved in having drafters prepare initiative language for legislators, the Committee on Legal Services has adopted a policy that a member of the General Assembly should not ask the OLLS staff to provide drafting assistance for an initiated measure. The OLLS does draft bills and concurrent resolutions that are introduced into the legislative process and that the General Assembly may ultimately refer to the voters.
There are three OLLS subject matter teams:
• Business, Health Care, Natural Resources and Environment Team, a.k.a. the Bus Team
• Fiscal Policy, Infrastructure, Elections, Education Finance, and State and Local Government Team, a.k.a. the Gov Team
• Civil and Criminal Law, Education, and Human Services Team, a.k.a. the Law Team
This specialization allows OLLS staff to gain expertise in particular areas of law and allows those persons with the most knowledge and experience in an area of law to address any needs members have concerning that area of law. When you submit a bill or research request, it is automatically routed to the subject matter team with the expertise necessary to draft your bill or answer your question.
OLLS also has an Administration Team, which includes the front office staff and the Director and Deputy Director, and a Publications Team, which focuses most of its energies on the process for publishing the statutes.