Trying to find legislative intent for Florida Statutes is difficult. More publishers track the U.S. Congress than the Florida legislature. Do not expect to find a wealth of material readily available. (Online note: Coverage for only 1998- to date is available on the State of Florida web site.)

Overview of the typical way a bill becomes a statute.

FLORIDA STATUTES:
To get the chapter numbers and the date the law was passed, go to the end of the text of the statute. At the end is a history section, this history lists the Laws of Florida that created the statute:

For example:

Fla. Stat. 607.1430 covers when a judge may dissolve a corporation. At the end of the statute under history is . 131, ch. 89-154. This means that the statute was created by section 131 of chapter 89-154 of the laws of Florida. Chapter 89-154 means that this was 154th law passed by the legislature in the year 1989. You will need this date from now on in the process to get the correct books.

NOTE: Many statutes have been amended by several chapters. The chapters are listed in chronological order. The first chapter created the statute and subsequent chapters added to or deleted from the statute. For a complete legislative history of a statute, you must follow the steps below for EACH chapter listed in the history section.

The Florida Statutes are available online at Online Sunshine.

THE LAWS OF FLORIDA:
The Laws of Florida contain the bill as passed by the legislature. The Laws of Florida are in the Florida section (call no. KFF25 .A2). Once you find the volumes go to the correct year, chapter numbers are on the black band. The first page of the chapter has the Senate or House bill number. Write the number down..

FLORIDA LEGISLATIVE BOOKS - HOUSE & SENATE BILLS AS INTRODUCED:
You can see the bill as it was introduced before any legislative changes occurred by going to the Senate or House Bill volumes for the correct year:

***If you have a Senate bill - go to the blue books

OR

***If you have a House bill - go to the black books.

These volumes are organized by bill number. The bill's number are in the upper right of the page.

FINAL LEGISLATIVE BILL INFORMATION:
Go to the white soft-bound Final Legislative Bill Information book (call no: KFF15.2 .L4). This book is organized by bill number.

NOTE: Please make sure you are in the S parts if it is a Senate bill or in the H parts if it is a House bill.

The sponsor of the bill, the effective date of the statute, and whether the governor signed or vetoed the bill are all included.

The calendar will also tell you if the bill was referred to a committee. You may contact the committee directly for more information. Committee phone numbers are available in State Yellow Book. (Call no. JK2403 .S77 Ref)

The book will also give you a calendar of events about the bill.This list of dates and actions taken on those dates will refer you to the Senate and House Journals by cites (SJ page # or HJ page #).

The online equivalent of this book can be found online at the Florida Senate web page (click on CITATOR at bottom of page).

HOUSE & SENATE JOURNALS:

The journals contain a summary of the activities of the Florida Legislature during each day the Legislature is in session. These journals are located in the Florida Collection and also can be found online at the Florida Senate site - click JOURNALS at the bottom of the page- on JOURNALS page use drop down menu at top to select HOUSE or SENATE. These journals are not like the Congressional Record. They do not record the debates about the bills. To obtain the debate you must send a blank tape to the State Archives or the committee.

COMMITTEE REPORTS & COMMITTEE HEARINGS:

A committee assigned the task of exploring a particular bill may write a report on the bill. Much of the information available in this library about the legislative intent is this committee report or staff analysis. Committee reports or staff analyses are available in microfiche from 1987-1996. To access staff analyses for legislation after 1998, go to Online Sunshine and search for the bill in which you are interested. If there are staff analyses available for this piece of legislation, then there will be a link to these reports on the page where the bill is found. These reports are typically only a few pages long and contain little or no analysis. To obtain a copy of a staff analysis prior to 1987, contact the Florida State Archives.

The committee hearings are not published and are therefore not available in this library. If you want a copy of the hearing, blank tape(s) must be sent to the State Archives.

Florida Information Associates in Tallahassee (850) 878-0188 may be contacted for assistance with researching legislative history.

Coverage Availability:
The Archive's records begin in 1970. Records are sketchy from 1970 until 1976. The committees retain records for two years, then these records are forwarded to the legislative library which retains them for a few years. They are finally housed in the State Archives.

BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY ABOUT STATE LEGISLATIVE HISTORIES:

For a detailed view of Florida legislative history, see:

• Carol A. Roehrenbeck, Florida Legislative Histories: A Practical Guide to their Preparation and Use KFF75 /R64 /1986 /Ref

For a list of phone numbers and dates of coverage, see:

• Mary L. Fisher, Guide to State Legislative Materials KF1 /G8 /1988 /Ref

Florida State University has published two law reviews on Florida legislative history:

• Rhodes, White and Goldman, "The Search for Intent: Aids to Statutory Construction in Florida," 6 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 383 (1978)
• Robert Rhodes and Susan Seereiter, "An Update," 13 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 485 (1985).

See also:

Bureau of Archives and Records Management: Legislative Research at the Florida State Archives
University of Central Florida Libraries: Documenting Florida Legislative Intent
University of Miami Law Library: Florida Legislative History Research