How to Find Legislative History in Kentucky
- 1). Write down the Kentucky Acts citation. After you have pulled a Kentucky statute in the Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS), look for the annotations at the end of the text. In the "History" annotation, you will see one or more lengthy citations pointing you to the Kentucky Acts. If you are using Westlaw's version of the KRS, the history citations will be in reverse chronological order with the latest citation appearing first. The LexisNexis version lists the citations in chronological order.
- 2). Review and compare the original statute. Find the correct volume of the Kentucky Acts, then find the Chapter and Section you wrote down from the History annotation. Compare the language of the original statute to that of the current statute. Also search for a preamble, as this is the legislature's direct explanation of the law's purpose. You should also review and compare the amendments.
- 3). Write down the bill number. The bill number, whether a House Bill number or a Senate Bill number, is located at the beginning of the act. Note that if the bill number is preceded by the letters "HB," then the act originated in the House. If the number is preceded by the letters "SB," then the act originated in the Senate.
- 4). Search the "House Journal" and the "Senate Journal." The journals are organized by year and describe the steps the bill went through in the house or the senate, such as how legislators voted on the bill, when it was amended, when it was sent to committee and who sponsored it. Use the "History of Senate (or House) Bills table" found in the appendix of the last volume for relevant page numbers.
- 5). Check the Legislative Research Commission (LRC) for audio tapes. Sometimes committee meetings are recorded on audio tape. Although these are not transcribed, you may purchase a copy of the tape for $5 or listen to the tape at the LRC's library.
