Pennsylvania Legislative Reference Bureau Statistics

Legislative Reference Bureau Production Statistics

The Bureau prepares

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The Bureau has statutory authority to edit and issue an official publication of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, composed of 79 titles, arranged by subject matter.

Legislative Reference Bureau Historical Statistics

The Legislative Reference Bureau has served the Pennsylvania General Assembly for over 110 years.

The Legislative Reference Bureau was established by the act of April 27, 1909 (P.L.208, No.143) with the primary goal of preparing thousands of bills, amendments, resolutions, and citations for introduction by the members of the Senate and House of Representatives during each two-year legislative session.

The first Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau served for 21 years.

Beginning in 1909, James N. Moore worked tirelessly at the Bureau for 21 years, until his death in 1930.

The first Assistant Director for the Bureau could read 12 different languages.

The first Assistant Director, James McKirdy, was able to read 12 different languages and was able to fluently speak German.

In 1935, the Bureau's Legislative Reference Library contained more than 3,000 volumes, 1,500 of which were devoted to law.

The Library's files included over 5,000 pamphlets, 1,500 clippings, and 6,000 pieces of other typewritten material.

In the early 1980s, the floor of the Bureau sank about 1/2 an inch due to the weight of the Bureau's filing system.

This issue was remedied by Director Cable by changing the filing practice. More than twenty years later, a customized, computerized bill drafting system was implemented to vastly improve the efficiency of bill and amendment preparation.

In 1946 and 1947, the Bureau proceeded to codify all regulations of State agencies and published a volume consisting of more than 1100 pages.

This was only half of the project, with a second volume planned for the regulations of the Department of Labor and Industry and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission but this was never completed because the act authorizing it was repealed.