Duties and Responsibilities

• Legislation Drafting Services
• Review and Enrolling of Bills
• Publication Services
• Review of Administrative Rules
• Review of Initiatives
• Coordination of Litigation
• Legislative Records

Bill Drafting and Session Work

The Office of Legislative Legal Services prepares the bills, resolutions, and memorials introduced at each session of the General Assembly, as well as most amendments and all conference committee reports.

• Bill requests may be made only by members of the General Assembly or the Governor. 
• All requests received by the Office are confidential until introduction and are not discussed or released without permission.
• Each bill or resolution is drafted by a staff attorney or legislative editor and is reviewed by other staff members for format, grammar, and legality before introduction.
• The Office is responsible for the review of all bills and amendments after they are passed by either house in order to identify conflicting bills and any technical or substantive problems. 
• The Office also assists the House and Senate in proofreading and preparing the final enrolled acts for official signatures.

Publication Services

The Office of Legislative Legal Services is directed by statute to prepare the Digest of Bills, Session Laws of Colorado, Red Book, and Colorado Revised Statutes for publication and distribution following each legislative session. These publications are available in both print and electronic formats (available at leg.colorado.gov). 

• The Digest of Bills contains a summary of all the bills enacted at each legislative session. 
• The Session Laws of Colorado contains all the final versions of the acts passed at each session, as well as select resolutions and memorials, and all initiated and referred measures passed by a vote of the people. 
• The Red Book is a detailed listing of all the changes made to Colorado’s laws each session and cross references bill numbers to the statute sections affected.
• The Colorado Revised Statutes contain all state laws of a general and permanent nature and are compiled and edited each year by the Revisor of Statutes and Office staff, under the supervision of the Committee on Legal Services. The statutes include historical information in the form of source notes, editor’s notes, cross references, and, as appropriate, annotations of court decisions. 

Review of Administrative Rules

The Office of Legislative Legal Services is responsible for implementing the statutory provisions for legislative review of administrative rules and regulations. 

• Every rule or regulation adopted or amended by an executive agency is reviewed to determine if the rule is within the statutory power delegated to the agency and consistent with law. 
• If the Office staff determines there may be a problem with a rule, the rule is then reviewed by the Committee on Legal Services at a public meeting.

Review of Initiatives

Anyone who wishes to initiate an amendment to Colorado’s state statutes or constitution is required to submit a draft of the measure to the Office of Legislative Legal Services and the Legislative Council Staff office.

• Staff reviews the proposed initiative and prepares written comments for discussion with the measure’s proponents  at a public meeting.
• The director of the Office or the director’s designee sits on the Ballot Title Board. The Board is responsible for drafting and adopting each measure’s ballot title.

Coordination of Litigation

The Office of Legislative Legal Services, acting under the direction of the Committee on Legal Services, coordinates litigation involving the General Assembly.

• The Office serves as a conduit between the Committee and outside legal counsel.
• The Office may assist retained counsel in the preparation of briefs and other legal research and writing.

Legislative Records

The Office of Legislative Legal Services maintains legislative records on bills, resolutions, and memorials drafted by the Office.

Other Services

• Performs legal research for legislators.
• Provides legal assistance with legislative contracts or other General Assembly business.
• Participates in special projects for the General Assembly.
• Assists legislative committees as needed.