[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 19 (Wednesday, January 30, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S763-S764]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OFFICE OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, this year marks the 100th anniversary of 
the establishment of the Legislative Drafting Service, which we now 
know as the Office of the Legislative Counsel. In recognition of the 
anniversary, I would like to make a few comments about the history of 
the office.
  During the first 130 years of Congress, 1789-1918, legislation for 
Congress was drafted by Members of Congress, congressional staff, 
Executive agencies, and outside individuals and groups which sometimes 
led to legislation that was not always clear, consistent, organized, 
and well written.
  In 1911, Columbia University established a Legislative Drafting 
Research Fund to conduct research and work toward the better drafting 
of statutes and sent Professor Middleton Beaman and Thomas Parkinson to 
Congress to demonstrate the feasibility and value of the use by 
Congress of a full-time staff of professional legislative drafters.
  The positive experiences of committees, Members, and staff of 
Congress, including the Ways and Means Committee of the House of 
Representatives, in working with professional legislative drafters led 
to the introduction and consideration of legislation to establish a 
Legislative Drafting Bureau, including S. 1240, 63rd Congress, which 
was reported to the Senate on June 17, 1913.
  During the debate on the establishment of a Legislative Drafting 
Bureau, Senator Elihu Root of New York argued in favor of establishment 
citing the use of counsel by the British House of Commons and stating 
that ``[t]he fundamental idea . . . to give the benefit of a trained, 
experienced student in the preparation of bills. . . . We need trained 
and intelligent assistance in the drafting of laws.''
  On February 24, 1919, Congress enacted section 1303 of the Revenue 
Act

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of 1918, 2 U.S.C. 271 et seq., which established the Legislative 
Drafting Service.
  The House of Representatives and the Senate were initially served by 
a single office with two branches that received a single appropriation 
that was equally divided and transferred employees between the branches 
to meet special needs.
  The two individuals who carried out the demonstration by the 
Legislative Drafting Research Fund became the first Legislative 
Counsels of the Legislative Drafting Service with Middleton Beaman 
appointed in February 1919 as the first Legislative Counsel of the 
House of Representatives branch of the Service and Thomas Parkinson 
appointed in March 1919 as the first Legislative Counsel of the Senate 
branch of the Service.
  In 1924, the name of the office was changed from the Legislative 
Drafting Service to the Office of the Legislative Counsel.
  The House of Representatives and the Senate branches of the Office of 
the Legislative Counsel began to evolve separately during the 1930s 
when the Senate branch, while continuing to meet the drafting needs of 
Senate committees, began to devote a significant part of the resources 
of the Office to the drafting requests of individual Senators while the 
House branch continued to limit the services of the branch to 
committees of the House.
  The House of Representatives and the Senate branches of the Office 
continued to separate in 1958 when, for the first time, the two 
branches received separate and not equal appropriations and were 
officially separated in 1970 when a separate charter was established 
for the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the House by title V of 
the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970, 2 U.S.C. 281 et seq.
  The first attorneys joined the Office to work only for a session or 
on a particular project and then moved on to other positions, with 
Thomas Parkinson, the first Legislative Counsel of the Senate, and John 
E. Walker, the successor of Parkinson, each serving fewer than 2 years 
and Frederic P. Lee, the third Legislative Counsel of the Senate, being 
the first to serve a substantial term of about 8 years.
  The career tradition of the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the 
Senate was established with successors to Frederic P. Lee who served 
the Senate in the Office for their careers or long periods of 
employment, including Charles Boots--1922-1961, 32 years; Henry Wood--
1926-1943, 17 years; Stephen Rice--1933-1950, 17 years; John Simms--
1936-1966, 30 years; Dwight Pinion--1942-1969, 27 years; John Herberg--
1947-1971, 24 years; Harry Littell--1947-1980, 33 years; Douglas 
Hester--1952-1990, 38 years; Francis Burk--1970-1998, 28 years; James 
Fransen--1975-2014, 39 years; Gary Endicott--1981-2018, 38 years; and 
Bill Baird--2010-present, 33 years, who served as attorneys of the 
Office and Legislative Counsels of the Senate.
  During the 100-year history of the Office, the Office of the 
Legislative Counsel of the Senate has served the Senate well by 
providing a steady, reliable source of nonpartisan and nonpolitical 
professionally drafted legislation for committees, Members, and staff.
  The attorneys and staff members of the Office have established and 
maintained traditions of professionalism and dedication that have 
helped to provide to the Senate a sense of continuity and institutional 
memory.
  There has been a dramatic growth in the use of the Office by the 
Senate where, during the 66th and 67th Congresses--1919-1923--704 
requests were drafted by three attorneys for an average of 117 drafts 
per attorney for both Congresses, to the most recently ended 115th 
Congress--2017-2018--where 72,106 requests were drafted by 37 attorneys 
for an average of 1,948 drafts per attorney for that Congress.
  To deal with its increasing workload, in 1990, the Office established 
teams with multiple attorneys per team that were responsible for 
drafting legislation under the jurisdiction of one or more Senate 
committees which has provided the Office with the flexibility and 
resources to respond to and meet the growing demands placed on the 
Office for ever-changing areas and complexity of active legislation.
  Attorneys in the Office and the House Legislative Counsel's Office 
use a uniform drafting style to improve the quality and consistency of 
Federal legislation and Federal law, including whenever practicable 
plain English, brevity, consistent organization and terms, and captions 
and subdivisions to organize drafts and make the drafts more readable 
and improve the administration and interpretation of and compliance 
with laws enacted by Congress.
  After the anthrax attacks on the Senate in October 2001, the Office 
of the Legislative Counsel of the Senate continued to draft legislation 
for the Senate by working in temporary facilities outside the Office 
while the Dirksen Senate Office Building was decontaminated for 1 month 
and has since developed an effective long-term capability to deal with 
emergencies, reflecting the can-do attitude of the Office.
  The role of the Office in the legislative work of the Senate is not 
often acknowledged, but it is understood and appreciated by all 
Senators.
  The 262 current and former employees of the Office have worked very 
hard over its first 100 years to provide consistently a high quantity 
of high-quality legislation for the committees, Members, and staff of 
the Senate.
  As the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the Senate celebrates its 
100th anniversary, the Office is well prepared to continue to provide 
the Senate and its committees and officers quality drafting service and 
sound legal advice with the spirit of quiet professionalism that has 
been the tradition of the Office throughout its history.
  I know that all Senators join me in congratulating the Office of the 
Legislative Counsel of the Senate on the 100th anniversary of the 
founding of the Office.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a listing of the men and 
women of the current staff of the Office of the Legislative Counsel be 
printed in the Congressional Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       Legislative Counsel--William R. Baird; Deputy Legislative 
     Counsel--Elizabeth Aldridge King; Senior Counsels--Charles E. 
     Armstrong, Ruth Ann Ernst, John A. Goetcheus, Heather L. 
     Burnham; Assistant Counsels--Amy E. Gaynor, Matthew D. 
     McGhie, Stephanie Easley, Mark M. McGunagle, Kevin M. Davis, 
     Kristin K. Romero, Heather A. Lowell, Kelly M. Thornburg, 
     John A. Henderson, John W. Baggaley, Margaret A. Rose, 
     Allison M. Otto, Kimberly A. Tamber, Vincent J. Gaiani, 
     Kimberly D. Albrecht-Taylor, Margaret A. Bomba, James L. 
     Ollen-Smith, Robert F. Silver, Thomas B. Heywood, Christina 
     N. Kennelly, Christine E. Miranda, Kathryne G. Bonander, 
     Philip B. Lynch, Deanna E. Edwards, Evan H. Frank, Maureen C. 
     Contreni, Patrick N. Ryan; Staff Attorneys--Carol L. Lewis, 
     Larissa Eltsefon, Mark L. Mazzone; Director of Information 
     Systems--Thomas E. Cole; Office Manager--Donna L. Pasqualino; 
     Senior Staff Assistants--Kimberly R. Bourne-Goldring, Diane 
     E. Nesmeyer, Rebekah J. Musgrove, Patricia H. Olsavsky, 
     Daniela A. Navia.

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