Nonpartisan: The Office of Senate Floor Analyses was created in 1984 to provide nonpartisan analyses of legislation that comes to the Senate Floor for a vote. Before 1984, Senators relied on bill analyses produced by the Democratic and Republican Caucuses.
The Office of Senate Floor Analyses is organized under the Senate Rules Committee, directed by the Secretary of the Senate, and guided by an Oversight Committee made up of Senators.
Bill Analyses: A piece of legislation is analyzed at many points during the lawmaking process: before each hearing by a Senate or Assembly policy committee and before it is taken up by the entire house for a vote on the floor.
The bipartisan staff of the Office of Senate Floor Analyses analyze the final version of bills that reach the Senate Floor for a vote.
The Floor Analyses of a bill includes point-by-point specifics on what the bill would do, the arguments in favor and against the bill, the fiscal impacts of the bill (if relevant), as well as the prior history of the bill and background information on the issue.
Bill analyses are organized by bill number and easily accessible online.
Digest of Legislation: The Office of Senate Floor Analyses produces an annual Digest of Legislation which summarizes legislation introduced during that year. Along with the summary, the status of the legislation is also given. The summaries are organized by topic and are a useful source of information about the work of the Legislature. The overview/introduction of the Digest of Legislation details the major issues considered important during the year’s legislative session.
The annual Digests of Legislation are available online or hard copy versions may be purchased from Senate Publications.