Legal research question: Legislative history of codes?

[Blake]

Hello, counsel resident at FF, and anyone else who might know the answer. I'm digging into the details of the Robert Kennedy Rolling Stone article controversy, and investigating a rebuttal by Farhad Manjoo over at Salon. I'm looking at Anderson's Online Ohio Docs, and the (I presume) legislative history of 3503.19, which reads:

HISTORY: 145 v S 300 (Eff 1-1-95); 146 v H 99. Eff 8-22-95.

What do it mean? Can I use this to search Ohio's bills and find who passed what when?

ETA: "95" means the 121st, but there's very little bill info I can find. Also, if "95" above means I'm looking for a bill passed in the 116th General Assembly, then unfortunately the oldest I can find from Findlaw's Ohio Codes link is the 121st.

[D. Scarlatti]

Ye gods. What is it you're after exactly, Blake?

The first citation is to Senate Bill 300, from the 93-94 regular session. The second is to House Bill 99 from the 95-96 session. The Senate Bill's sponsor was Ray, and the House's was Nein. The rest of the citation is the effective date, of course.

Where's Maturin? He's an old Ohio hand.

[Stephen Maturin]

Ohio, eh? That's my old stompin' ground.

The current version of R.C. 3503.19 is part of the 126th General Assembly's House Bill 3, which the governor signed on 1/31/06. The amendments to the section you cited took effect on June 1, 2006. It's a massive bill, though, and amendments to other Revised Code sections have different effective dates.

You'll find just about everything there is on H.B. 3 -- text, earlier versions of the text, bill analyses, committee synopses, status report, etc. -- here.

Originally Posted by Blake

145 v S 300 (Eff 1-1-95)

That refers to Senate Bill 300 passed by the 120th Ohio General Assembly in 1994. The "145" is the hard-bound volume of Ohio's session laws in which bill appears.

The information on the Ohio Legislature's website doesn't go back that far, but I was able to find S.B. 300 on Westlaw. This was the bill that first created Section 3502.19. Per Westlaw, the original version read:

Sec. 3503.19. (A) Persons qualified to register or to change their registration because of a change of address or change of name may register or change their registration in person at any state or local office of a designated agency, at the office of the registrar or any deputy registrar of motor vehicles, at the office of the secretary of state, or at the office of a board of elections or branch office established by the board, or by mail. A registered elector may also change his registration at any polling place where he is eligible to vote, on election day.

Any state or local office of a designated agency or the office of the registrar or any deputy registrar of motor vehicles shall transmit any voter registration application or change of registration form that it receives to the board of elections of the county in which the state or local office of the designated agency is located, within five days after receiving the registration application or change of registration form.

An otherwise valid voter registration application that is returned to the appropriate office other than by mail must be received by a state or local office of a designated agency, the office of the registrar or any deputy registrar of motor vehicles, the office of the secretary of state, or the office of a board of elections no later than the thirtieth day preceding a primary, special, or general election for the person to qualify as an elector eligible to vote at that election. An otherwise valid registration application received after that day entitles the elector to vote at all subsequent elections.

Any state or local office of a designated agency or the office of the registrar or any deputy registrar of motor vehicles shall date stamp a registration application or change of name or change of address form it receives using a date stamp that does not disclose the identity of the state or local office of the designated agency.

Voter registration applications, if otherwise valid, that are returned by mail to the state or local office of a designated agency, the office of the secretary of state, or to the office of a board of elections must be postmarked no later than the thirtieth day preceding a primary, special, or general election in order for the person to qualify as an elector eligible to vote at that election. If an otherwise valid voter registration application that is returned by mail does not bear a postmark or a legible postmark, the registration shall be valid for that election if received by the state or local office of a designated agency, the office of the secretary of state, or the office of a board of elections no later than twenty-five days preceding any special, primary, or general election.

(B) Any person qualified to register may apply in person, by telephone, by mail, or through another person for voter registration forms to the office of the secretary of state or the office of a board of elections. Completed registration forms may be returned in person or through another person to any state or local office of a designated agency, or in person, through another person, or by mail to the office of the secretary of state or the office of a board of elections.

(C) A board of elections that receives a voter registration application and is satisfied as to the truth of the statements made in the registration form shall register the applicant and promptly notify him of his registration and the precinct in which he is to vote. The notification shall be by nonforwardable mail, and if the mail is returned to the board, it shall investigate and cause the notification to be delivered to the correct address; or if it determines that the voter is not eligible to vote for residency reasons it shall cancel the registration and notify the registrant, at the last known address, of a need to reregister. If the board does not accept the application for registration, it shall immediately notify the applicant of the reasons for rejecting the application and request the applicant to provide whatever information or verification is necessary to complete the application.

If a notice of the disposition of an otherwise valid mail registration application is sent by nonforwardable mail and is returned undelivered, the person shall be registered and sent a confirmation notice by forwardable mail. If the person fails to respond to the confirmation notice, update his registration, or vote in any election during the period of two federal elections subsequent to the mailing of the confirmation notice, the person's registration shall be canceled.

Originally Posted by Blake

146 v H 99. Eff 8-22-95.

And this refers to House Bill 99, enacted by the 121st General Assembly in 1995. Again, "146" is the number of the hard-bound session laws volume in which the final version of the bill was published.

H.B. 99 was e-fuckin'-normous. Among the many things it did was amend R.C. 3503.19 to read as follows (again, per Westlaw):

Additions are indicated by <<+ Text +>>; deletions by <<- Text ->>.

* * *

Sec. 3503.19. (A) Persons qualified to register or to change their registration because of a change of address or change of name may register or change their registration in person at any state or local office of a designated agency, at the office of the registrar or any deputy registrar of motor vehicles, at <<-the office of the secretary of state, or at the office of a board of elections->> <<+a public high school or vocational school, at a public library, at the office of a county treasurer,+>> or <<+at a+>> branch office established by the board <<+of elections+>>, or <<+in person, through another person, or+>> by mail <<+at the office of the secretary of state or at the office of a board of elections+>>. A registered elector may also change <<-his->> <<+the elector's+>> registration at any polling place where <<-he->> <<+the elector+>> is eligible to vote, on election day.
Any state or local office of a designated agency <<-or->><<+,+>> the office of the registrar or any deputy registrar of motor vehicles<<+, a public high school or vocational school, a public library, or the office of a county treasurer+>> shall transmit any voter registration application or change of registration form that it receives to the board of elections of the county in which the state or local office <<-of the designated agency->> is located, within five days after receiving the <<+voter+>> registration application or change of registration form.

An otherwise valid voter registration application that is returned to the appropriate office other than by mail must be received by a state or local office of a designated agency, the office of the registrar or any deputy registrar of motor vehicles<<+, a public high school or vocational school, a public library, the office of a county treasurer+>>, the office of the secretary of state, or the office of a board of elections no later than the thirtieth day preceding a primary, special, or general election for the person to qualify as an elector eligible to vote at that election. An otherwise valid registration application received after that day entitles the elector to vote at all subsequent elections.

Any state or local office of a designated agency <<-or->><<+,+>> the office of the registrar or any deputy registrar of motor vehicles<<+, a public high school or vocational school, a public library, or the office of a county treasurer+>> shall date stamp a registration application or change of name or change of address form it receives using a date stamp that does not disclose the identity of the state or local office <<-of the designated agency->> <<+that receives the registration.+>>

Voter registration applications, if otherwise valid, that are returned by mail to <<-the state or local office of a designated agency,->> the office of the secretary of state<<-,->> or to the office of a board of elections must be postmarked no later than the thirtieth day preceding a primary, special, or general election in order for the person to qualify as an elector eligible to vote at that election. If an otherwise valid voter registration application that is returned by mail does not bear a postmark or a legible postmark, the registration shall be valid for that election if received by <<-the state or local office of a designated agency,->> the office of the secretary of state<<-,->> or the office of a board of elections no later than twenty-five days preceding any special, primary, or general election.

(B) Any person <<-qualified to register->> may apply in person, by telephone, by mail, or through another person for voter registration forms to the office of the secretary of state or the office of a board of elections. Completed registration forms may be returned in person or through another person to any state or local office of a designated agency<<+, to a public high school or vocational school, to a public library, or to the office of a county treasurer+>>, or in person, through another person, or by mail to the office of the secretary of state or the office of a board of elections.

(C) A board of elections that receives a voter registration application and is satisfied as to the truth of the statements made in the registration form shall register the applicant and promptly notify <<-him->> <<+the applicant+>> of <<-his->> <<+the applicant's+>> registration and the precinct in which <<-he->> <<+the applicant+>> is to vote. The notification shall be by nonforwardable mail, and if the mail is returned to the board, it shall investigate and cause the notification to be delivered to the correct address; or if it determines that the voter is not eligible to vote for residency reasons it shall cancel the registration and notify the registrant, at the last known address, of a need to reregister. If the board does not accept the application for registration, it shall immediately notify the applicant of the reasons for rejecting the application and request the applicant to provide whatever information or verification is necessary to complete the application.

If a notice of the disposition of an otherwise valid mail registration application is sent by nonforwardable mail and is returned undelivered, the person shall be registered and sent a confirmation notice by forwardable mail. If the person fails to respond to the confirmation notice, update <<- his->> <<+the person's+>> registration, or vote in any election during the period of two federal elections subsequent to the mailing of the confirmation notice, the person's registration shall be canceled.

And that was the only action on R.C. 3503.19 until this year's H.B. 3. Unfortunately, I don't know of any online source for committee reports, bill analyses, etc. for bills as old as H.B. 99 and S.B. 300. If nothing else, the above will let you run a textual legislative history on the Revised Code section at issue. Hope this mess helps a little.

[D. Scarlatti]

Since when does the guy who runs the tilt-a-whirl get a Westlaw account?

[Stephen Maturin]

Hey, my tilt-a-whirl money is as green as anyone else's, Mr. I-Get-Access-to-the-Whole-Cornucopia-of-Westlaw-Databases-for-Free.

[D. Scarlatti]

Heh. If by "free" you mean "$1000 per credit."

[Blake]

Thank you for the huge swathes of information, Mr. Maturin! Lovely.

What I'm after ... Well, I guess I'm digging all the way under the details that Mr. Manjoo is contesting. He has a very detailed list of replies to Robert Kennedy's particular points, one of which features 3503.19. He said, yes, lots of voters were purged from the state rolls, but that's not evidence of a Republican conspiracy: that's just the law. Well, the law just happens to date from shortly after the GOP retook all the major mechanisms of power in Ohio, so I think he may be rebuttable on that point.

A number of his other points are debatable, as well, meaning that a large argument might be constructed rebutting his entire rebuttal.