3.  LEGISLATIVE MATERIALS

3.1  Typeface of Legislative Materials

Legal Documents:

     Generally, the name of a published official legislative material is underscored or italicized in footnotes or stand-alone cites in legal documents, however, underscoring is the more common practice. The author’s name, whether a person or an institution, appears in ordinary roman type. See infra Rule 3.7.1.

►    Fla. S. Jour.407-08 (Reg. Sess. 2018).

►    Fla. S. Comm. on Fin., Tax’n & Cls., History of Florida Tax Study Commissions 1911-1988, at 3 (1988) (available at Fla. Dep’t of State, Fla. State Archives, Tallahassee, Fla.).

Unpublished or unofficial materials (e.g., unofficial staff analyses, audio recordings, and transcripts) appear in ordinary roman type.

►   Fla. S. Comm. on Banking & Ins., CS for CS for SB 540 (2016) Post-Meeting Staff Analysis 3 (Dec. 1, 2015), https://www.flsenate.gov/
Session/Bill/2016/540/Analyses/2016s0540.bi.PDF [https://perma.cc/7KBY-EE54].

►   Fla. H.R. Comm. on Govtl. Acct, Subcomm. on Loc., Fed., & Vet. Aff., recording of proceedings, at 0:57:00-2:06:45 (Feb. 22, 2017, 
8:00 AM), https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Committees/
committeesdetail.aspx?CommitteeId=2911 [https://perma.cc/
S55E-KQZK] (discussing affordable housing).

Scholarly Works:

     Generally, the name of a published official legislative material appears in large and small capital letters in the footnotes of scholarly articles. The author’s name, whether a person or an institution, also appears in large and small capital letters. See infra Rule 3.7.1.

►    Fla. S. Jour. 407-08 (Reg. Sess. 2018).

►    Fla. S. Comm. on Fin., Tax’n & Cls., History of Florida Tax Study Commissions1911-1988, at 3 (1988) (available at Fla. Dep’t of State, Fla. State Archives, Tallahassee, Fla.).

     Unpublished or unofficial materials (e.g., digital materials, unofficial staff analyses, audio recordings, and transcripts) appear in ordinary roman type.

►   Fla. S. Comm. on Banking & Ins., CS for CS for SB 540 (2016) Post-Meeting Analysis 3 (Dec. 1, 2015), https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/
2016/540/Analyses/2016s0540.bi.PDF [https://perma.cc/7KBY-EE54].

►    Fla. H.R. Comm. on Govtl. Acct, Subcomm. on Loc., Fed., & Vet. Aff., recording of proceedings, at 0:57:00-2:06:45 (Feb. 22, 2017, 8:00 AM), https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Committees/
committeesdetail.aspx?CommitteeId=2911 [https://perma.cc/
S55E-KQZK] (discussing affordable housing).

3.2   Florida Legislative Journals

3.2.1  Uses of Journals

     Both the House and the Senate publish an official journal for each day that each body is in formal session. The journals should be cited when referencing committee or floor actions, including floor amendments.

     The legislature begins a new set of page numbers each time a new session convenes. Each journal contains basic data about the number of bills introduced each session, a record of all roll call votes, and a verbatim statement of every amendment to a bill in floor debate. The accompanying indices contain a listing of the bills by subject, bill number, and sponsor. There is a separate index for each session, but no master index for the bound print volume. Most journals also reproduce the Governor’s messages to the Legislature. Additional information, such as committee voting records and committee bill analyses, is available through the Legislature’s online resources. 

     The Senate journals for sessions 2010 onward are available online at www.flsenate.gov. For sessions preceding 2010, Senate journals are available online at www.archive.flsenate.gov. The House journals for sessions 1998 onward are available online at www.myfloridahouse.gov.

3.2.2  Limitations

     Unlike the Congressional Record, the journals do not reproduce a transcript of the floor debate. Debate must be listened to from a re- cording. See infra Rule 3.8.

     Each journal begins on the first day of a legislative session and is published only for each day the House or Senate meets in formal session. The journals are not published during the interim and do not carry any reports of interim committee activity.

     When reporting the date a bill was introduced, note that the first reading of each bill reported in the journal at the start of each session is a formality observed for state constitutional reasons. Many bills are pre-filed, and often committee activity has taken place before the legislative session officially commences. 

3.2.3  In Text

     Specific references to the House or Senate journals should be underscored or italicized.

►    Representative Jones reported in the Journal that she abstained from voting on House Bill 256 because she had a financial interest in the subject matter of the bill.

3.2.4  In Footnotes or Stand-Alone Cites

(a) Basic Form: The basic form is:

►    Fla. [S. or H.R.] Jour. [page] (session designation and year).

Legal Documents:

►    Fla. S. Jour.407-08 (Reg. Sess. 2018).

Scholarly Works:

►    Fla. S. Jour.407-08 (Reg. Sess. 2018).

(b) Numbering Problems. While the legislature begins a new set of page numbers with each session (the 1976 House Journalis one of the few exceptions), more than one session may be bound in a print volume. Therefore, it is necessary to indicate in the parenthetical whether it is a regular session, a special session, or an organizational session.

     The following examples are in the same volume:

►   Fla. H.R. Jour. (Org. Sess. 1989).

►    Fla. H.R. Jour. (Reg. Sess. 1989).

►    Fla. S. Jour. (Reg. Sess. 1989).

►   Fla. S. Jour. (Spec. Sess. A 1989).

►   Fla. S. Jour. (Spec. Sess. B 1989).

(c) Multiple Special Sessions. If a single volume reports more than one special session, regular session, or organizational session having the same year, and the sessions by designation are indistinguishable, then cite the exact date.

     The following special session examples are in the same volume:

►    Fla. H.R. Jour. (Spec. Sess. June 10, 1970).

►    Fla. H.R. Jour. (Spec. Sess. Oct. 9, 1970).

     Even though the years are the same in the following examples, the exact date is unnecessary because the session types are distinguish- able by their designations:

►   Fla. H.R. Jour. (Spec. Sess. A 2015).

►   Fla. H.R. Jour. (Spec. Sess. B 2015).

►   Fla. H.R. Jour. (Spec. Sess. C 2015).

(d) Special Parentheticals. In addition to the basic form, it is often helpful to include a second parenthetical that pinpoints the exact action being cited. This may include a particular bill, amendment, conference committee report, bill reference, or any other relevant action.

►   Fla. H.R. Jour. 789 (Reg. Sess. 2018) (CS for HB 495).

     If this form is used, it may also be necessary to indicate two page numbers: the first page number indicates where the relevant action starts, and the second page number pinpoints the exact item being cited. In the following example, the first page number references where the bill was first considered for action on the floor, and the second page number indicates consideration of a specific amendment:

►    Fla. S. Jour. 789, 796 (Reg. Sess. 2018) (amendment 1C to CS for HB 495, § 2 (2018)) (proposed amendment to Fla. Stat.§ 1008.22(3)(b) (2017)).

(e) Short Forms: The Use of “Id.” Use of “id.” generally: Use id. when citing the immediately preceding authority within the same footnote. See Bluebook Rule 4.1 for the general rules on the proper use of “id.”

     Complete Reference: Use “id.” alone (that is, without an accompanying pincite) only when the footnote or citation refers to everything in the preceding footnote or citation.

     Partial Reference: If the reference is to the same authority but to a different portion of that authority, then use the form “id.” followed by the word “at” and the page number (if the cite is to a different page) or id. followed by the section number, and then an appropriate parenthetical to pinpoint the matter if needed.

     For example, if the id. citation is to the same bill, but to a different amendment, cite as follows:

►    Fla. S. Jour.789, 796 (Reg. Sess. 2018) (amendment 1C to CS for HB 495, § 2 (2018)) (proposed amendment to Fla. Stat.§ 1008.22(3)(b) (2017)).

►    Id. at 790 (amendment 1B).

     If the id.citation corresponds to a different bill than the previous citation, include the page number references and an explanatory parenthetical where appropriate:

►    Fla. S. Jour.798 (Reg. Sess. 2018) (second reading of SB 322); id.at 798 (second reading of HB 185). 

3.3   Legislative Bill Information Publications

3.3.1  Introduction

     During each legislative session, the Division of Law Revision and Information within the Office of Legislative Services produces an electronic publication known as The Citator, which is comprised of a number of separate reports. The Citatoris updated several times each day and chronologically lists the cumulative actions to date concerning all legislation filed during a session. The Citatoralso provides statistics, descriptions by bill number, sponsor reports by member and committee, and indices organized by statute number affected and by subject. The Citatoris available through Online Sunshine at www.billinfo.leg.state.fl.us/. In prior years, this information was provided in the form of a bound computer printout entitled Daily Legislative Bill Information (sometimes entitled Provisional Legislative Bill Information). 

     At the end of the session, the Division complies this information and produces a final report entitled Final Legislative Bill Information. Before the 1987 special sessions B, C, and D, the final version was entitled History of Legislation. This report is indexed by subject, bill number, and legislator. The Final Legislative Bill Informationreport shows all action taken on each piece of legislation throughout session, the final disposition of all bills, including the date of the Governor’s signing or vetoing, the session law chapter numbers of approved legislation, an index listing all bills introduced that implicate an identified chapter or section of the Florida Statutes, and various statistical reports for the session.

3.3.2  In Text

     Do not reference legislative information sources or reports in the text. Discussing the action itself is more appropriate than discussing the memorialization of the action.

3.3.3  In Footnotes or Stand-Alone Cites

     If the action is indicated in a journal or session law, do not cite to The Citatoror the Final Legislative Bill Information.See supra Rule 3.2.1. Citations to information contained within The Citatorshould be treated as an internet source with print characteristics and cited according to the principals contained suprain Rule 11.

     The basic form is:

►    Fla. Legis., [title of report], [year of session and type of session], [at page number] [(date and time)], [appended URL] [permanent archive link]. A parenthetical explaining the information cited is encouraged. 

     Because information contained within The Citatoris updated throughout the legislative session, it is particularly important to employ the use of an internet archival tool.

►    Fla. Legis., History of Senate Bills, 2018 Reg. Sess., at 85 (June 4, 2018, 8:15 PM), http://www.leg.state.fl.us/data/session/2018/
citator/Daily/senhist.pdf [https://perma.cc/X38N-LT65] (providing legislative history of SB 994).

►   Fla. Legis., Statistics Report, 2018 Reg. Sess., (Feb. 4, 2018, 8:16 PM), http://www.leg.state.fl.us/data/session/2018/citator/Daily/stats.pdf [https://perma.cc/V5CA-7T3X] (showing one bill had been subject to a line-item veto by the governor).

     Citations to information contained within the Final Legislative Bill Informationshould be treated as a print source and cited accordingly.

     The basic form is:

►    Fla. Legis., [Final Legislative Bill Information or History of Legislation], [year of session and type of session], History of [House or Senate] Bills [at page number], [bill number under discussion].

Legal Documents:

►    Fla. Legis., Final Legislative Bill Information, 2018 Reg. Sess., History of House Billsat 419, HB 3139.

►    Fla. Legis., History of Legislation, 2018 Reg. Sess., History of Senate Billsat 72, CS for SB 422.

Scholarly Works:

►    Fla. Legis.,Final Legislative Bill Information, 2018 Reg. Sess., History of House Billsat 419, HB 3139.

►    Fla. Legis.,History of Legislation, 2018 Reg. Sess., History of Senate Bills at 72, CS for SB 422.

(a) Short Forms. When the next reference is to the same year’s report and to the same house’s bill report, use “id.,” the page number cited, and the bill number under discussion.

►    Fla. Legis., Final Legislative Bill Information, 2018 Reg. Sess., History of House Bills at 419, HB 3139.

►    Id.at 509, HB 4609.

     When the next reference is to the same year’s report but to the other house’s history, use the following form:

►    Fla. Legis., Final Legislative Bill Information, 2018 Reg. Sess., History of House Billsat 419, HB 3139.

►    Id., History of Senate Billsat 84, SB 552.

     When the reference is already cited (in either full or short form, including id.) in either the same footnote or in a manner such that it can be readily found in one of the preceding five footnotes, use the following short form: 

►    History of Senate Billsat 84, SB 552.

     Where multiple report years are referenced, retain the session 
identification.

►    2018 Reg. Sess., History of Senate Billsat 84, SB 552.

(b) Supra & Hereinafter. The supra and hereinafter forms may be used. Short forms should include enough information to identify and distinguish the citation from any other short forms that might be used in the document. If reports from multiple years are used, the hereinafter form should indicate the session designation and year. For general guidance, refer to BluebookRule 4.2.

     In the following example, the bill report is the only one cited in 
the document:

►    Fla. Legis., Final Legislative Bill Information, 2018 Reg. Sess., History of House Billsat 419, HB 3139 [hereinafterHistory of House Bills].

     In the following example, there are multiple bill reports cited in 
the document:

►    Fla. Legis., Final Legislative Bill Information, 2018 Reg. Sess., History of House Billsat 419, HB 3139 [hereinafter2018 Reg. Sess., History of House Bills].

3.4  Committees, Subcommittees, and House Councils

     Use the abbreviations listed in Table 1. When referring to a committee in a citation sentence in a footnote, the basic form is:

►    Fla. [H.R. or S.] Comm. on [abbreviation for committee].

►    Fla. [H.R. or S.] Select Comm. on [abbreviation for committee].

     When citing to a subcommittee, the basic form is:

►    Fla. [H.R. or S.] Comm. on [abbreviation for committee], 
Subcomm. on [abbreviation for committee].

     When citing to a council of the House of Representatives, the basic form is:

►    Fla. H.R. [abbreviation for council] Council.

3.5  Joint Legislative Committees

     Use the abbreviations listed in Table 1. When referring to a joint committee in a citation sentence in a footnote, the basic form is:

►    Fla. J. Legis. [abbreviation for committee].