Office of Policy Analysis
Legislation and Committee Support
Legislative drafting is one of the primary duties of the
Office of Policy Analysis and is encompassed in the broad range of activities
of the Legislation and Committee Support function of the office. Each year,
legal policy analysts of the office draft, review, and prepare over 3,000 bills
and over 2,500 amendments to bills. An experienced drafting staff is available
to research, prepare, and discuss with legislators proposed legislation on a
year-round basis, although the most active period of bill drafting occurs
during the first four to six weeks of the annual session.
OPA staff also assists the General Assembly in its oversight
of the Executive Branch. On behalf of the Joint Committee on Administrative,
Executive, and Legislative Review, the statutory legislative committee that is
responsible for the review of the State regulatory process, staff analyzes the
legal sufficiency of and other issues relating to regulations proposed for
adoption by Executive Branch agencies because regulations have the force and
effect of law. Staff analysis and review helps insure that the agencies
proposing the regulations are in compliance with statutory authority and
legislative intent.
Another major function of the office
is to provide professional staff support to the ten standing committees of the
General Assembly. Policy analysts assigned to committees are responsible for a
myriad of tasks with respect to the consideration of legislation assigned to
those committees. These tasks include the close review and analysis of
legislation to identify legal, constitutional, and policy issues; attendance of
hearings and participation in voting and work sessions on the bills; drafting
of amendments, floor reports, and informational and other documents to assist
the chairmen and members of the committees during the course of the legislative
process; maintaining effective communication and working relationships with
other members of the General Assembly, staff, and participants in the
legislative process; and being responsive and available to meet the needs of
the chairmen and members in a hectic, fast-paced work environment.
Still another important function of the office is the
preparation of the formal, ongoing, nonsubstantive bulk revision,
reorganization, and restatement of the statutory laws of Maryland, structured
along major subject areas, such as education, criminal law, business
regulation, environment, natural resources, and so forth. In 1970, the State
committed to this effort; the process should be completed by about 2012. As it
has evolved over the years, the statutory revision effort is one of the most
thorough and painstaking in the country, with a more logically organized and
understandable body of law resulting from that effort. Legally trained staff
analysts are assigned to research and produce drafts of revised law for review
by an article review committee that is composed of attorneys selected for their
expertise in the subject area encompassed by a proposed revised article. When
the review of the revision work product is complete, it is submitted in
legislative bill form for consideration and passage by the General Assembly.
OPA also assigns legal policy analysts to support a number
of individual and regional delegations in the House of Delegates and the
Senate. Delegations are composed of individuals elected to the General Assembly
who represent a particular county or region of the State. Delegation staffing
often involves the drafting and explaining of amendments, responding to
information requests, understanding parliamentary procedural matters, and
working with representatives of local governments.
Staff members who are assigned to the Legislation and
Committee Support function also respond to requests from legislators for
opinions and advice pertinent to legislation. They also participate in the
staffing of statutory, special joint, and special legislative committees and
task forces and study groups that are often jointly appointed by the presiding
officers and the Governor. The staff reviews and summarizes bill review letters
of the Attorney General's office as part of an ongoing effort to improve the
legislative drafting effort. A more obscure but no less important duty is the
preparation of annual supplements to the charters of municipal corporations as
part of the legal review function of the office. Finally, the staff
participates in the activities involved with the department's responsibility in
the program evaluation Sunset Review of various Executive Branch regulatory
boards, commissions, and agencies.