Opinion ID: 2446605
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: a history of the lrc

Text: Because the statutes in question grant the LRC much power, authority and responsibility, it will be helpful to discuss the nature of this organization, and to identify its role in the constitutional scheme of the organization of state government. The parent of the present LRC, The Legislative Council, was given birth by the 1936 session of the General Assembly. [3] It was composed of fifteen members: five Senators appointed by the Lieutenant Governor, five Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House, and five state officials appointed by the Governor. It was empowered solely to engage in fact-finding. In 1944, the Legislative Council's membership was enlarged to sixteen members, none of whom were appointed by the Governor. [4] The eight Senators and eight Representatives serving were appointed by the Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker of the House, respectively. The Council's powers were expanded to include organizational functions prior to each regular session of the General Assembly. In 1948, the Council was renamed the Legislative Research Commission, and its membership was reduced to seven: the Governor as Chairman, the President Pro Tem of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, and the majority and minority floor leaders of the Senate and the House. [5] Its powers were essentially unchanged. Subsequently, the Lieutenant Governor replaced the Governor as Chairman. [6] In 1974, the Lieutenant Governor was removed as a member and under the present statute all members of the LRC are members of the legislative branch of government. [7] It is patently clear that the LRC as it currently exists, and as it has existed since 1974, is as appellants concede, an arm of the General Assembly. It is beyond cavil that the primary role, if not the exclusive role, of the LRC has been historically that of a research, fact-finding, secretariat and general support agency for the General Assembly. Since the LRC's membership consists of a small percentage of the total membership of the two houses of the General Assembly, no one could argue that it has any powers not given to it by its parent, the General Assembly, and no one could argue that it can legislate. The legislative power lies solely within the province of the General Assembly and its entire, publicly elected membership. Our constitution makes that clear. Ky. Const. Sec. 29 states, [T]he legislative power shall be vested in a House of Representatives and a Senate, which, together shall be styled the `General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky'. Whatever else the LRC may constitutionally do, it may not legislate. [8]