Minnesota Legislature
Office of the Revisor of Statutes
Revisor's Office Duties
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Computer Duties
Maintaining a Computer System
Source of mandate: Minnesota Statutes, section 3C.03, custom and usage
The revisor’s office develops and provides computer programs and equipment to support the drafting and publishing work of the office. In addition, the office provides training, programs, equipment, and data to support the work of many House and Senate offices. Training and help desk support is provided to users of the system. Approximately 130 users create and edit documents, and many additional users access information through the Internet.
The computer system uses a commercial text processing program enhanced with customized applications that support the unique needs of the legislature. For example, there are programs that provide assistance for automatically incorporating amendments into bills, renumbering sections of a bill, creating titles, and creating tables of amended, repealed, or new statutes.
The revisor's system houses central databases that users from the revisor's office, House, and Senate use to reduce redundant keystroking whenever possible. The office has continued to support the composition and printing of the Senate Journal, including front matter, text, and index. Data in the revisor system is used by the House in preparing the House Journal.
The revisor's computer staff provide Internet access to bills, engrossments, conference committee reports, and bill status information. The complete text of Laws of Minnesota, Minnesota Statutes, and Minnesota Rules is accessible on the Internet.
Computer Searches
Source of mandate: Minnesota Statutes, section 3C.03 (extension of bill drafting assistance)
The office produces and upgrades software to perform word and phrase searches on statute, rule, and bill text. The office completes searches for our own drafting and editorial work, as well as at the request of members, agencies, and outside entities such as the State Bar Association.
Copies of, and Access to, Public Data
Source of mandate: Minnesota Statutes, chapter 3E, custom and usage
The office provides public access to bills, statutes, and administrative rules. In conjunction with the House and Senate index offices the office provides public information on the status of all legislation. We also provide public access to information input by our office on the status of rules as they go through the adoption process.
The office provides Internet access to bills, statutes, laws, rules, and bill status continues to enhance the Internet capability and provide access to progressively more data.
The office makes available, upon request, paper and electronic extracts containing the text of portions of Minnesota Statutes and Minnesota Rules. Extracts are done for bills, statutes, and rules for state agencies as well as for the general public.
The office sells copies of its entire databases or portions of its databases to outside sources as requested. Currently, the largest purchasers are Lexis-Nexis and Thomson Reuters for use on their respective legal research services.