Cyclopedia
Office of the Law Revision Counsel
The Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the United States House of Representatives (OLRC) is a legislative support agency that prepares and publishes the U.S. Code. The Code is the codification laws of the United States.
BCR Page: §050. Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Establishment
The Office was established by in 1974 by the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1975 (Pub. L. 93-554, 88 Stat. 1777). This Act enacted into law title II, section. 205 of H. Res. 988 (93rd Congress) See Pub. L. 93-554, 88 Stat. 1777.
The counsel is appointed by the Speaker of the House and must prepare, and submit to the Committee on the Judiciary one title at a time, a complete compilation, restatement, and revision of the general and permanent laws of the United States which conforms to the understood policy, intent, and purpose of the Congress in the original enactments, with such amendments and corrections as will remove ambiguities, contradictions, and other imperfections both of substance and of form, separately stated, with a view to the enactment of each title as positive law.
The counsel takes each Act of Congress that covers more than one subject, and makes the revisions indicated to each title of the United States Code. The counsel also regularly reviews the United States Code and proposes new titles to be enacted as positive law (meaning that they would displace all prior statutes on the same subject and become the law itself). Some proposed titles are simply updates of U.S.C. titles that were previously codified as prima facie evidence of the statutory law but have not yet been enacted as positive law. Other proposed titles collect the substance of all existing statutes on a particular subject from across the U.S.C. and the Statutes at Large into a new title.
Summary of Section 205 of H. Res. 988 (93rd Congress)
Later enacted into law, section 205 of H. Res. 988 (93rd Congress) established the Office of the Law Revision Counsel to develop an official and positive codification of the laws of the United States, maintaining impartiality as to issues of legislative policy. Directs the Office to perform specified duties, including:
(1) to prepare a complete compilation, restatement, and revision of the general and permanent laws of the United States;
(2) to examine periodically all of the public laws enacted by the Congress and submit to the Committee on the Judiciary recommendations for the repeal of obsolete, superfluous, and superseded provisions;
(3) to prepare and publish a new edition of the United States Code with annual cumulative supplements reflecting newly enacted laws; and
(4) to prepare and publish new editions of the District of Columbia Code.
Text from Public Law 93-554 Enacting Provisions of H. Res. 988
Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1975
ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS
Effective on January 2, 1975, the provisions of Title II of House Resolution 988, Ninety-third Congress, relating to: Sec. 202. Early Organization of the House; Sec. 203. Legislative Classification Office; Sec. 204. The House Commission on Information and Facilities; Sec. 205. Office of the Law Revision Counsel; Sec. 206. Review of Committee Jurisdiction; Sec. 207 (c) and (d) Technical and Conforming Provisions; and Sec. 208. Compilation of the Precedents, shall be the permanent law with respect thereto.
[Emphasis added]
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