Research


Scope and Content Note

"Jackets" or files documenting the governor's legislative decision-making process were compiled by the Counsel to the Governor and include records relating to each bill passed by the legislature and sent to the governor for approval. The jackets are comprised mainly of memoranda and correspondence to the governor from state agencies, legislators, legislative committees, commissions, legal associations, lobbyists, private firms, and citizens, expressing approval of or opposition to particular legislation.

Three types of jackets comprise this series. Bill jackets contain records relating to bills signed into law by the governor. Veto jackets contain records relating to bills vetoed by the governor. Recall jackets contain records relating to bills returned by the governor to the legislature at either's request to correct a technical defect and never sent back to the governor.

Although the content and format of the jackets changed over time, each may include: printed version(s) of the bill; tally of legislators' votes on the bill in each house, providing name, Senate district number (for Senate tally), party, aye or nay, and total ayes and nays in the house (beginning in 1973); checklist of actions taken on the bill, such as engrossing, amendments, date approved, vetoed, or recalled, and compared by (initials or name) (less frequent by mid-1920s, little used by 1950s); certificate of approval of bill by Senate and Assembly; governor's veto memorandum or (beginning about 1960, and rarely) approval memorandum stating reasons for veto or approval; if recalled, certification by the governor that the bill was returned for amendment; folios or folio covers for vetoes providing house, introductory number, by whom introduced, print number, dates passed by each house, date vetoed, and veto number (1926-1974); memorandum of Counsel to the Governor summarizing the bill, stating any legal or constitutional objections to it, and sometimes stating reasons for a law or a clause in a law, who supports it and objects to it, what the law would do, and advice as to whether the governor should approve or veto the bill; checklist of state agencies, municipal officials and groups, and legal groups from whom recommendations were solicited or received; and correspondence, memoranda, and telegrams from interested persons, businesses, organizations, state agencies, and local government officials expressing reasons for their approval or disapproval of the bill, discussing the purpose of the bill and its possible impact on the state or on state agencies, or requesting a hearing on the bill; beginning in 1960, state agency recommendations were made in a uniform format providing recommendation (approval or disapproval), statutes involved, effective date, purpose of the bill, summary of its provisions, prior legislative history of the bill and similar proposals, known position of others respecting the bill, budget implications, arguments in support of the bill, arguments in opposition to the bill, and reasons for recommendation.

Content of the jackets is very uneven; some contain all these types of documents, while others may contain only the printed bill or a few of the other documents. A few jackets are missing. Pre-1900 jackets are few and fragmentary.