Resource Map Monday: The Manuals Legislators Use for the Unexpected

State lawmakers operate by rules that come from state constitutions, judicial interpretations, statutes and those set by each chamber. But when they have questions not answered there, they turn to parliamentary manuals, Thomas Jefferson wrote the first in 1801—Jefferson’s Manual—still in use in some chambers today. There are others, but the one used in most chambers is Mason’s Manual, written in 1935 by Paul Mason, who updated it six times. NCSL now owns the copyright and works with the American Society of Legislative Clerks and Secretaries to update it every 10 years, most recently.in September 2020. Today’s Map Monday shows which parliamentary manuals legislatures use to handle the unexpected.

Sources:

• NCSL: Legislative Procedure: ‘Backup’ Parliamentary Authorities
• NCSL: Learning the Game
• Legislative Process and Parliamentary Procedure