This series consists of only those committee records deposited with the Secretary of State's office under the direction of Joint Legislative Rule 6. The disposition of the remainder of the conmittee's records is unknown. As a result, the series does not document the full range of functions and actions of the committee.
The most detailed historical documentation in the series consists of bound minutes on meetings of the committee 1911-1945. Unlike some of the documentation for later years, these are true minutes of proceedings. For some years, there are even full stenographer's transcriptions of public hearings and executive sessions. Minutes for a number of meetings held during special sessions are also included.
There are no minutes for the 1947 session and virtually none for 1971. For the 1949-1969 sessions the series contains very brief minutes which include the names of individuals registering for and against proposed legislation at hearings and the votes of individual legislators on specific bills. There is no information on actual committee deliberations. Although this information is also included in the record of committee proceedings microfilmed by the Legislative Reference Bureau (1951-1977) and held in the Society Library, a spot check of histories on bills before the committee suggested that this file should be retained.
In addition to brief minutes and bill histories, for more recent committees the series includes motion books which detail roll call votes on budget bill and budget review bill provisions, copies of material distributed by state agencies and advocacy groups to influence voting, memoranda prepared by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau on specific legislative, agenda material for meetings of the committee on emergency appropriations (13.01), and copies of reports to the committee which are required by statute. With the exception of the motion books, few of the types of documentation represented appear to be complete.
The collection includes virtually no correspondence of the committee or of its chairmen, and the materials prepared for Joint Finance by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau are only a small portion of the total created.
