Bill tracking is a distinct process within legislative history research, and refers to tracing the step-by-step progress of a bill through a legislative session. Very often, the term is applied to tracking of current bills, but I'm using it here to refer to the tracking of a historical bill's progress through the legislature while it was being considered. This can be very useful when you need to track down the genesis of, or rationale behind, particular amendments.
For further discussion of the legislative process, please refer to the Legislative Process tab.
Meanwhile, the Senate Journal tells us what was going on in the other chamber after the bill was first transmitted to it on March 18. The index tells us that reports of proceedings appear on the following pages:
The reference to “II-584” is to the committee voting record referenced at page 2116 below. The Senate proceedings went as follows:
Page 1254: First reading of HB 1047 in the Senate. Referred to Committee on Economic and Environmental Affairs. (Mar. 18, 1991)
Page 2116: Second Reading. Favorable report with amendments from the Committee (unanimous vote by Committee). Several floor amendments are offered by Senators. Two amendments proposed by Sen. Cade are adopted; the remainder of the amendments are rejected. Four roll call votes are taken and recorded. (Apr. 1, 1991)
Page 2168: Third Reading. Sen. Sher proposes a floor amendment which the chamber adopts. The Senate rejects Sen. Lapides’ floor amendment by roll call vote and passes the amended bill by a roll call vote of 43-1, transmitting the bill back to the House. (Apr. 2, 1991)
Page 2292: Correspondence from House requesting recession from amendments. Senate response refusing to recede and convening the conference committee. (Apr. 3, 1991)
Page 2476: Conference Committee report presented to Senate. Senate passes by roll call vote of 44-1. (Apr. 6, 1991)
So, we see from each chamber journal that the election finance law debate bill generated some controversy between the two houses, but eventually, a compromise was hammered out in Committee, and the statute passed in its then-current form.
Having gone as far as the journals allow, we'll now delve into the contents of the legislative bill file for HB 1047.