The House Journal is the official record of actions taken by the House and its committees. Among other things, it includes the titles of bills introduced, the full text of amendments considered, and a breakdown of how each Representative voted on matters taken up during floor sessions.
The House Journal is not a verbatim record of debates. A day given over to lengthy argument on an important bill may include but a few brief entries. A day on which scores of local bills are passed necessitates numerous pages in the Journal, although little debate, in the sense of argument, has occurred.
The Journal is of vital significance to the courts who look to it as an accurate accounting of the formal steps taken when a law is passed. It is also a vital reference for any issue that comes before the Legislature.
Issues found here are converted from the printed holdings of the University of Florida Libraries, the State Library and Archives, and from the Florida House of Representatives. Current issues of the Journal are available at the Official Website of the Florida House of Representatives.
The Florida House of Representatives Publications collection is sponsored by the Florida House of Representatives and draws from the source document collections of the Florida House of Representatives, the State Library and Archives of Florida, the University of Florida's Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center at the Levin College of Law, and from the University of Florida's Government Documents Department in the Smathers Libraries.