The Legislative Research Commission was created by the General Assembly on February 27, 1948. The members of the commission
were to include the governor, the president pro tem of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, and the majority and minority
floor leaders of the House and the Senate. The Commission was empowered to appoint a director "who shall have had graduate
training in government in a recognized university, college or practical experience in governmental administration" who, in
turn, was to "select such other employees as may be necessary to effectuate the provisions of this Act."
The commission was charged with maintaining "a legislative reference room and working library" in order to collect information
"of a legislative and governmental nature" and providing the information necessary for the General Assembly to perform its duties
"in the most efficient and economical manner."
Kentucky House of Representatives, 1948, with Legislative Research Commission members Earle C. Clements, Governor; Herbert T. Tinsley, Speaker; John C. Watts, Democratic leader, District 48; Hobart Rayburn, Republican leader, District 71. Photograph by Cusick, from the Wolff, Gretter, Cusick, Hill Studio Negative Collection, Kentucky Historical Society Collections.
