• About LORL
  • Information About LORL
  • Committee Members
  • Staff Members
• LORL Programs
  • Inquiry Service
  • Internship Program
  • Faculty Associate Program
  • Visiting Scholar Program
  • Faculty in Residence Program
  • Research Affiliation Program
  • Conferences and Committee Informational Meetings
  • Video Conferencing Service
  • Mapping and Spatial Analysis
    • Mapping Overview
    • Legislative Atlas
• Conferences
• LORL Publications
  • COMMONWEALTH Journal
  • SPEAKER'S JOURNAL
  • LORLines
  • Issue Briefs
  • District Maps
• Right-To-Know
• Contact LORL
• Useful Links
• URC-PA
•  

About LORL

The Legislative Office for Research Liaison (LORL) provides a unique research service utilizing a small staff and the faculty resources developed through its 30-year relationship with over 100 of Pennsylvania's colleges and universities. At the behest of LORL, the faculties at these schools offer their services to the members and staff of the House and Senate. Among all legislatures in the nation, only the Pennsylvania General Assembly has direct access to such knowledge resources.

LORL Services - The LORL Side

The LORL staff delivers a broad range of services to the House and Senate. They include:

• The LORL Inquiry Service provides nonpartisan information and expertise on scientific, technical, legal, economic and social issues to all members and staff of the House and Senate. All legislative requests are confidential unless specified by the requestor.
• The LORL Academic Network, comprised of more than 25,000 faculty members from over 100 Pennsylvania colleges and universities, contributes experts for policy workshops, conferences, committee meetings, briefings, testimony before hearings, and assistance with legislative task forces. See the reverse side for detailed descriptions of additional university services
• LORL Publications:
• Commonwealth: A Journal of Political Science features peer-reviewed journal articles on a variety of subfields of political science. LORL edits special editions of this journal that focus on Pennsylvania policy issues,
• Speaker's Journal on the Future of Pennsylvania is a series of essays written by academic experts on a variety of issues important to the Commonwealth. 
• House and Senate District Maps of individual districts in large format.
• Legislative Atlas for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, produced in conjunction with our university partners, provides a detailed demographic and economic profile of every House and Senate district using Census data.
• LORLines is a monthly publication on varying and diverse topics.
• Videoconferencing Facilities and Services are available for all members and staff through a joint program with the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing.

LORL was established by the House of Representatives in 1976. LORL is a nonpartisan legislative service agency that responds to requests on policy matters involving the social, physical, and life sciences, engineering, agriculture, energy, environment and many other topics. LORL is funded by the House of Representatives but serves the entire General Assembly.

LORL Services - The University Side

A significant component of LORL's services to members, committees and leadership in the House and Senate is contributed by LORL's college and university partners.

The 102 colleges and universities in the LORL Academic Network provide the General Assembly with contributed in-kind services. The universities contribute through a range of LORL programs. The programs include:

The LORL Visiting Scholar Program - Universities contribute the salaries and travel expenses of two faculty members who are assigned to work in Harrisburg as members of the LORL staff throughout the legislative session.

The LORL Faculty Associate Program - Experienced and top flight experts from the universities (often former Visiting Scholars) are called on to volunteer to assist the legislature by offering testimony, helping LORL to organize conferences, workshops, seminars and informational meetings, to serve as editors or to write articles for LORL's publications and to find other reliable and knowledgeable experts on their home campuses to help respond to legislators' inquiries.  In return, LORL reimburses Faculty Associate travel expenses and provides staff support.

The LORL Internship Program - Invaluable semester-long experience for undergraduate and graduate students from all majors give LORL a highly valued supplement to our permanent staff.  The wages of many of these interns are paid by the students' colleges and universities as a service to LORL and the General Assembly.

The LORL Faculty in Residence Program - Faculty on leave or sabbatical from colleges and universities in the LORL Academic Network receive support to pursue research in Harrisburg on topics having direct relevance to state policy issues and problems.  While here, they are available to members and staff.

LORL and the Universities – A Valuable Combination

The LORL/University Partnership is often held up as a model by other states.  LORL's services are used by legislatures throughout the country and by national legislative organizations.   It is the exclusive and unique creation of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.