Research, Citation, & Class Guides: Political Science 418: Legal Research & Writing: Go to: State (U.S.) Law guide

State Legislative Activity (free, public access)

The best source for state legislative activity is the website of a state's legislative body, although they can vary considerably.

State Legislature Websites (Congress,gov)

These sites aggregate legislative activity in all 50 states:

Openstates.org This site, covering all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, enables individuals to find out who represents them, track bills, and see vote information. Legislative data is collected from official sources
LegiScan.com This site tracks bills from all 50 states and the U.S. Congress.
BillTrack50.com
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This site provides free access to bill information, but requires a free account to be set up.

State Policy Areas (free, public access)

National Conference of State Legislatures
Go to Tools or Topics under Research.
Book of the States (Council of State Government)
Stateline (The Pew Charitable Trusts)
The site provides daily reporting and analysis on trends in state policy.

All States

Case Law (Google Scholar)
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Click Case Law under the search box, then click either "Wisconsin courts", or click elect courts" to choose the states' courts to search.
Cases and Codes (FlindLaw)
Search codes with the search bar. To the left of the search, select a state from the "Jurisdiction" list. To find links to other legal resources for states, e.g., attorney general opinions, administrative codes, etc.: Scroll to "State Resources" and select a state.
Listing by Jurisdiction, States and U.S. Territories (Legla Information Institute)
Select a state to link to its constitution and legislation, regulations, courts, and other sources such as attorneys general, state government portal, or bar associations.
US Law, Case Law, Codes, Statutes & Regulations (Justia)
Select a state for links to legal resources including constitution, statutes, administrative codes, courts, and more.

Municipal Codes and Ordinances

Municode
Select a state, and then a municipality.
Other States' Law (Wisconsin State Law Library)

Tribal Government and Courts

Tribal Courts Resource Guide (National Center for State Courts)
Tribal Leaders Directory (Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior)
Use this to locate a tribe's website, from there look for information about the tribe's government.

Uniform Acts

Uniform Acts (Uniform Law Commission)
Read an explanation of uniform acts, as well as search or browse acts.
Uniform Commercial Code Locator (Legal Information Institute)
Also linked from here: LII locators for the Uniform Probate Code, Uniform Rules of Evidence, uniform matrimonial and family laws, and uniform business and finance laws.

State Law Materials in Westlaw Campus Research

Legislative, regulatory, and appellate case law for all states and U.S. territories is available in Westlaw Campus Research. Click the "State Materials" tab and then select a state or territory.

Westlaw Campus Research Federal and state court cases, statutes, & regulations; law reviews & journals; legal research encyclopedias; and some international legal resources, company information, and news.
- This link opens in a new window
Partial funding provided by UW System Shared Electronic Collection.

Wisconsin

Wisconsin Government

Wisconsin.gov
Official portal to Wisconsin State Government; Search, or scroll down to Agency Directory button
Wisconsin Law (Wisconsin State Law Llbrary)
Links to all branches of state government are provided. Also find Legal Research Guides under "Learning Center."
Wisconsin Legislator Briefing Book (Legislative Council)
Explanation of Wisconsin's government, legislative process, administrative rulemaking, and laws on open meetings and open records.

State of Wisconsin Blue Book
Call Number: 1st-floor Wisconsin Documents, A 1: (recent years) + earlier online
ISBN: 1733381708
Publication Date: biennial
Originally a manual for state legislators, the Blue Book is a guide to, and historical record of, Wisconsin's state government. Includes statistical information, election results, and state party platforms.

Constitution

Constitutions (Wisconsin State Legislature)
Choose: Annotated Constitution, Unannotated Constitution, Index, Pending Amendments - Constitutional Joint Resolutions

Legislation

A Citizen's Guide to Participation in the Wisconsin State Legislature
How a Bill Becomes a Law
Set Up Notification of Wisconsin Legislative Activity
Create an account to receive nightly e-mail notifications of legislative activity. You can follow legislation by subject, proposal, committee, authors, and more.
Acts, Bulletin of Proceedings [current session] (Wisconsin State Legislature)
Click the Acts button or the Proceedings button (Proceedings will offer author and subject indexes to acts and legislation)
Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations (Wisconsin State Legislature)

Legislative Service Agencies

Legislative Audit Bureau
The Legislative Audit Bureau supports the Legislature in its oversight of Wisconsin government and its promotion of efficient and effective state operations by providing nonpartisan, independent, accurate, and timely audits and evaluations of public finances and the management of public programs.
Wisconsin Legislative Council
The Legislative Council Staff is a nonpartisan agency providing information and legal and policy research and analysis. Its prepares several publications: Information Memoranda (detailed discussions of topics of major concern to the Legislature), Issue Briefs (2-page explanations of topics of interest to the Legislature), Study Committee Reports (detailed summaries of recommendations from study committees), Interim Research Reports (background information and stakeholder recommendations for legislation).
Legislative Reference Bureau
The Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau is a nonpartisan agency that provides legal, research, and information services to the Wisconsin Legislature. It drafts all legislation for introduction in the legislature, prepares the executive budget bill, drafts all amendments, writes analyses of legislation, conducts legal, public policy, and historical research, and provides information about the legislature and its proceedings.
Wisconsin Legislative Drafting Files
Drafting records are the official, administrative records of the bill drafting process, and are maintained by the Legislative Reference Bureau. Online access since 1999.

Regulations

Courts

Also available in Andersen Library: North Western Reporter to v.600 N.W.2d [1999] (2nd-floor Law Collection)

About the Courts: Court System Overview (Wisconsin State Courts)

Wisconsin Supreme Court

Wisconsin Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Case Access
Click "I agree" to terms to proceed to search options.
Supreme Court Opinions
Opinions (since 1995), oral arguments (since 1997) with a link to the briefs since July, 2009 on the case access site
Wisconsin Briefs
This collection includes briefs and appendices from cases 173 Wis.2d (November 1992) through 317 Wis.2d (July 2009) for the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Court of Appeals (WSCCA) . See WSCCA for more recent briefs.
Wisconsin Briefs (July 2009 to present)
Briefs filed on or after July 1, 2009 are available on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Case Access website (WSCCA).

Court of Appeals

Wisconsin Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Case Access
Click "I agree" to terms to proceed to search options.
Court of Appeals Opinions
Wisconsin Briefs
This collection includes briefs and appendices from cases 173 Wis.2d (November 1992) through 317 Wis.2d (July 2009) for the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Court of Appeals (WSCCA) . See WSCCA for more recent briefs.
Wisconsin Briefs (July 2009 to present)
Briefs filed on or after July 1, 2009 are available on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Case Access website (WSCCA).

Circuit Courts

Wisconsin Circuit Court Access (WCCA)
Click "I agree" to terms to proceed to search page. Under "search" an advanced search page with additional options is offered.

Municipal Codes and Ordinances

WI Ordinances & Codes (Wsconsin State Law Library)