Laws and Legislation

Laws - Other states

The process of how a bill becomes law in the other forty-nine states is very similar to that in Ohio, except for Nebraska. Nebraska has the only unicameral state legislature in the United States.  This system having only one house is similar to what cities and county governments throughout the United States use.  The rest of the states, modeled after Congress, use a bicameral system.   The name that each state gives these two houses varies, as does the name by which the Legislature goes by.  Start by checking out the state legislature's and governor's web sites.

Websites for Legal Research - Other States

Free Legal Research Resources - State Law. (Harvard University. Harvard Law Library) Guide to free online legal research resources.

Guide to Law Online:  U.S. States & Territories. (Library of Congress)  Provides links to the Constitution of the state; executive, judicial, and legislative resources; legal guides and general resources.

Guides. (Georgetown University. Georgetown Law Library).  List of available guides including legal research resources for selected states and territories arranged alphabetically.

Law Library of Congress - Researcher Resources:  United States. (Library of Congress).  Research guides for all the states and U.S. territories.

NCSL 50 - State Searchable Bill Tracking Databases. (National Conference of State Legislatures) Arranged by topic and searchable by state within a topic.

Session Laws Library. (HeinOnline) Contains inks to statutes for the State of Ohio and other state.  Access restricted to OSU student, faculty, and staff.

State Legislature Websites. (Congress.gov) Provides links to various state and territorial legislature web sites.

State Legislatures, State Laws and State Regulations:  Website Links and Telephone Numbers. (Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, DC. Links to state websites.

U.S. Law. (JUSTIA.Com)  Links to law resources for each state.  Includes constitutions, codes, etc. 

Other Websites that may be of help

State Government Websites. (IRS) Although primarily concerned with tax related issues has links to other governmental websites including legislative for each state.  Information on U.S. Territories is not included.

USA.gov. Provides links to each state's official website.

Further Reading

Inside the Legislative Process. (National Conference of State Legislatures)

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