This was a presentation for the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries, presented on July 14, 2013.
The presenters were Ashley Ahlbrand, Jennifer Morgan, and Cindy Dabney of Indiana University's Maurer School of Law. Michelle Cosby, of North Carolina Central University School of Law, moderated.
3. AGENDA
Locating State Constitutions: Current, Historical
Researching State Constitutional Amendment Processes:
Culmination: Research Guide on State Constitutions
→ Legislative Proposal
→ Revision Commission
→ Constitutional Convention
→ Initiative Petition
4. STATE CONSTITUTIONAL TEXT
Statutory codes
Annotated
- In Print
- In Databases
- LexisNexis
Academic
- Lexis, Westlaw
& Bloomberg
- On State Websites
Wisconsin
Alaska
Official State
Websites
- Text by article
- Indiana,
- Illinois,
- Ohio,
- Text in entirety
- Washington
5. NBER/Maryland State
Constitutions Project
Research Guides
State Websites
HISTORICAL RESEARCH
• Sources and Documents of
United States Constitutions
(Swindler)
• Publications on individual
states
Print
Electronic
6. SECONDARY SOURCES
Reference Guides to the
State Constitutions of The
United States
Book of the States
(Council of State
Governments)
Online and in print
7. SECONDARY SOURCES
LawJournals
• Topical
•ex: William &
Mary’s Bill of
Rights
Journal
• State-Centric
•ex:
Washington
Law Review
Indexes&
Full-TextDatabases
• Index to
Legal
Periodicals
• LegalTrac
• Hein Online
• Lexis &
Westlaw
• LexisNexis
Academic
StateBibliographies
•GD-SIS State
Bibliographies
•Spinelli’s
Law
Librarians’
Reference
Shelf
(HeinOnline)
8. WHAT ELSE TO CONSIDER?
State Bar Journals
•Resource: HeinOnline Bar Journals Library
News Sources
•ex: LexisNexis Academic, ProQuest Historical Newspapers
Blogs
•Constitutional Law Prof Blog
•BlawgSearch > Constitutional Law Blogs
14. Where to Find
Session Laws Libraries
1816 to current in print, Law
Library (IU Maurer School of
Law)
Session Laws -- [name of
state] (subject search)
Official
Legislative
Websites
Indiana General Assembly
website, 2000 to current
Noncode acts, 1807 to
current, incomplete
HeinOnline
Session Law
Library
Session laws for all 50 U.S.
states
Current within 60 days of
the printed publication and
date back to inception
SESSION LAWS
15. LEGISLATIVE JOURNALS
Legislative Journal Indexes
• Subject matter
• Table of Contents
• Membership and sponsor
information, including
committees and roll calls
• Summaries of bills and
resolutions
• Chronological histories of bills
and resolutions
• Vetoed Bills
• Proposed constitutional
amendments
• Synopses of legislative action
16. LEGISLATIVE JOURNALS
Where to
Find
Legislative
Journals
Libraries Law Library (IU
Maurer School
of Law)
House Journal (1827-
1828; 1857-current)
Senate Journal (1928-
current, incomplete)
Legislative
Journals –
[name of state]
Official
Legislative
Websites
Indiana General
Assembly
House Journal
(2004-current)
Senate Journal
(2005-current)
Historical
Digitized
A collection of
nineteenth century
Indiana legislative
journals from the
Indiana State Library
is accessible from
the Internet Archive
18. BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS
Where to
Find Bills &
Resolutions
Libraries Law Library (IU Maurer School of
Law) > 1951 to current in print
Bills, Legislative--[name of state]
(subject search)
State Legislative
Body Websites
Free access to all full text bills &
resolutions from current legislative
session
Indiana General Assembly > bill text and
tracking back to 1999
Free 50-state bill text
& tracking databases
BillTrack50.com, GovTrack.us,
OpenStates.org
Search, browse, track, and update
The Usual Suspects Lexis
Westlaw
BloombergLaw
20. LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE RECORDS
Testimony Hearings Transcripts Reports Debate Votes
Where to
Find
Committee
Records
Indiana General
Assembly
Washington
State Legislature
Topical Index for Joint
Resolutions
Detailed Legislative
Reports - Bill Summary
All States Manz. Guide to State
Legislation, Legislative
History, and
Administrative Materials
Research Guides! State Legislative History
Research Guides: An index
of state legislatures and
online legislative history
research guides
21.
22. COMMITTEE RECORDS
WHAT ELSE TO CONSIDER?
Digital Collections
• Brevier Legislative Reports
(Indiana)
• House and Senate,
transcripts of debates and
speeches, 1858 to 1887
• Georgia Legislative Documents
• Acts & Resolutions 1799-
1999
• FDLP Digitization Projects
Registry, an additional
resource for discovering
digitized state documents
Audio & Video
• Indiana General Assembly
• Live Streaming
• House Video Archive
• Senate Video Archive
• Ways and Means Committee
Archive
• Interim Study Committees
and Commissions video
• Check individual interim
committee pages for links to
view video of interim
committee meetings
23. POLICY OR INTERIM STUDY COMMITTEES
Indiana
General
Assembly
Website
• Current Interim Study Committees
• Interim Archives (dating back to 1998)
Party or Caucus
Websites
• Indiana Senate Democratic Caucus
• Indiana Senate Republican Caucus
• Indiana House Democrats
• Indiana House Republicans
• Audio and video files of Interim Committee
meetings, presentations, member
statements, and press opportunities
• The Briefing Room (Indiana Senate
Democrat’s blog)
26. RESEARCHING AMENDMENTS OR REVISIONS
Constitutional Convention
States that don't
provide for
conventions
•Indiana
•Arizona
•New Jersey
•Arkansas
•Mississippi
•Texas
•Vermont
27. RESEARCHING AMENDMENTS OR REVISIONS
Where to Find
Records of
Constitutional
Conventions
---
Journals and
Proceedings
State Constitutional Conventions,
Commissions, and Amendments, 1776-
1988
Search Library
Catalog for print
holdings
Constitutional history Indiana (in subject)
Constitutional Conventions—[state]
[State]—Constitutional Convention—[year]
Digitized, available
online
Indiana
Maryland
Pennsylvania Constitution Web Page,
Duquesne University School of Law
28.
29. RESEARCHING AMENDMENTS OR REVISIONS
Where to
Find
Revision
Commission
Documents
Current and Regular
Revision
Commissions
Florida Constitution Revision
Commission - Dictated by Florida
Constitution
Alabama Law Institute
Digitized or
Archived Collections
Ohio
California
Idaho
South Dakota
Library Catalogs IUCAT
WorldCat
HathiTrust
30. RESEARCHING AMENDMENTS OR REVISIONS
Amendment by
Initiative Petition
Illinois, Massachusetts,
Mississippi
Florida, Michigan,
Montana, Nebraska,
Nevada, Oklahoma,
Oregon
Arizona, Arkansas,
California, Colorado,
Missouri, North Dakota,
Ohio, South Dakota
31. Initiative Process in
California
•Writing the Amendment Text
•Request for title
•Estimate impact on revenues or costs
to government
•Approval for Circulation
•Circulation Period, etc.
•Public Hearings
Search for Documents
• Text of proposed amendment
• Drafting documents from Legislative
Counsel, Attorney General, Secretary of
State
• Ballot title and summary
• Fiscal Analysis
• Record or Transcripts of Hearings
• Official ballot statements or pamphlets
• Newspaper materials
RESEARCHING AMENDMENTS OR REVISIONS
Amendment by Initiative Petition
• Ohio
• California
