Last week in our Advanced Legal Research course at UW Law, we delved into the topic of legislative research including 50 state surveys. Inevitably, there are a few students every year who have been tasked …
Legislation & Regs
Three Digital Collections of Wisconsin State Government Documents
The Wisconsin Document Depository Program is a statutorily mandated program that requires Wisconsin state agencies to provide copies of their documents to preserve and make available a record of major state government programs. Documents are …
Complete Congressional Record Back to 1873 Now Searchable in Congress.gov
Historical federal legislative history research just got a little easier. For the last few years, the Library of Congress has been working to add the Bound Congressional Record to Congress.gov. It is now available all …
Tools for Tracking Federal and Wisconsin Lobbying
Over $52 million was spent on lobbying in Wisconsin in 2021. Nationally, total lobbying spending amounted to a whopping $3.73 billion. You can follow the money with these tools. Lobbying in Wisconsin from the Wisconsin …
Researching Municipal Ordinances in Wisconsin and Beyond
Unlike federal and state law which is widely available, municipal law can be difficult to track down. In Wisconsin alone, there are 585 municipal (city and village) governments and 1,265 town governments and the availability …
Law Library of Congress Releases Collection of Research Reports Offering Comparative Analysis of Foreign & International Law since the 1940s
Those of you who follow federal legislation may be familiar with CRS Reports. The Congressional Research Service is a non-partisan legislative branch agency, housed inside the Library of Congress, that provides comprehensive analysis on issues …
WI Tax Index & Appeals Commission Decisions Available on Wisconsin.gov
I recently discovered that Wisconsin Tax Appeals Commission Rulings and Orders are now available in full text on Wisconsin.gov. The Tax Appeals Commission (TAC) is an independent state agency that was created by the Wisconsin …
UW Law’s State Democracy Research Initiative Newsletter Showcases Resdistricting & State Constitutional Law Expertise, State Supreme Courts Research
Interested in UW Law School’s new State Democracy Research Initiative? Sign up for their free newsletter for news on the latest research, happenings, and events. Issues will be published at the end of each semester. …
Hein Completes Indexing of WI Sessions Laws from Inception (1836-2019)
As a legal historian, I’m a big fan of Hein’s Session Law Library which contains the session laws of all 50 U.S. states as well as Canada, Australia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and the D.C. …
Researching Local Law – Municipal & County Legislation, Tracking, & Legislative History
When researching a legal issue, local laws are an often overlooked resource. Municipal and county governments pass ordinances on a variety of topics, including administrative procedures, standards of conduct, and zoning. Although many of these …