Resources help identify legislative intent

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Identifying legislative intent is often a challenge. Occasionally the courts will discuss what they believe the legislature was thinking when drafting a statute. Absent that discussion, Wisconsin researchers follow several steps hoping to understand the thought process behind the creation of a specific state statute section. Researchers sift through drafting records, LRB analysis, legislative council reports, fiscal reports and committee reports. Occasionally, proposed legislation will also generate significant news coverage. Some great resources to begin this quest include the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Wisconsin Legislature, UW Law Library (online access to recent drafting records), and Marquette Law Library (older drafting records on fiche).

What do you do however, when the statutory section of interest is from another State? The records created and accessible to the public are not necessarily the same as Wisconsin. How do you begin your legislative history journey? The University Of Indiana School Of Law Library in Bloomington has an amazing research guide. It is entitled “STATE LEGISLATIVE HISTORY RESEARCH GUIDES ON THE WEB” and is a compilation of online resources for the various states. Their Documents librarian maintains the list and updates it regularly. Not only can a researcher quickly locate guides to assist with out of state statutory research, but often these resources identify who to contact should questions arise. Having links to these guides will save the researcher significant time.