Legislation & Politics (March 23, 2011)
By Leanne Battle
There is a lot of state legislative activity this time of year. How can I keep up with legislative changes surrounding a particular issue across multiple states?
Check out the Legislation & Politics section of the Legal tab at lexis.com. We have two sources there to help: State Net Bill Tracking – Current Session and State Net Full Text of Bills – Current Session.
Search the SYNOPSIS segment in the Bill Tracking file to retrieve a list of bills about a particular issue. Each bill tracking report includes a synopsis and a chronology of bill activity. The results are arranged alphabetically by state; then house bills in order of introduction followed by senate bills in order of introduction.
Search the DIGEST segment in the Full Text of Bills source to retrieve bills relevant to a specific issue. Each full-text bill includes a list of sections amended and sections enacted. Language added or deleted is clearly marked.
