The purpose of this guide is to identify and outline sources of information about particular legislative enactments of the Arizona Legislature. This guide refers to materials in the Ross Blakley Law Library and on the Arizona Legislative Information Service (ALIS) website at http://www.azleg.state.az.us/. See also “Arizona Legal Materials: A Research Guide” for additional information on Arizona resources athttp://www.law.asu.edu/library/arizonalegalmaterials.
Code Section To be Searched
Locate the latest version of the code section ( 44-1261) to be investigated in the Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.)(KFA 2430 1956 .A2 CORE/RESV/READ/STATE) Take care to read the history note following the code section. Note original chapter number and date (LAWS 1984,Ch. 265). Determine what amendments (Amended by LAWS 1995, Chap 254§1) are relevant to your search. Don’t forget to check the pocket part. The Arizona statutes on ALIS are not useful for this purpose because they do not have historical notes.
Find The Session Law as Passed by Arizona Legislature
Go to the Arizona Session Laws, (KFA2425 .A2 LAW / LRARE; KFA2425 .A212 LAW/STATE) and copy the original chapter number as well as its original bill number (Chapter 254, S.B. 1283). Note whether the chapter originated in the House or the Senate. The sessions laws on ALIS at http://www.azleg.state.az.us/SessionLaws.asp are from 1995 (42nd Legislature) to date.
Consult The Journal of Both the House and the Senate
Turn to the tab marked “History” in the House (KFA 2418 .A6 LAW/STATE) and Senate (KFA 2418 .A5 LAW/STATE)Journals for the year of your legislation. Look up your bill number and photocopy the chronology of actions taken on your bill. Do this in both the House and the Senate Journals. Note which committee(s) considered your bill, as well as the time period that your bill was considered. You may be tempted to check the pages within the Journals that are mentioned in the History. This is a waste of time. On ALIS, consult the "Bill Status" reports for your bill at http://www.azleg.state.az.us/Bills.asp . Bills and bill status reports date from 1995 (42nd Legislature) to date on ALIS.
Check the Committees Section of The House and Senate Journals
See if the Legislature appointed an interim, Special or Study committee on the subject of your legislation. (Joint Legislature Committee on Diploma Mills or Study Commission on the Model Administrative Procedure Act or Interim Study Committee on Teacher Retirement.) Check the year your legislation was enacted, plus a year or two beforehand. Much of the investigative work goes on in these temporary groups and they sometimes issue reports and recommendations to the Legislature generally, or to specific committees. If a committee that has been charged with investigating your topic is listed, there is a good chance that the Clerk of the House or Secretary of the Senate will have copies of these reports or minutes of their meetings. If they don’t the State Law Library (602)542-5297 or the Legislative Council Library (602)542-4236 might. Make a note.
Also check the State Law Library's Legislative Study Committee Reports online at http://www.dlapr.lib.az.us/is/state/lsc/index.cfm. Reports are currently available from 1999-2001. However, they are in the process of adding new reports, and additional years may be available soon.
House Bills (KFA 2406 .L4 LAW/STATE [1982- ] Current bills at Reserve) See also (KFA 2406 .L45 LAW MICROFORMS 1971- 75) Cabinet 43 See also Hayden Library AZDOC 1933- Senate Bills (KFA 2406 .L5 LAW/STATE [1982- ] Current bills at Reserve) See also Hayden Library AZDOC 1949- See also (KFA 2406 .L55 LAW MICROFORMS 1969-79) Cabinet 43 If our collection doesn’t cover your session and it isn't on ALIS, this will have to be completed at the clerks office. Bills are on ALIS at http://www.azleg.state.az.us/Bills.asp . Bills and status reports date from 1995 (42nd Legislature) to present on ALIS.
Go to the State Capitol, 1700 W. Washington Street
You will need to go to the office of the Clerk of the House (602)542-3032 (2nd floor, House of Representatives Building) and the Senate Resource Center (602)542-3550 (1st floor, Senate Building) Take all the information you have gathered thus far. If your legislation is from 1997 (43rd Legislature) or later, consult the Committee Minutes on ALIS at http://www.azleg.state.az.us/committees.htm. The minutes are indexed by committee and then by the date that they heard the bill. It is necessary to know the committee that heard the bill and the date that they heard it. This information is available from the "Bill Status" reports.
Ask Each Clerk For
The bill file (House, 1971-to date / Senate, 1969- to date), which will contain all proposed amendments and versions of the bill and,
The file for the committee(s) (House, 1965-to date / Senate, 1967- to date) that considered the legislation. Then, browse through the committee minutes during the time period the bill was being considered. (Don’t bother with Rules Committee file.)
Watch for references to Interim Study Committees, Special Committees or the Arizona Legislative Council. If you find a reference to a document produced by one of these groups, consult with the Clerk. These documents are rarely appended to the committee minutes.
Audiotapes of committee meetings and floor debate are available in the Senate for the last three years. CDs are available from the 46th Legislature. Audiotapes of floor debates are available for the House from 1981. House committee tapes are from 1991 and CDs are available from 2002 to date. There are no written transcripts of the meetings or debates. The tapes can be purchased for $5.00 per tape or CD. Photocopies are .10¢ per page for the microfilm and hard copy files. Take money or checks with you.
Go to the Research Library Division of the State Library, Located on the Third Floor of the Capitol
1700 W. Washington Rm300 Phone: (602)542-3701
Ask for a reference librarian. You want to search the State Document collection (the best and easiest place to search for state documents is in the ASU online catalog. You may want to do that before you go to the state library) and the holdings of the research library by consulting the card catalog for committee reports on your subject or for reports written by the Arizona Legislative Council. You can also search the holdings of that library at http://aslaprcat.lib.az.us/ for committee reports on your subject or for reports written by the Arizona Legislative Council.
Search for Commentary on Your Legislation
Check the Arizona Bar Journal 6/65-1988 (K1 .R5 LAW PERIODICAL), Arizona Attorney1988- (K1 .R51 LAW PERIODICAL/MICROFORM), Arizona Law Review1959- (K1 .R5227 LAW PERIODICAL) and Arizona State Law Journal1974- (K1 .R532 LAW PERIODICAL) for articles that may discuss your legislation. Most of these publications are indexed on Legaltrac at http://www.law.asu.edu/Apps/Library/Databases.aspx or can be found full-text on Lexis and Westlaw from 1980 to date. Check LEXIS and WESTLAW newspaper files for commentaries that may have been in the Arizona Republic, the Arizona Business Gazette or the Phoenix Gazette. For earlier statutes, the State Library maintained an index card file (territorial to 1987) covering the Arizona Republic and its predecessors, which might reference articles to your legislation.
Run Boolean Search in the Arizona Case File of Lexis or Westlaw
To see if a judge referred to some aspect of the statute’s legislative history in the course of her opinion. (This is truly a long shot, but necessary in the thorough investigation of legislative history.)
You will now have as much information about a particular piece of legislation as there is to have. You will have to use your advocacy skills to use the information to your advantage. Good luck!! Please contact a Reference Librarian if you have questions.
