Statutory & Administrative Law Research

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1 Research Assistants Training Statutory & Administrative Law Research Jane Larrington Associate Director & Head of Public Services

2 But the majority of law is here 1L curriculum focuses here

3 Legislative Research

4 Quick review Session laws positive statement of legal rule enacted by legislature Codes compilation and arrangement of those statutes by subject; constantly updated as new statutes add to (or change) prior law Federal & California Text, History, Annotations, Citators

5 Other legislative research topics Local/municipal codes 50 state surveys Tracking pending legislation Historical statutes Legislative history

6 Local & Municipal Codes

7 Local/Municipal Codes Local governing body o e.g., county board of supervisors, city council Different names o codes, ordinances, bylaws, measures Force and effect of law o can t conflict with state law

8 Local/Municipal Codes Can be difficult to locate Usually somewhere on municipality s website

9 Publishers/aggregators o o o o o Lexis has a decent collection of municipal codes Municode: American Legal Publishing: ecode260: library/ Code Publishing Co.:

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11 50 State Surveys

12 50 state surveys Manually collecting each state s law on a topic is: o time-consuming o difficult (variations in terminology and code structure) Look for an existing compilation even incomplete or out of date, will save time law review article, ALR article, practice guide National Center for State Legislatures Advocacy organizations often collect state statutes on topics of interest to them

13 50 state surveys Chart builders o Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg and some specialty databases have tools that will collect provisions for you across states o Export to Excel o Not available for all topics

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16 50 state surveys Talk to a librarian we ll help you figure out if there s a way to streamline your work

17 Bill Tracking

18 Tracking pending legislation Westlaw / Lexis alert NCSL: Use an advocacy organization s legislative action center GovTrack: BillTrack50:

19 Historical Statutes

20 Historical statutes Westlaw & Lexis have some prior versions of statutes; varies widely state to state, but none prior to early 1990s HeinOnline State Statutes Historical Archive

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23 Legislative history All the documents created in the process of passing legislation Schoolhouse Rock! I m Just a Bill watch?v=tyej55o3el0

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25 Documents that belong in a legislative history Bill text (all the versions throughout the process) Committee Reports Committee Hearings Congressional Debates Committee Prints Presidential or Executive Agency Documents Public statements including blogs or podcasts

26 Congressional Research Westlaw & Lexis have some legislative history documents ProQuest - LRC subscription database (go to our website) - has (pretty much) everything - current & historical Congress.gov (free) - current & recent materials - including video of hearings

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28 State legislative histories Differs widely among states Fewer materials than federal More difficult to obtain Recent legislation may be easier Talk to a reference librarian

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30 Administrative Law

31 What is administrative law? Branch of law governing the creation and operation of administrative agencies. 1. Regulations 2. Agency adjudications Administrative law makes up a huge portion of the law

32 Administrative law Legislative Hearings/ adjudications = quasi-judicial Judicial Regulations = quasi-legislative Executive

33 Origin of agency s authority Legislature passes a law, giving the broad strokes and enabling a government agency to implement the law To implement the legislature s intent, the agency typically will have to do 2 things: 1. Promulgate regulations that provide more detailed rules & establish oversight processes; 2. Enforce the law through those processes, including administrative hearings/adjudications

34 Regulations

35 Process of promulgating regulations The enabling legislation instructing agency to promulgate regulations session law or statutory code Strict rules about what the agency has to do, simplified: 1. Agency drafts & publishes proposed regulations in the Federal Register (Fed. Reg. or F.R.) 2. Opportunity for public comment 3. Agency reviews comments, drafts & publishes final version in Fed. Reg. 4. Codify the final regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.)

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39 Guidance documents Some agencies put out informal documents that lay out current thinking on issues Avoids strict requirements for promulgating regulations Not legally binding, but can be good indicator of an agency s position May not be formally published look on agency s website

40 Agency Adjudications

41 Administrative adjudications Differ widely among agencies Informal / Formal Bind only parties / Precedential effect Whether and how they re published Agency s website is often a good place to start Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg & other specialty databases have selected agency adjudications HeinOnline has historical agency materials

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43 Formal adjudications Look a lot like court cases Agency hearing (similar to trial) Conducted by administrative law judge (ALJ) (similar to trial court judge) Can be appealed up to a higher authority within the agency Once administrative remedies are exhausted, often can file suit in court

44 Informal adjudications Advice letters Attorney general opinions Advisory guidance

45 Westlaw, Lexis, & Bloomberg Law Practice Centers

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55 What is Admin Law 3 Branches Statutory Interpretation