State Session Laws

State Session Laws in the United States

Session laws, Acts, State Statutory laws and Laws of the State (Ohio, New York), etc are ways of referring to bills that has been passed by the State General Assembly. Session laws and statutes are published by all 50 states.

Ohio Session Laws

Ohio Session laws may enact, repeal or amend numerous Ohio Revised Code Sections
The session laws are the official statutes of the State of Ohio. The Ohio Secretary of State certifies the language of commercially produced codes, such as Page’s and Baldwin’s. Should a discrepancy arise between the language of a session law and a commercially produced Revised Code, the language of the session law prevails.
Session laws indicate what changes were made to prior statutes. The session law may contain language indicating legislative intent, such as the intent to refute the holding of a court case. These statements are usually in “uncodified” sections of the bill.
Session laws can be used to update an Ohio Revised Code section or to find prior versions of an Ohio Revised Code section.
Each session law may enact, repeal or amend numerous Ohio Revised Code Sections – for example see 2006 SB 185. Either the General Assembly or the Legislative Service Commission will assign Ohio Revised Code Section numbers to new legislation.
The session laws are the official statutes of the State of Ohio. The Secretary of State publishes them as the Laws of Ohio. The Ohio Secretary of State certifies the language of commercially produced codes, such as Page’s and Baldwin’s. Should a discrepancy arise between the language of a session law and a commercially produced Revised Code, the language of the session law prevails.

New York Session Laws

Once a New York State bill is passed intolaw, it is called a “chapter law,” a “session law” or, informally, a “statute”. For example, Chapter 550 is Bill S7852 (which requires insurers and medical assistance for needy persons to provide coverage for the provision of telehealth services) and Chapter 549 is Bill A4611B (which relates to the ability of continuing care retirement communities to offer seniors additional service options).

State Session Laws Numbering

State session laws will vary in their numbering system. Some use chapters. Kentucky uses the year and chapter number. Indiana numbers its post-1982 public laws by first assigning the law a number and then the year of the law. Therefore, in Indiana, the numbering scheme refers to it being the 23rd law passed in the year 2014. Ohio uses the bill number.

Finding State Session Laws

The key to successfully finding a state’s legislative item is to understand the state’s legislative process and to identify the documents generated during that process. This information can vary significantly from state to state.
State session laws and codes are available on state government websites. Coverage and currency vary from state to state.

With most states, users may locate their session laws in the American Encyclopedia of Law State Portals or published in the legislative service pamphlets published by providers like West, HeinOnline or the Advance Service published by Lexis.

Westlaw Classic: In the Search for a Database box, type in the state abbreviation-legis (OH-LEGIS) (law students & faculty only)
WestlawNext: Enacted Legislation (Session Laws)
Lexis Advance: Browse Sources > Statutes and Legislation > Public Laws/ALS (law students & faculty only)
HeinOnline: Session Law Library

Locating in the Statutes Annotated, in general:

o (State) Revised Statutes Annotated: (Official, for example, in Arizona) by West — Codified law arranged by broad topics (Titles) in hardbound volumes. Contains the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, Enabling Act and other Admission documents, and State Constitution. Statute sections followed by historical notes, headnotes of decisions, references to law review commentaries and state regulations, and cross-references to other statutes. Tables volume correlates session laws with prior compilations of statutes. It may contain court and miscellaneous rules. Table of dates of effective enactments appears in front of each A.R.S. volume, pocket part, and pamphlet. Detailed index contains cross-references and Popular Name Table. Statute volumes updated annually by pocket parts and pamphlets and the Interim Annotation Service. Individual volumes revised periodically.
o (State) Revised Statutes: (Unofficial in some States, like Arizona) by LexisNexis — Current codified law arranged by topics (Titles) in softbound volumes. Contains the state Constitution and has companion volumes of Annotation Service and Rules of Court Annotated. Topical index with cross-references. Updated by the Advance Legislative Service, a compilation of current session laws with a table of A.R.S. sections affected and effective dates of enactments. Each annual softbound multi-volume edition replaces the previous one

State Codes

Some state codes are really collections of codes on individual subjects. See more about State Codes here.

Legislative History

The use of legislative history in any State to determine the legislative intent of a statute.


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