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New York State Legislative History

A legislative history is compiled as a method to determine the intent of the legislative body enacting the law.

New York State Legislative History Resources on the Internet

Print Resources

Legislative Digest, 1985 to date

KFN5007 .N53 (State Materials Room)

This is a sequential arrangement of Assembly and Senate bill summaries.  It includes dates of legislative action, Committees to which the bill was referred, and Governor's approval and veto messages.

McKinney's Session Laws of New York, 1951 to date

KFN5025 .M35 (Reading Room, New York section)

Includes Governor's, Legislative and Judicial memorandum from 1951 to present.

McKinney's Consolidated Laws of New York Annotated

KFN5030 1939 .A234 (Reading Room, New York section)

New York Consolidated Laws Service (CLS)

KFN5030 .A46 (Reading Room, New York section)

New York State Legislative Annual

Call Number: KFN5025 .N4 Reading Room, New York section

Compilation of governor's, Legislative and Judicial memorandum from 1946 to present.

New York Legislative Documents, 1919-1962  

Call Number: KFN5005 .N496 Law Classified

We do not have 1963-1975 in print. For later years, it is necessary to use the microform.

Report of the Law Revision Commission, 1935-1975

These reports are to "examine the common law and statutes of the state and current judicial decisions for the purpose of discovering defects and anachronisms in the law and recommending needed reforms.  The New York State Law Revision Commission was abolished in 1995.  The reports are found in the KFN5028 area of Law Classified.  Our collection is incomplete so it is best to search the online catalog for our holdings.

Microform Resources

New York State Session Laws, 1691-2008

Microforms Cabinet 39

Superseded New York state statutes, 1829 to date

Microforms cabinets 34-4 to 35-5

Approval Jackets:  1950-1958 on microfilm in Cabinet 17.  Family Court Act, 1962 c. 682 is in microfiche.

Veto Jackets: 1975-1982 in microfiche, Lektriever #4, Shelf 23, Drawers H-N.

New York Assembly Sponsors memoranda, 1989-1990 in microfiche, Lektriever 4, Shelf 27, Drawer N.

New York Senate Sponsors memoranda, 1989-1990 in microfiche, Lektriever 4, Shelf 27, Drawer N.

New York State Legislative History on Hein Online

Includes:

Session Laws:  Full text of session laws including the territory of New York from 1691 to date.

Laws of New York:  A collection of superseded codes and finding aides.  May be useful for historical research.

General Index of the Documents and Laws of the State of New York, 1777-1812.

New York State Legislative History Resources on Lexis

New York Consolidated Laws Service:  The annotated code contains the statutory code for the State of New York.  This database also contains the history of the code section and all notes pertaining to a code section.  The history permits tracking how the code (law) has changed over the years.  The notes will refer to external documents such as reports/hearings if such documents exist.

New York Consolidated Laws Archive (Lexis.com) :  These databases contain the statutory code for the State of New York starting with the 1992 legislative session.

New York Full-Text Bills:  This database contains the full text of bills in the current legislative session.  There may be multiple bills on any subject so it is important to determine which bill - if any - was passed.  There may be reason to compare/contrast the different bills in any session.  Remember that bills introduced but not passed die at the end of each legislative session. 

New York Bill Tracking Reports:  This database contains a summary and legislative chronology of all bills pending in the current legislative session.

New York Advance Legislative Service:  This database contains the full text of laws enacted during a legislative session.

New York Legislative Bill History:  This database contains sponsor memorandum and Governor's message.  Coverage from the 2005 legislative session and limited coverage from 2003.

New York News Publications:  Newspapers are not an official part of legislative history/intent; however, they may provide background information and context for issues.  Coverage of newspapers varies.

New York State Legislative History Resources on Westlaw

NY Proposed Legislation (Bills):  is the full text of all available bills from the current legislative session.

NY Historical Bills:  is the full text of bills considered during past sessions starting from 2005.

NY Bill Tracking:  is summaries and information of bills from the current legislative session.

NY Bill Tracking Historical: is bill summaries and status from prior legislatve sessions starting from 2005.

NY Enacted Legislation (Session Laws):  Acts passed by the cureent New York Legislature and other documents, including the governor's annual message, executive orders, executive, legislative and judicial memoranda and advisory committee reports.

NY Historical Session Laws:  New York Legislative Service from 1987 to previous years.  Laws passed during current session are in Enacted Legislation (Session Laws).

NY Statutes and Court Rules:  New York statutes, Constituion and court rules.  A document is an annotated section of an article of the Constitution, or a court rule. 

NY Statutes Annotated - Historical:  New York statutes, Constituion and court rules starting from 1987 to present.

NY Legislative History:  New York Legislative History has documents related to laws passed by the legislature including memoranda; bill summaries, statutes and jackets; and votes.  Coverage:

Sponsor's Memoranda from the 219th Legislature (1996) through current sessions.

Executive and Judicial Memoranda from the 219th Legislature (1996) through the 228th legislature (2005).

Assembly Bill Summaries from the 229th Legislature (2006) through current sessions.

Senate Bill Summaries from the 229th Legislature (2006) through current sessions.

Assembly Bill Statuses from the 229th Legislature (2006) through current sessions.

Senate Bill Statuses from the 229th Legislature (2006) through current sessions.

Bill Votes from the 228th Legislature (2005) through current sessions.

Bill Jackets from the 219th Legislature (1996) through recent session.

New York News Publications:  Newspapers are not an official part of legislative history/intent; however, they may provide background information and context for issues.  Coverage of newspapers varies.