Research Guides: Government Information: State

Tutorials

How to compile a Pennsylvania Legislative History
Provided by the Jenkins Law Library, this site gives a detailed description of how to compile a legislative history for Pennsylvania.

Law school libraries often provide helpful guides to researching the law in their state. If you're not sure where to start, try the Georgetown University Law Library Research Guides and find the guide for your state (e.g. New York Law Resources, Texas Law Resources).

LexisNexis State Capital
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Tracks state bills, finds state statutes and regulations, and search state legislative reports and other policy-concerned media.

State Legislation By Topic (NCSL)
Identify state-level legislation by topic, for example policing and student loans.
State Laws & Legislatures
Points to the right state-level database for legal and legislative information, such as:
• Legislature bills and votes (e.g. Delaware General Assembly, Georgia General Assembly)
State Voting & Elections
Points you to the right state-level database for voting and elections-related information, such as:
• Campaign donations (e.g. Florida, New York)
• Polling places (e.g. North Carolina, Illinois)
Library of Congress Guide to Law Online
The Guide to Law is a key resource for doing research on both US and foreign law. For most countries and for US states, you'll find a description of the legal system and links to resources for finding documents. (see: Pennsylvania)
Open Government Guide
Information about US states' public records and open meeting laws.

Useful for understanding the process you'd need to follow to request state government records that are not widely available.
Bill Track 50
Easily find current state-level legislation by topic.
• Check bill progress and last action, identify sponsors, and find links to related documents.
• Requires free account to search. Free accounts limited to current legislative session only.

State of Pennsylvania
The official website of the state of Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania General Assembly
Find Pennsylvania House and Senate information and learn about Pennsylvania State Government.
PA Joint State Government Commission
Search research reports conducted by the Joint State Government Commission, which conducts research on behalf of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania
Links to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Superior Court, Commonwealth Court, Common Pleas Court, and more.
Pennsylvania State Data Center
Official source of Pennsylvania's demographic and economic data
OpenDataPA
• Explore data from PA state agencies
• Includes datasets on education, employment, and other issues
PA Records Requests
How to obtain commonly requested records (e.g. birth and death certificates, corporate and business documents, criminal docket sheets)