Drafting Legislation Pathfinder

Starting Point for Research on Writing Your Bill
There are literally hundreds of issues you can choose to develop a Bill (legislation) to regulate or control that issue. Your first step is to gather historical and factual information about the issue in order to determine if it would be a good thing for society. Explore the controversies behind the issue and determine who might be affected by the legislation if your issue were to become a law.

Subjects/Legislative Issues in America

School Prayer

Gay Marriage

Stadium Funding

Internet Voting

Drunk Driving Penalties

Video Game Violence

Speed Limit

TV Ratings

Drivers License

School Start Times

Cell Phones in Cars

Curfew Laws

Seat Belts

School Uniforms

Smoking Bans

Year-Round School

Gays in the Military

Finding Historical and Factual Information on your Issue

The best sources to use to obtain factual and historical information on any issues include: Search the RHS Catalog about the issue, a General Encyclopedia or Subject Specific Encyclopedias. For example:

Encyclopedia Britannica
30 volume comprehensive encyclopedia providing in-depth articles.

or one of the Subject Encyclopedia sets

R 362.29 Enc-DESK Encyclopedia of Drugs and Alcohol
R 364 Enc-DESK Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice
R 370.973 Ung-DESK Encyclopedia of American Education
R 362.1 Enc-DESK Encyclopedia of Public Health

DESK Information Plus (provides statistical and factual information on various topics.)

Or the Gale Virtual Reference Library that includes the following encyclopedia sets online.

Law

Checks and Balances: The Three Branches of the American Government , 3v, 2005
Constitutional Amendments: From Freedom of Speech to Flag Burning , 2^nd ed., 3v, 2008
Encyclopedia of Law and Society: American and Global Perspectives , 3v, 2007
Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement , 3v, 2005
Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law , 2^nd ed., 2v, 2006
Supreme Court Drama: Cases That Changed America , 4v, 2001
West's Encyclopedia of American Law , 2^nd ed., 13v, 2004

Finding Newspaper, Magazine/Journal Articles on Legislative Issues

Opposing Viewpoints
You can explore the pros and cons of practically any controversial issue. This database pulls from primary and secondary sources, and provides: full text articles, statistics, topic overviews, and documents.

ProQuest Newsstand
Full-text articles from over 300 daily newspapers, including the New York Times; Los Angeles Times and the Minneapolis StarTribune. Search the latest news on any issue from throughout the country.

Finding Examples of State Legislation

1998 Minnesota Statutes

R 349.73 Nat-DESK National Survey of State Laws, Detroit: Thomson Gale 2003.
R 340 Wes vol.11-DESK West's Encyclopedia of American Law

Web Resources on State Legislation

Minnesota Legislation and Bill Status
http://www.leg.state.mn.us/leg/legis.asp

State and Local Government Information (alphabetical list of states)
http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/stategov/stategov.html

State Statutes and Legislation on the Internet
http://www.prairienet.org/index.php

State and Local Governments on the Net
http://www.statelocalgov.net/index.cfm