Boley Law Library: Washington Legal Research Guide: Legislative

Washington Legislative History Guides

For resources on compiling an Washington legislative history, consult the following research guides:

Washington State Legislative History Research Guide
This guide from the Gallagher Law Library at the University of Washington School of Law This guide identifies online and print sources for researching the legislative history of bills enacted by the Washington State Legislature.
Legislative History − Washington State Archive
This guide outlines the basics of legislative research in the Washington state.
Legislative History − King County Law Library
King County provides a brief infographic describing the basic information needed for legislative history research.

Washington Legislature

Washington State Legislature Homepage
Includes search tools for statutes, bills, legislators, and committees and tools to track legislation.
Legislative Information Center
The LIC provides courteous, accurate, and timely information about the Legislature and the legislative process to the citizens of Washington State and the members and staff of the Legislature.
Bill Drafting Guide
This guide details how to draft bills covering style, format, grammar, and how to avoid unintended consequences.

Office of the Code Reviser

Office of the Code Reviser/State Law Committee
Codifies, indexes, and publishes the Revised Code of Washington. Provides a central bill drafting service.

Revised Code of Washington

Revised Code of Washington
The online version of the RCW is updated twice a year, once in the early fall following the legislative session, and again at the end of the year if a ballot measure that changes the law passed at the general election.
RCW Archive
Archived codes from the Washington State Legislature.
Coverage: 1973-Present

Washington Session Laws, Bills, and Initiatives

Washington Session Laws
Session Laws for Washington from territorial days through the present.
Coverage: 1854-Present
Washington Bills
Collection of tools for locating bills from the Washington State Legisture.
Coverage: 1991-Present
Washington Election Results and Voters' Pamphlets
Results and voters' pamphlets for recent and current elections.
Coverage: 2007-Present
Election Results Search
An ongoing project from the Washington Secretary of State to provide a searchable database of state and county election results. The search function works, but the project is still proofing vote totals.
Coverage: 1900-2006
Archived Voters's Pamphlets
An archive of PDF versions of Washington State Voters Pamphlets, which include the text of ballot initiatives and arguments for and against.
Coverage: 1914-Present
Initiatives & Referenda
A portal for researching initiatives and referenda in Washington State. This website includes current and past initiatives and referenda, signature statistics for petitions, and guides for drafting and filing initiatives and referenda.

Washington House, Senate & Committee Records

Washington House of Representatives
Information regarding House members, committees, and publications.
Washington State Senate
Information regarding the Washington State Senate including Senator biographies, party caucuses, and committees.
Legislative Committees
List of legislative committees with links to the committee websites and agendas.
Legislative Agencies
List of agencies overseen by the legislature and links to their websites.
Legislative Recordings
Recordings and live broadcasts of legislative committee meetings.

Databases for Washington Statutes

The L&C Law School community has a number of subscription database options for accessing Washington statutes.

Fastcase, HeinOnline and LLMC Digital are provided for free to the L&C Law School community without a password. Just click on the links below for both on and off-campus access.

Individual passwords are required for WestlawNext, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law. Passwords are distributed to new students at the beginning of the school year. Questions? Ask a reference librarian.

Bloomberg Law This link opens in a new window
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Bloomberg Law provides access to federal and state court opinions, dockets and practice material, including Bloomberg Law Reports and books. Log in with your L&C Law School Bloomberg Law account. Don't have one? Contact the Reference Desk at lawlib@lclark.edu
Fastcase This link opens in a new window
Fastcase's libraries include primary federal and state law and some secondary sources.
HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
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HeinOnline is a research database with more than 100 million pages of legal history and law journals available in an online, fully searchable, image-based format.
Lexis This link opens in a new window
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Lexis is a legal research platform that provides access to primary and secondary sources, including state and federal cases and statutes, news, a powerful citator, and treatises. Lewis & Clark law school students, faculty and staff should contact Meredith Kostek for registration instructions.
LLMC Digital This link opens in a new window
Digital library of images of U.S. & foreign legal documents, including U.S. federal agency decisions and executive documents, U.S. court reports, U.S. statutes and journals, Canadian law, and military law.
Westlaw This link opens in a new window
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Westlaw is a powerful search platform that allows you to search primary and secondary sources, including state and federal case law and statutes, news, legal encyclopedias, and treatises.