Track recent session laws in your state

You can now use the Table of Contents service to browse session laws in your state, or you can set up a WestClip entry to be alerted to new session laws.

Using the Table of Contents service

Browsing the table of contents for your state's session laws takes away the need for any searching. Just access the database for your state and click Table of Contents at the Search page. (You can also use the Table of Contents service to browse U.S. public laws in the United States Public Laws database (US-PL). The US-PL database contains enrolled bills passed by the current Congress that have been signed into law by the president, whether or not they are classified to the United States Code.)

Legislative service databases contain documents passed by state legislatures and selected documents proposing legislation by initiative or proposition. To access your state's legislative service database, use the identifier XX-LEGIS, where XX is your state's two-letter postal abbreviation, e.g., to access the California Legislative Service database, type ca-legis.

Using the WestClip service

If your state legislature is in session now, a good way to monitor developments that relate to your industry or business is to set up a WestClip entry in your state's legislative service database. Instead of having to search the database frequently, your WestClip will alert you via e-mail when legislation is passed.

To create a WestClip entry, click Alert Center at the top of any page to display the Alert Center Directory. Click Create in the WestClip section to display the WestClip: Create Entry page. Type a name for your entry in the Name of clip text box, if desired. Then type the identifier for your state's legislative service database, e.g., mn-legis, in the Database(s) text box and type a Terms and Connectors query that includes terms describing your industry or business, such as insurance or finance, in the Query text box.

Review the delivery settings on the right side of the page. If you want to change the settings, such as the delivery destination and the result format, click Edit next to Delivery Settings. The WestClip: Edit Delivery Settings page is displayed. When you are finished making changes, click Save to save the delivery settings and return to the WestClip: Create Entry page. Click Save again.

There is no charge to run a WestClip entry as long as you choose to run it on a daily, weekday, weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis. You can also select Enhanced Cite List (instead of List of All Citations) for your result format and incur no additional cost. The enhanced result list includes your search terms and surrounding text for each document listed in your WestClip result.

If you have any questions about setting up a WestClip entry, call the West Reference Attorneys at 1-800-900-WEST (1-800-900-9378).