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Massachusetts General Laws
Dates: Varies by source
Description: The state's statutory code is the Massachusetts General Laws. Text of official, i.e. unannotated, edition of the General Laws. The General Court web site contains the code and is current within 6 months; check session laws on same site for recent changes.
Annotated Versions of the Massachusetts General Laws
Dates: Varies by source
Access: Password required
Description: Provides text of constitution,
statutes and court rules with annotations supplied by publisher. Westlaw (filename MA-ST-ANN) provides
current text of Massachusetts General Laws Annotated and archival
coverage back to 1987 (filename MA-STANN-VERS). LexisNexis (filename MACODE)
provides current text of Annotated Laws of Massachusetts which includes
selected Special Laws; archival coverage for code (filename MAARCH)
available back to 1992.
Description: State sessions laws, known as the Acts and Resolves, are the statutes enacted in each legislative session. General Court web site provides access to session laws dating back to 1997 session; LexisNexis (filename MAALS) contains session laws 1987 to present; Westlaw has access to current session laws (filename MA-LEGIS) as well as session laws 1987-2002 (filename MA-LEGIS-OLD).
Description: Research bills considered by the state legislature, including full-text of bills and bill history information. General Court web site provides full-text of bills and links to bill history and sponsor information for current session only; LexisNexis (filename MABILL) provides bill text and history for current session only; Westlaw (filename MA-BILLS) has full text and tracking information for current session as well as archival coverage (filenames BILLTXT-OLD and BILLTRK-OLD) for legislation back to 1991.
Description: The Massachusetts legislature,
known as the General Court, is a bicameral legislature consisting of a
Senate and a House of Representatives. The Journals provide a procedural
record of which bills were introduced, amended or otherwise acted upon
day-by-day. Journals do not contain debate notes, but do contain full
text of amendments offered on the floor. Journal files available on Westlaw in filename MA-LH.
General Court Procedural Rules
Dates: Current
Description: Procedural rules govern the process of filing, considering, amending and enacting bills. General Court web site has text of Joint Rules (governing both Senate and House of Representatives), Senate Rules and House Rules
General Court Session Broadcasts
Dates: Senate, January 1996 to present; House of
Representatives, November 1984 to present
Description: Formal sessions of Senate and
House proceedings are broadcast by a local public broadcasting station, WGBH.
Videotape archives of these broadcasts are maintained by the State
Library of Massachusetts; tapes may be viewed at the State Library.
Legislative Debate (Unofficial)
Dates: 1986-present
Access: Password required
Description:State House News Service is a
private reporting service located in the Massachusetts State House.
Access to reporters' coverage of all Senate and House debates from 1986
to present; reporters' articles on legislative public hearings from 1986
to present; and feature stories authored by News Service staff on
political and policy issues, including Governor's Council activities.
Press releases issued by individual legislators and which are
distributed to the State House News Service are included from 1998 to
present.
