Before attempting legislative history research, brush up on the Arizona Legislature page of this research guide to refresh yourself on the fundamentals of slip laws, session laws, bills, and statutes.
Legislative history refers to the process that a piece of proposed legislation goes through before it becomes law and consists of the documents created during that process. Legislative history research is often conducted to investigate why the legislature passed a particular law or to assist scholars, lawyers, and judges in interpreting a law.
Additional Arizona legislative history guides:
Researchers of Arizona legislation may also wish to consult the Arizona Legislative Manual, a publication of the Arizona Legislature's Legislative Council. The manual offers a narrative of what the Arizona Legislature is and what goes on in the Legislature. It relates the requirements and practices that are prescribed by the Arizona Constitution, laws, and rules for the Arizona Legislature.
Legislative history materials for Arizona legislation passed in the 39th Legislature or earlier (prior to 1991) are primarily available in print resources. Legislative bill files for legislation from 1969-1996 have been digitized and made available on the website of the Arizona Memory Project.
Follow these steps to perform legislative history research for legislation passed prior to 1997:
Locate the code section to be searched
Locate the most recent version of the code section in the Arizona Revised Statutes Annotated (A.R.S.A.) (see the Arizona Legislature page of this research guide to refresh yourself on where to find the A.R.S.A.). Read the history note following the code section. Note the year, chapter, and section of the original act. Determine what amendments are relevant to your search. Note the year, chapter, and section of those amendments. If you are using the A.R.S.A. in print, don't forget to check the pocket part to ensure that you have looked at the most recent version of the statute.
The A.R.S.A. may also include "Law Review and Journal Commentaries," "Notes of Decisions," or other annotations for individual statutory sections that are relevant to your search, so be sure to look for that information while accessing the code.
Locate the session law corresponding to the code section
Use the year, chapter, and section you found in the previous step to locate the appropriate act in the Arizona Session Laws. Note the bill number of the act and whether it originated in the House or the Senate. Bills that originated in the House are designated "H.B." while bills that originated in the Senate are designated "S.B."
Session laws from the 40th Legislature (1991-present) can be found on the website of the Arizona State Legislature. The website defaults to the current legislative session; information for past sessions can be accessed by using the drop-down box at the top of the page. Session laws from 1912-present are available from the Arizona Memory Project. You can also access session laws from HeinOnline (1864-present, available on campus or remotely with ASURITE) and in print at the Law Library (1912-present).
Locate copies of the bill
Use one of the following resources to locate the bill identified in the previous step:
Consult the journals of the House and Senate
The Journal of the Senate and the Journal of the House record the proceedings of each session of the Arizona Legislature for both chambers and include the Governor's Opening Message to the Legislature, the disposition of bills, votes, and veto messages.
When consulting the journals, turn to the tab marked "History" for the year of the legislation. Look up the bill number and copy the chronology of actions taken on the bill. Do this for both the House and Senate journals. Note which committee(s) considered the bill and the date(s) on which it was considered. Important: While the history lists the pages within the journals that reference the bill, they do not provide any additional information. You will need to continue to Step 5 to complete your research.
The Journal of the House can be accessed in print at the Law Library (1921-present) and on the website of the Arizona Memory Project (1912-present). The Journal of the Senate can be accessed in print at the Law Library (1921-present) and on the website of the Arizona Memory Project (1912-present).
Access the bill and committee files for the legislation
Print versions of bill and committee files, back to a specific date, are held at the State Capitol by the Clerk of the House or the Senate Resource Center. To access these files in print, take all the information you have gathered thus far and ask each clerk for the bill file containing the proposed amendments and versions of the bill as well as the committee files for the committees that considered the bill. (Don't bother with the Rules Committee file.) Then, browse through the minutes for the time period when the bill was being considered.
The Arizona Memory Project is currently digitizing print bill files for both the House and the Senate for the years 1969-1996. While the legislative bill files collection is a work in progress, it might contain a digital version of the bill file you wish to consult. In addition, the State of Arizona Research Library has bill files available on microfilm for the House (1971-1994) and Senate (1969-1990).
Here is contact information for the Clerk of the House and the Senate Resource Center:
Clerk of the House
The Clerk of the House maintains a collection of bill, resolution, and memorial files beginning in 1965. These files contain the introduced version of proposed legislation and all of its subsequent versions.
1700 W. Washington Street
2nd Floor, House of Representatives Building
Telephone: (602) 926-4221
Senate Resource Center
The Senate Resource Center maintains bill, resolution, and memorial files beginning in 1969. These files contain the introduced version of proposed legislation and all of it subsequent versions.
1700 W. Washington Street
1st Floor, Senate Building
Telephone: (602) 926-3559
The majority of legislative history materials for Arizona legislation passed in the 40th Legislature or later (1991-present) are available on the website of the Arizona State Legislature. The website defaults to the current legislative session; information for past sessions can be accessed by using the drop-down box at the top of the page.
Follow these steps to perform legislative history research for legislation passed from 1997-present:
Locate the code section to be searched
Locate the most recent version of the code section in the Arizona Revised Statutes Annotated (A.R.S.A.) (see the Arizona Legislature page of this research guide to refresh yourself on where to find the A.R.S.A.). Read the history note following the code section. Note the year, chapter, and section of the original act. Determine what amendments are relevant to your search. Note the year, chapter, and section of those amendments. If you are using the A.R.S.A. in print, don't forget to check the pocket part to ensure that you have looked at the most recent version of the statute.
The A.R.S.A. may also include "Law Review and Journal Commentaries," "Notes of Decisions," or other annotations for individual statutory sections that are relevant to your search, so be sure to look for that information while accessing the code.
Locate the session law corresponding to the code section
Use the year, chapter, and section you found in the previous step to locate the appropriate act in the Arizona Session Laws. Note the bill number of the act and whether it originated in the House or the Senate. Bills that originated in the House are designated "H.B." while bills that originated in the Senate are designated "S.B."
Session laws from the 40th Legislature (1991-present) can be found on the website of the Arizona State Legislature. The website defaults to the current legislative session; information for past sessions can be accessed by using the drop-down box at the top of the page. Session laws from 1912-present are available from the Arizona Memory Project. You can also access session laws from HeinOnline (1864-present, available on campus or remotely with ASURITE) and in print at the Law Library (1912-present).
Locate copies of the bill
House Bills from 1997 to present are available on the website of the Arizona State Legislature by using the drop-down box at the top of the page. After selecting the appropriate legislative session, click on the "Bills" tab, then click on "Bill Info," then select "House Bills."
Senate Bills from 1997 to present are available on the website of the Arizona State Legislature by using the drop-down box at the top of the page. After selecting the appropriate legislative session, click on the "Bills" tab, then click on "Bill Info," then select "Senate Bills."
Important: Once you have located the bill, look at the information contained in the "Overview" tab in order to determine which committee(s) considered the bill and the date(s) on which it was considered. You can find this information by looking under the columns for Committee and Report Date. Next, click on the "Documents" tab to determine which materials might be pertinent to your research (e.g., staff summaries, proposed amendments, etc.). These documents comprise the bill file and frequently contain useful information concerning a bill's evolution.
Check for Interim, Special, or Study Committee reports
To see if the Legislature appointed an Interim, Special, or Study committee on the subject of the legislation, check the list of Interim Committees on the website of the Arizona State Legislature. Much of the investigative work goes on in these temporary groups and they sometimes issue reports and recommendations to specific committees or the Legislature in general. Be sure to select the appropriate legislative session by using the drop-down box at the top of the page.
Review other committee materials
Committee materials from 1997-present, including minutes and agenda, are available on the website of the Arizona State Legislature under the "Committees" tab. Minutes are indexed by body and date in descending chronological order. You will need to know which committee(s) considered the bill and the date(s) on which it was considered in order to locate the minutes (see Step 3, supra). Select the body and committee, then click on the hyperlink to the minutes. The legislature also maintains a video archive of meetings from 2007-present.
Search for Commentary on the Legislation
Commentary might exist on the legislation you are researching. You can search for commentary by checking the online catalogs of Arizona State University or Arizona State Library, Archives, & Public Records for material relating to the legislation.
Be sure to also consult the Arizona Bar Journal (1965-1988), Arizona Attorney, Arizona Law Review, and Arizona State Law Journal for articles that may discuss the legislation. Most of these publications can be found full-text on subscription databases like Lexis+ and Westlaw. Full runs of the Arizona Law Review and Arizona State Law Journal in PDF format can be found on HeinOnline (available on campus or remotely with ASURITE).
Newspapers are also good potential sources of commentary on Arizona legislation. Both local and national newspapers should be consulted. Local newspapers include the Arizona Republic (1930-present at the Hayden Library; 1999-present via ProQuest) and its predecessor the Arizona Republican (1890-1930 at the Hayden Library; 1890-1922 via ProQuest Historical Newspapers), as well as the Arizona Daily Star (1990-present via ProQuest) and the Arizona Capitol Times (2003-present via Nexis Uni). National and international newspapers can be located through ProQuest News & Newspapers and Access World News.
Search for Arizona Cases
Courts sometimes discuss legislative history in the course of their opinions. Refer to the Arizona Courts page of this research guide for information on accessing state court opinions.
Arizona Initiatives and Referenda
For information on researching initiatives and referenda in Arizona, see Tina Ching, Arizona Initiatives and Referenda, 26 Legal Reference Services Q. 21 (2007).
The key to successfully locating a state's legislative history documents is to understand the state's legislative process and to identify the documents generated during that process. This information can vary significantly from state to state, but can be found in state-specific legislative history research guides.
The Jerome Hall Law Library at Indiana University has compiled a list of legislative history research guides for all 50 states and the District of Columbia at https://law.indiana.libguides.com/state-legislative-history-guides.