Category: Library

1965 Constitutional Convention Legislative Record Index

The Connecticut Constitution 1965-2008: Legislative History of Amendments – by Hilary T. Frye, CT State Library, 2009

The Connecticut State Constitution – by Wesley W. Horton, Oxford University Press, 2015

Digest of Administrative Reports – annual compilation of reports from state agencies to the governor

Guides to media law, including freedom of information law – from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Lobbying, PACs, and Campaign Finance: 50 State Handbook – by SCG Legal, published by Thomson Reuters, 2016

McQuillin: The Law of Municipal Corporations – access through Westlaw.

Treatise on Constitutional Law: Substance and Procedure, 5^th ed. – by Ronald D. Rotunda, 2012-2013

CT election results database – from the Secretary of the State. Covers 2016-present. Start by choosing an election in the drop-down menu at the top of the screen.

CT General Assembly members – from the CT State Library. Covers House 1849-present and Senate 1776-present.

CT lobbyist lists – from the Office of State Ethics. (See also the library’s guide to looking up lobbyists.)

Indigenous Peoples of the Americas (from HeinOnline): “With more than 900 unique titles and 900,000 pages dedicated to American Indian Law, this collection includes an expansive archive of treaties, federal statutes and regulations, federal case law, tribal codes, constitutions, and jurisprudence.” Access from anywhere with a Connecticut State Library card.

NCSL Ballot Measures Database – from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Tracks statewide ballot measures from 1892-present.

NCSL Campaign Finance Legislation Database – from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Tracks legislation from 2015-present.

NCSL Elections Legislation Database – from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Tracks legislation from 2011-present.

NCSL Ethics and Lobbying Law and Legislation Database – from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Tracks legislation from 2010-present.

NCSL Statewide Tribal Legislation Database – from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Tracks legislation from 2010-present.

Government Technology – e.Republic; electronic and print subscription.

Public Administration Review – American Society of Public Administration; print subscription.

State and Local Government Review – SAGE Publications; print subscription.

State Ethics Commission Advisory Opinions – Office of State Ethics; electronic and print subscription.

State agencies

Auditors of Public Accounts

Dept. of Administrative Services

Secretary of the State – elections and voting

 

State boards, commissions, and task forces

State Contracting Standards Board

State Elections Enforcement Commission

Office of State Ethics and Citizens’ Ethics Advisory Board

Freedom of Information Commission

 

Federal government

U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC)

Federal Election Commission (FEC)

 

Other organizations

Connecticut Foundation for Open Government (CFOG)

Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL)

Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM)

 

Other online resources

A Look Back at 2020 in State Government – Legislative Library research guide from the 2020 OLR Issues Conference

Connecticut ordinances and charters by town – from the Judicial Branch Law Libraries

Recent Connecticut Appellate Court and Supreme Court freedom of information law opinions – from the Judicial Branch Law Libraries

Connecticut election law – research guide by the Judicial Branch Law Libraries

Connecticut law about freedom of information – research guide by the Judicial Branch Law Libraries

CGA 2021 Redistricting Project

UConn Center for Voting Technology Research

LexisNexis U.S. Voting Laws & Legislation Center

For OLR Reports and other materials related to the Government Administration and Elections Committee’s work, index headings include:

Administrative Services, CT Dept. of
Campaigns
Campaigns-Finance
Campaigns-Public-Financing
Census
Code of Ethics
Conflict of Interest
Constitutional Amendments
Constitutional Convention
Constitutional Law
Construction Contracts
Dual Job Ban
Elections
Elections Commission
Ethics Commission
Federal-State Relations
Freedom of Information
Government-Local
Government Property
Government Purchasing
Government-Regional
Government-State-Reorganization
Home Rule
Interstate Compacts
Legislators
Lobbyists
Municipal Officials and Employees
Municipalities
Political Committees and Conventions
Primaries
Privatization
Program Evaluation and Review
Properties Review Board, State
Proportional Representation
Public Employees-Political Activity
Public Works-CT Dept. of
Quasi-Public Agencies
Reapportionment
Referenda
Regional Planning
Special Districts
Voters-Registration of
Voting
Voting-Absentee

The library assigns topical index headings to all OLR Reports and keeps hard copies of the reports organized by these index headings. Reports from 1994 to the present are in the library’s file cabinets (aka the “vertical files”) in the red-tabbed folders, as well as online in full text. Older reports are in two sets of bound volumes (one set for the 1970s, and one for 1980-1993) on the library’s shelves.

The same index headings the library uses for OLR Reports have been used to organize over 600 subject files of materials such as newspaper clippings, court decisions, press releases, pamphlets, and other resources that would be more difficult to locate if they were dispersed throughout the library’s general collection. The subject files are in the blue-tabbed folders in the file cabinets. (Many of the items in these folders have also been digitized by the library, and their electronic versions can be found in the library’s intranet catalog.)

The Office of Legislative Research writes nonpartisan reports for legislators on various topics. Recent reports related to the Government Administration and Elections Committee’s subject areas include:

Minors Voting in Municipal Elections – 2024-R-0080

2024 Conveyance Legislation Reported Favorably by GAE Committee – 2024-R-0075

Presidential Preference Primary – 2024-R-0007

Incompatible Municipal Offices – 2023-R-0302

Disapproved Regulation – 2023-R-0297

Permanent Daylight Saving Time vs. Permanent Standard Time – 2023-R-0291

FOIA Response Deadline – 2023-R-0267

Issue Brief: Connecticut’s Early Voting Law – 2023-R-0125

History of the Constitutional Limitation on Salary Increases for Elected Municipal Officials – 2023-R-0192

Presidential Preference Primary – 2023-R-0206

1. Call the library!

We can save you time by finding lobbyists’ names and contact information for you – please don’t hesitate to ask us for help. (Also, if you are looking to contact a lobbyist for factual information about a company or organization, remember that the library has access to databases with in-depth information on businesses and nonprofits, and we may be able to answer your question.)

If you want to search for lobbyist information on your own, here are the main sources and methods we use.

 

2. Office of State Ethics lobbyist lists

The Office of State Ethics registers lobbyists for each biennium (two-year period consisting of a long session and short session). Lobbyists can register at any time before they begin lobbying in a given biennium.

The Legislative Library periodically saves the most comprehensive of the OSE’s lobbyist lists for archival purposes, and about once a year we upload the latest version of this list to our intranet catalog; but because lobbyist information can change at any time, the best way to be certain you are getting current information is to visit the OSE lobbyist reports webpage each time you need to look up a lobbyist.

There are a few ways to find lobbyist information using the tools on the OSE webpage. Here are two methods.

Method #1:

• The final report on the OSE webpage’s list is Combined Lobbyist List by Registrant with Type of Lobbying and Issues. Click on the first of the two small green icons to the right of the report title. This will download a large Excel file; the download will probably take a minute or two. Once the download is complete, open the file. Use CTRL-F (or ⌘-F on a Mac) to search for the name (or part of the name) of the organization you are looking for. Keep looking through the results for your search term until you get through the whole document; there may be in-house lobbyists as well as lobbyists who represent the organization’s interests as employees of an outside firm or as individuals, and their names may be scattered throughout the document. Note that this list includes telephone numbers.
• Once you have a lobbyist’s name, you can find their email address by looking them up in a separate list. Click on Communicator Lobbyist List, the first report on the OSE webpage. Click on the first of the two small green icons to the right of the report title to download an Excel file. Lobbyists are listed alphabetically by last name in this spreadsheet.
• It is also worth looking at the Communicator Lobbyist List’s Status column, which shows whether a lobbyist’s registration has terminated or is incomplete.

Method #2:

• Click on Lobbyist Filings near the top right of the OSE reports webpage to get to an interactive query page. Select the current year in the Registration Period drop-down menu. Type the name (or part of the name) of the organization into the Client Name box. Then, click the Search button. Select a report from the list that appears and click the View Report button. This will download a PDF file that includes contact information.

 

3. When searches using a company or organization name don’t yield results

• If you can’t find lobbyists using the organization’s name, try some keywords related to the organization’s industry or policy area. The organization may be part of a larger trade group or coalition.
• Consider whether the organization might be a subsidiary of a larger entity; if so, try that parent organization’s name as a search term.
• The organization may not be represented by a lobbyist in Connecticut. Depending on your situation, it may be appropriate to look on the organization’s website for other potential contacts, such as public relations people.

 

4. Client lobbyist, communicator lobbyist, business organization, in-house communicator – what do all these terms mean?

According to the Office of State Ethics:

 A Client Lobbyist is the party paying for lobbying services on its behalf.  In other words, the client lobbyist is expending or agreeing to expend the threshold amount of $3,000 in a calendar year.

 A Communicator Lobbyist receives payment and does the actual lobbying legwork (i.e., communicating).  A Communicator Lobbyist receives or agrees to receive $3,000 for lobbying activities in a calendar year.  Communicator Lobbyists can take different forms:

1. Individual
2. Member of a Business Organization (e.g., a firm or association that employs a number of communicator lobbyists)
3. In-house Communicator (a lobbyist who is a salaried employee of a Client Lobbyist)

 Source: http://www.ct.gov/ethics/cwp/view.asp?a=3523&q=417096

1. Call the library!

We have a lot of experience finding and compiling these surveys and can save you time. Please don’t hesitate to ask us for help. If you are curious how we do it or want to explore on your own, though, what follows are a few of the many sources we use for multi-state surveys.

2. OLR Reports

The Legislative Library’s unofficial motto is “all research starts with OLR Reports,” and multi-state surveys are no exception. Reports from 1994 to the present are accessible electronically through the advanced legislative document search. In the fourth column at the bottom of that page, check “OLR Reports.” Then, in the Document Text search field, enter your search terms. You can use the drop-down menu immediately to the right of your Document Text search field to select one or more years to search. If you are doing historical research, the library has OLR Reports prior to 1994 in hard copy, indexed by subject.

3. The National Conference of State Legislatures

NCSL’s website has a multitude of pages devoted to tracking state laws in various areas. Its Legisbrief series and State Legislatures magazine often produce 50-state surveys with color-coded maps. For legislators and staff, NCSL’s subject experts can also compile new surveys upon request; the library can contact these experts for you.

4. Nyberg’s Subject Compilations of State Laws

Librarian Cheryl Nyberg of the University of Washington has been compiling this annual bibliography of 50-state surveys for decades. It is published by HeinOnline, a database accessible with a Connecticut State Library card. Subject Compilations of State Laws indexes surveys by more than 1200 subjects, and you can also search the full text of the bibliography.

5. National Survey of State Laws

This publication produces 50-state surveys on a variety of subjects. Like the Subject Compilations of State Laws, it is accessible with a Connecticut State Library card through HeinOnline.

6. The Book of the States

The Council of State Governments publishes this book electronically each year. It is particularly useful for answering questions about how state governments work – for example, questions about constitutions, legislative process, elections, and state finance.

7. Journal articles

Articles in law journals and other academic journals can include valuable information comparing state laws, or even full 50-state surveys in their tables or appendices. Nyberg’s bibliography covers many of these articles, but a search of articles through a database such as HeinOnline, Westlaw, or Academic Search Premier can turn up a new source.

8. Westlaw

Westlaw has compiled a variety of 50-state surveys of statutes and regulations. It is also possible to create a survey from scratch using Westlaw’s statute and regulation texts.

9. Final step: quality check

Look for the date the survey was compiled. If it is recent enough to be useful to you, then test the information’s quality. One way to do this is to closely examine what it says about Connecticut. Consider whether the information given matches up with what you already know about Connecticut law on the topic, and whether it includes all the relevant Connecticut statute or regulation sections.

For the past several years, almost all newly published items added to the library’s collection have been in electronic format only. These items are accessible in full text through the library’s intranet catalog. Many old print materials have also been digitized and uploaded to the library’s catalog.

To get a general sense of a subject’s history, however, you may find it useful to browse the library stacks in certain locations to see print copies of older publications (and the occasional newer item that was published both electronically and in print). For publications related to finance, revenue, and bonding, call number ranges include, but are not limited to:

333 economics of land and energy
336 public finance
351-354 public administration
362-363 social welfare problems and services
370 education
378 higher education
379 public policy issues in education

Hard copies of mandated reports that were produced only once or as a limited series are shelved by the number of the act that required the report. Hard copies of mandated reports produced regularly with no set end date (for example, state agencies’ annual reports) are shelved in the stacks by subject.