KCLL Klues: Washington State Legal Research

Many of you are familiar with doing legislative history research in Washington State, but if you need similar information from other states, here are some suggestions. 

You might try looking at a research guide on legislative history for the state you are interested in. The law library at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law maintains the website State Legislative History Research Guides on the Web.  It has a list of the states and online legislative history guides for each state — in some instances, more than one for a state.

Another possibility is to enlist the help of a law library in the state you are researching.  The Legislative Source Book on the website for the Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, D.C.  has a page on State Legislatures, State Laws, and State Regulations.  That page has contact information for the state law library or other resource in each state.

Finally, you might want to hire someone to do the research for you.  The same webpage from the Legislative Source Book has contact information for commercial services that perform legislative history research (scroll down to the bottom of the page to find that list.)

The State’s annual budget has a tremendous affect on all of us but understanding how it’s derived can be tricky.  Fortunately, the Legislative Evaluation and Accountability Program Committee publishes a  good guide to the State’s budgeting process called Citizen’s Guide to The Budget.  The Guide uses a series of hypothetical questions to walk you through the major components of the budget and the budget planning process.

Just a reminder that we recently installed copies of SupportCalc in both of our branches.  SupportCalc is professional child support calculation software from Legal+Plus .  The version we’ve installed allows you to create new SupportCalc files and open/edit files you’ve already created back at the office.  You can also print completed files — at a minimal charge of 15 cents per page —  and/or save them to your own USB drive.

You see it periodically: a flag at a courthouse, public school or other state government building flying at half-staff.  You understand it probably has something to do with honoring the service of a prominent person who has recently died or commemorating an historic event.  But who decides what circumstances trigger this?

At the State level, it’s the Office of the Governor.  The Governor’s web site includes a link to a page devoted to the rules for flag lowering.  There you will find the conditions when it is appropriate to fly the flag at half-staff and information about recent requests by the Governor to do so.  The page also includes links to additional information about the Washington State and United States flags and to Title 4 of the US Code, which describes the proper use and display of our national flag.

It’s interesting to note that while we’re supposed to fly the flag at half-staff on Pearl Harbor Rememberance Day (Dec. 7) and Patriot Day (September 11), we’re not supposed to do so on Memorial Day or Veterans Day.

Finding up-to-date information about procedures in District and Municipal courts–what our State collectively calls Courts of Limited Jurisdiction–is always difficult so we were very happy to see the arrival of AOC’s new Manual for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction (12/2009).  The Manual includes substantial sections on civil, criminal and special proceedings such as domestic violence but it also includes sections about the history of limited jurisdiction courts in Washington, RALJ and De Novo appeals, contempt of court, fish and wildlife violations and even a small section on legal research.  It’s an excellent addition to the other materials we use for research in this area and something you should review if you are working with a District or Municipal court.  The Manual is not available directly on the Internet but is shelved in both of our branches at KFW 516 .C68 M36.

The Office of the Code Reviser has posted an online archive of the Revised Code of Washington going back to 2002.   The archived versions are PDF files of the official printed volumes.

While there are no plans to add more retrospectively, the archive will grow going forward.

The State Law Library of Montana has announced the creation of the Montana Indian Law Portal.  This website provides access to Montana’s tribal legal documents such as tribal court opinions, constitutions, water rights compacts, gaming compacts, fish and game regulations and codes.  Judy Meadows, Montana State Law Librarian states, “we believe it is the first comprehensive Indian law site for one state that includes all basic and controlling documents of the tribes.”  The project manager, Daniel Belcourt, met with the tribes and digitized documents in situ in order to capture this rich resource. 

Congratulations to the Montana State Law Library for their role in collecting and cataloging these vital documents and making them available to the public.  Click here to read more about this project and view the website.

Washington Attorneys Assisting Community Organizations (WAACO) has some terrific nonprofit legal resources available for free on its website.

First, there is the 2009 edition of the Washington Nonprofit Handbook: How to Form and Maintain a Nonprofit Corporation in Washington State published by WAACO and the King County Bar Association Young Lawyers Division.  This 200-page book covers formation and governance of a nonprofit corporation, obtaining and maintaining 501(c)(3) status, and topics such as international activities and grantmaking, employment issues, and intellectual property considerations.

There are also sample forms, such as articles of incorporation and bylaws, and a nonprofit legal self-assessment checklist.

With Toyota making a daily appearance in the news, you may be wondering whether your vehicle—Toyota or not—is actually safe to drive. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is the government offshoot of the Department of Transportation set up to address vehicle safety issues. Their mission is to “Save lives, prevent injuries, reduce vehicle-related crashes.”

The NHTSA site helps users determine whether a vehicle has any outstanding recalls, gives users information on how to file a complaint about an allegedly defective vehicle, and give the latest research to help determine which car or child seat is safest. When accessing the site, one can research under the following tabs: “Traffic Safety”; “Vehicles and Equipment”; “Laws/Regulations/Guidance”; “NCSA (National Center for Safety Analysis)”; and, “Vehicle Safety Research”.

To find out more information about the Toyota recall, look here.

What exactly does it mean when a court record gets “sealed.”  This is a question we get a lot at the Library. The sealing of court records is governed by General Rule 15 of the Washington Court Rules. GR 15 defines sealing as follows: “To seal means to protect from examination by the public and unauthorized court personnel a portion or portions or a specified court record.”

Generally, the effect of sealing a court record has one of two effects:

1. If you are sealing a criminal conviction record that resulted in a non-conviction… for instance, if the case was dropped or you were found not guilty…then sealing the record will result in the Washington State Patrol (WSP) deleting the information from their database.
2. Sealing any type of criminal record that led to a conviction allows you to legally say that the crime never occurred. Also, the conviction cannot be included on your criminal history record.

This does not mean that the court records are destroyed. They are merely “sealed,” or protected from public scrutiny. Tell-tale signs of the court record may still exist in public databases. For instance, the online database SCOMIS may still show the case type, especially if the charge involved domestic violence, but typically the computerized index will show the notation “case vacated” in place of  the charge and the conviction after the order to seal is entered.  If you commit another criminal offense, these cases may be re-opened and used against you in court.

For more information, please read the following guides from Washington LawHelp:

Sealing Juvenile Court Records in Washington State

Can I Clear My Criminal Record?

Criminal History Records: A Guide on Whenand How to Seal/Vacate…