 |
Full Public Access to the Laws of Pennsylvania is Here |
|
Back in July, the General Assembly posted the official consolidated statutes for Pennsylvania on the Internet. Today I noticed that the unofficial Purdon’s Pennsylvania Statutes from West has replaced the official consolidated version. Although Purdon’s is not an official publication of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, it is the best resource to use when researching the laws of Pennsylvania by subject. West’s Purdon’s Pennsylvania Statutes, hosted by Westlaw, is easy to browse and can be searched using natural language or by typing a statute citation in quotations. This free version is not annotated and does not include court rules. If you are looking for the annotations or other resources outside this free site, additional materials can be accessed on Westlaw using a credit card. |
|
|
Submitted by: Kathy Coon, Deputy Director
|
Comments (1)July 13, 2007
|
|
One Step Closer to Public Access in Pennsylvania |
|
According to a July 12th press release, Senator Jake Corman announced that the Senate changed its rules to require the placement of the acts and statutes of the Pennsylvania state legislature on the Internet. This is a major step for Pennsylvania! The official consolidated statutes have already been posted and are searchable by keyword. The consolidated statutes are not the complete set of laws for Pennsylvania and a warning should be posted on the state’s website. Hopefully, every Pennsylvania Statute that is in effect will be added soon. In another attempt to make this information accessible to the public, three bills (HB976, SB422, and SB102) have been introduced in the General Assembly. Pennsylvania is the last state to make their official laws available for free on the Internet. |
|
|
Submitted by: Kathy Coon, Deputy Director
|
February 15, 2006
|
|
Do Not Call |
|
Still have telemarketers calling at all hours of the night? Why, when it’s so easy to put a stop to it? It surprises me how many people don’t know about the National Do Not Call Registry. This has been around for a while now - and while it is not fool-proof, it does stop a great deal of telemarketing calls - at least it has in my house.
For PA residents there’s also a list just for us. To see if your state has a Do Not Call List, just search for your state name and “Do Not Call”. |
|
|
Submitted by: Nicole Engard, Former Web Manager
|
February 1, 2006
|
|
Efforts to Halt “Sneak” Legislation |
|
Senator Fumo will be introducing legislation to make sure that members of the Pennsylvania legislature have an opportunity to read and understand a piece of legislation before they vote on it, and that they have a chance to obtain input from their constituents. What a novel idea! Click here for additional information about recent testimony before the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. |
|
|
Submitted by: Kathy Coon, Deputy Director
|
April 11, 2005
|
|
Pennsylvania Statutes (and the Lack Thereof Online) |
|
Pennsylvania is the lone U.S. state without a free version of its statutes on the Web. And that won’t change anytime soon. Last year the PA House Parliamentarian was quoted as saying, “It’s come up before, and all I can say is we periodically discuss it. There are some of us in favor of it, but it’s just never gotten off the ground.” Recently I emailed Thomas Martin, a local attorney, for an update on his unofficial PA statutes Web site. He told me that he hasn’t been able to update the site for several years now. As anyone who’s managed the care and feeding of a Web site can attest, it takes a lot of time and money. If anybody ever deserved public support for a Web site, it sure is Tom Martin! |
|
|
Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
|
RSS