Using Nexis Uni to track state legislation
Open Bill Tracking:
- Select Sources from the top menu
- Next, from the left-hand menu, under Publication Type, select "more" to select Statutes and Legislation.
- Scroll to the top of the filters and select "Bill Tracking".
- Select "Add all of these to search filters."
Craft the keyword search:
- Try the search with alternative terms. Is it "cell phones," "cellphones," "cellular telephones," something else?
- Don't include the term "ban" since including that term would exclude relevant bills that might use other terms, such as prohibited/prohibitting, etc. You could also add (ban OR banning OR prohibit*) to the search.
- From the list of results, scroll down the left-hand menu to find Jurisdiction.
- Select a state to review.
- Open bills, and read the synopses to determine if the bills relate to your research topic.
National Conference of State Legislatures
The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) provides news, analysis, and legislation tracking databases for state legislative issues. It doesn't cover every issue, but when it does, it can be very helpful.
There are legislation databases for a variety of topics. Select the appropriate, broad, topic area from the "Active and Archived list of databases." Remember the topic areas are very broad, for example "Pre-K -_12 Education Database".
In some cases, you can also find additional analysis for a topic by searching the narrower topic in the NCSL search window. Overview articles are only available for a select group of topics.
Epilogue: None of the bills introduced in the NYState Senate or Assembly passed, but a cellphone ban was enacted as part of the state budget negotiations.