|
Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQ)
1.
This web site has a database of New Jersey statutes. Are the statutes
annotated?
2.
How do I search for statutes by citation?
3. How do I search for statutes by key words or phrases?
4. How do I search for bills by number? by sponsor? by subject?
by keyword?
5. How do I print statutes and bills? How do
I print on legal sized paper?
6. How do I find out the status of a particular bill?
7. Where can I go to request a copy of legislation?
8. After a bill becomes a law, when will the law appear in the
statutes database?
9. Where can I find the New Jersey Administrative Code and the
New Jersey Register?
10. How often is the New Jersey Legislature's Website updated?
11. Who are my representatives in the Legislature and how can
I contact them?
12. How do I find information on legislative committees?
13. When do the legislative committees meet?
14. How do I find out the sponsor of a bill?
15. What is the Adobe Acrobat Viewer and how do I download it?
16. Where can I find general information about the New Jersey
Legislature?
17. Where can I find information on visiting the State House?
18. Where can I find a list of bill history abbreviations and
committee acronyms?
1. This web site has a database of New Jersey statutes. Are the
statutes annotated?
NO.
The text of the statutes and Constitution of New Jersey are not
annotated. The database may include laws that have not become
operable due to unmet conditions, have expired, have been ruled
inoperable by a court, or have otherwise become inoperable. Effective
dates are not typically included. Users should diligently read
applicable statute source law and case law.
2. How do I search for statutes by citation?
At the Statutes Database Query Screen, enter the citation in quotations.
For example, to find the statute starting at 10:4-6, enter
"10:4-6" The following examples are all valid
search queries: "2A:62A-1" "18A:71-28"
"48:13A-7.1" "52:27H-60" "54:4-23.1"
3. How do I search for statutes by key words
or phrases?
To search
for statutes by keywords or phrases, use the following search
techniques: I.
Using Search Operators
AND
Use the operator AND when you are searching for two or more words
that appear in the same record.
Examples:
- science
AND technology
- library
AND appropriation
- counselor
AND licensure
OR
Use the operator OR when you are searching for either one word
or another that appears in a record.
Examples:
- pupil
OR student
- doctor
OR physician
- psychologist
OR psychiatrist
NOT
Use the operator NOT when you are searching for records that contain
one search term, but not the other
Example:
II. Phrase Searching
When searching
for a phrase (two or more words which are to be found together),
enclose the phrase in quotation marks.
Examples:
- "farmland
preservation"
- "water
supply bond act"
- "alternative
fuel"
III. Wildcard
Searching
There are
two wildcard characters: ? and *.
Use the question
mark (?) when searching for a single character wildcard.
Example:
- wom?n
- to search for "woman" or "women"
Use the asterisk
(*) when searching for multiple character wildcards.
Examples:
- educ*
- to search for "educate," "educates," "education,"
"educable," "educator," "educational,"
etc.
- mandat*
- to search for "mandate," "mandates," "mandatory,"
"mandated"
- physician*
- to search for "physician" or "physicians"
IV. Proximity
Searches
When searching
for words that must appear within a certain number of terms of
each other.
Example:
- "Senate
Assembly"/5 - to retrieve records that have the words
"Senate" and "Assembly" within 5 terms of
each other
4. How do
I search for bills by number? by sponsor? by subject? by keyword?
To search by bill number: Using the navigation column on the
left of this page, under the category "BILLS", select
a Bill year to search (ex. Bills 2000-2001, Bills 1998-1999).
Then click on the "Bill Number" link. At the search
page, type the bill number without hyphens or spaces, such as
S45, A30, or JR23. The bill number will appear in atleast two
document format options. Click on one and the document will
appear in that format.
To search
by sponsor: Using the navigation column on the left of this
page, under the category "BILLS", select a Bill year
to search (ex. Bills 2000-2001, Bills 1998-1999). Then click on
the "Bill Sponsor" link. At the search page, use the
"Search by Bill Sponsor" pull-down menu to choose a
legislator and a list of bills sponsored by that legislator will
appear after clicking on the "Find" button..
To search
by subject: Using the navigation column on the left of this
page, under the category "BILLS", select a Bill year
to search (ex. Bills 2000-2001, Bills 1998-1999). Click on the
"Bill Subject" link and an alphabetical list of valid
subject headings will appear in a convenient pull-down menu. Choose
a subject heading, click on the "Find" button and a
list of relevant bills will appear. There is also a Thesaurus
to help you find the appropriate subject heading.
To search
by keyword in bill synopsis: Using the navigation column on
the left of this page, under the category "BILLS", select
a Bill year to search (ex. Bills 2000-2001, Bills 1998-1999).
Click on the "Keyword(s)" link. At the search page you
may type your keyword (without quotation marks) or phrase (with
quotations) and/or search by an acronym in the synopsis. Click
on the "Find" Button and a list of relevant bills will
appear. At this time, only the brief bill synopses may be searched
by keyword, not the full text of bills.
5.
How do I print statutes and bills? How do I print on legal sized
paper?
To print bills, first select a format. The options are ACROBAT
and HTML for any selected
session. When the document appears, click on "Print."
You may need to download the appropriate software in order to
view and print. Please see our help pages for step
by step instructions on how to download and install the free
Acrobat viewer.
To print
on legal sized (8.5" x 14") paper:
- Go to Print
Manager and click on Options.
- Click on
Printer Setup, then click on Setup.
- Select
Legal 8.5" x 14" paper in the Paper Size menu.
- Click on
OK. Your printer is now set to print bills on on 8.5" x
14" paper.
6. How do
I find out the status of a particular bill?
Complete
bill status information is included on our internet site. After
searching for the bill you need, click on the bill number to view
the bill status. You may also contact the Legislative Information
and Bill Room at the Office of Legislative Services. You may telephone
(609)292-4840, or 800-792-8630 (toll free in New
Jersey). For the hearing impaired (TDD), telephone (609)777-2744
or 800-257-7490 (toll free in New Jersey).
The fax number is (609)777-2440.
The mailing
address is:
Legislative Information and Bill
Room
Room B1
State House Annex
P.O. Box 068
Trenton, NJ 08625-0068
You may also
e-mail your questions to leginfo@njleg.org.
7. Where
can I go to request a copy of legislation?
Although
the full text of bills and accompanying statements are included
on our internet site, you may also request a hard copy of bills
or legislative documents to be mailed to you.
To request
a copy of bills or legislative documents contact the Legislative
Information and Bill Room at the Office of Legislative Services.
You may telephone (609)292-4840, or 800-792-8630
(toll free in New Jersey). For the hearing impaired (TDD), telephone
(609)777-2744 or 800-257-7490 (toll free in New
Jersey).
The fax number is (609)777-2440.
The mailing
address is:
Legislative Information and Bill
Room
Room B1
State House Annex
P.O. Box 068
Trenton, NJ 08625-0068
8. After
a bill becomes a law, when will the law appear in the statutes
database?
Usually within
one week since the law was enacted. If there is an unusually large
volume of laws enacted on the same day, there could be a several
week lapse before every newly enacted law will appear in the statutes
database.
9. Where can I find the New Jersey Administrative Code and the
New Jersey Register?
The New Jersey
Administrative Code and the New Jersey Register may be found in
each of the county libraries throughout the state and in the New
Jersey State Library. For further information on the NJAC or NJR,
contact the Office of Administrative Law at (609) 588-6613
You may search
the NJAC and NJR for free at the following link. Please note that
you must register first.
http://www.lexisnexis.com/njoal/
10. How often is the New Jersey Legislature's Website updated?
Information
related to the bills and statutes (bill text, bill histories,
chapter laws, statute allocations) on the New Jersey Legislature's
Web site is updated daily. Updates to our server are done every
morning at approximately 4:00 AM. The Legislative
Calendar and Legislative
Digest are updated immediately. Other parts of our site are
updated as required.
11. Who are my representatives in the Legislature and how can
I contact them?
Click on
Find your Legislator. There
are four ways of finding your legislator:
A) Click on the "Alphabetical
List of Members" link for a complete list of legislators
in alphabetical order.
B) Click on the "Municipality"
link, then click on the city or town in which you live.
C) If you know your legislative district number, click on the
"Legislative District"
link then on the specific district number from 1 to 40.
D) Click on the "Interactive
map of Legislative Districts" link for a full color,
interactive map of New Jersey's Legislative Districts.
E) To send a message to your State legislator(s), please take
a moment to complete
this form.
12. How
do I find information on legislative committees?
Using the navigation
column on the left of this page, select Senate,
Assembly or Joint
Committees for a list of committee memberships and the bills
referred to each committee. You can also find the committee membership
of each legislator by visiting the legislator's biographical page
under Legislative Roster.
13. When
do the legislative committees meet?
Click on Legislative
Calendar. On that page, you may select past and current issues
of the Legislative Calendar which will give you dates, times,
room numbers and the bills which will be discussed.
14.
How do I find out the sponsor of a bill?
Using the navigation
column on the left of this page, under the category "BILLS",
select a Bill year to search (ex. Bills 2000-2001, Bills 1998-1999).
Select one of the Search parameters (by Bill Number, Keyword,
etc). You can then click on any Bill Number link (ex. A115, S56)
to find out more information on the Bill including its Primary
and Co-Sponsors.
15.
What is the Adobe Acrobat Viewer and how do I download it?
For more information
and downloading instructions, please go to our ACROBAT
help page.
16.
Where can I find general information about the New Jersey Legislature?
Click on Our Legislature. In that section
you will find information about the branches of government, legislative
powers and the state budget process.
17.
Where can I find information on visiting the State House?
Click on State House
Tour Information.
18. Where can I find a list of bill history abbreviations and
committee acronyms?
Click on "help" on the homepage and then on Abbreviations
and Acronyms.
|
