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Arizona Primary Legal Materials

INTRODUCTION

Statutes are laws passed by the Arizona Legislature. 

  • Once a bill becomes law, it is first published as a "slip law". 
  • Slip laws are eventually organized by chapter and chronology, and are then published in volumes known as "session laws" (all the laws passed during that session of the Legislature). 
  • Session laws are then organized by subject/chapter into the codified, Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.). 
  • The A.R.S. contains the text of the final law and, if annotated, historical and statutory notes as well as citations to secondary sources.

Note: sessions are statutorily defined periods in which the Arizona Legislature meets (Art. IV of the Arizona Constitution). Legislative sessions in Arizona begin on the second Monday of the year.

SLIP LAWS & SESSION LAWS

Slip Laws - Resources

Arizona State Legislature - (1989-present ).

  • Available freely from the Arizona State Legislature's website. Slip laws are recently passed legislation reported before its official publication. 
  • Eventually, slip laws will be arranged by chapter and published as Session Laws. 
  • Slip laws can only be found via Session Laws online.

Session Laws - Resources

Arizona State Legislature (1989 - present).

  • Available freely from the Arizona State Legislature's website.
  • The official compilation of laws in numerical Chapter order as passed in a legislative session (First and Second Regular and Special Sessions).
  • Volumes contain lists of elected officials, legislators, texts of memorials and resolutions, Governor’s veto messages, and election results (proposition texts and votes). Indexed by topic (A.R.S. titles); cross-tables of chapters and bills.
  • Updated by the Arizona Legislative Service.

Arizona Enacted Legislation/Session Laws -- (Westlaw). Current session only. (Login required)

  • Print Resources
    • Arizona Legislature -1951-current.  The official version of Session Laws. 
    • Arizona Legislative Service -1987-current. Pamphlets containing session laws with a table of A.R.S. sections affected. 
      • Published after each session of the Arizona Legislature.
      • Lists amended and newly enacted laws of the state of Arizona, proposed constitutional amendments, resolutions, vetoes etc.  

STATUTES

Arizona Revised Statutes Annotated: (Official). Thomson Reuters,1956-present.

  • Codified law arranged by broad topics (Titles).
  • Contains the Enabling Act and other Admission documents, as well as the State Constitution. 
  • Statute sections are followed by historical notes, headnotes of decisions, and state regulations.  Volumes can be found:
  • Print Resources
    • Statute volumes are updated annually by pocket parts and pamphlets. Available in the Arizona Section. 
  • ​Subscription Resources
    • Lexis (login required)
    • Westlaw (login required)

Arizona Revised Statutes: Unannotated. 

  • The unannotated, unofficial version omits the statutory/ historical notes, citations to secondary resources, and cites to key numbers. 
  • It contains only the text of the law. 
  • Free Web Resources