“Total Research System” Tip from LexisNexis: Municipal Codes

From LexisNexis, In the Know:

In an exciting move, LexisNexis has been able to work with numerous cities, municipalities, and villages to obtain the right to publish their local codes, statutes or ordinances (depending on the term that the location uses). These sources are currently scheduled for updates twice a year, but some municipalities are working to enable us to update their ordinances with greater frequency.

We currently have ordinances from 35 states, including Illinois, Florida, Georgia, Texas, California, Ohio, and Washington. The number of cities included for each state varies, and we are looking forward to adding more cities in the future.

Each state has two sources which contain municipal codes (if that state currently has any municipal codes). The first is a group file in the following folder:

States Legal > Combined States > Statutes & Legislative Materials > Municipal Codes
The second source is located in each state’s Statutes & Regulations folder. For example, the municipal codes for Alaska are in the following source:

Legal > States Legal – U.S. > Alaska > Statutes & Regulations > Alaska Municipal Codes
You can use any of the following methods to retrieve a municipal code section:

Use the Table of Contents. Click on the plus sign in front of Nome, then click in the plus sign in front of Title 12 Ports and Harbors, and finally click on the plus sign in front of Chapter 12.40; at this point you can click on the link for section 12.40.

Conduct a Search using the Heading Segment. Once you are in the Alaska Municipal Code source, run heading ( nome ) and section ( 12.40 ).

Use Get a Document. Click Get a Document, then click on Citation Formats, and type “Nome” into the box. This will bring up the template for using Get a Document to retrieve section 12.40, Nome Municipal Code ยง 12.40.

You cannot currently Shepardize Municipal Codes. As an alternative to Shepards, run a search in case law.

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