Guides: Animal Law Research Guide: General Federal Law Resources and CRS Reports

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General Federal Law Resources

Animal Legal & Historical Center
Michigan State University College of Law. Provides information on Federal and State Laws.
Animal Law Resource Center
Provides access to legislation, laws, and cases relating to animals, concerning animal cruelty, animal control, laboratory animal welfare, and other issues. They also provide model laws which can serve as a template for drafting legislation.
Congress.gov
By searching current legislation, you can find any bills related to animals in the current Congress.
Current Legislation
Humane Society Legislation Fund. Provides information on current legislation in Congress regarding animals in research, equines, wildlife, and other current issues.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Laws & Regulations
A portal for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rulemaking activities. Laws, agreements, and treaties related to conservation are listed here.
Federal Laws and Guidelines
National Agricultural Library. Provides information on Federal laws regarding animals such as the Animal Welfare Act, Horse Protection Act, and other laws.
Federal Wildlife and Related Laws Handbook
Provides an overview of Wildlife Laws and Issues along with Statutes and Related materials. (Note: This is no longer updated.)

General State Resources

The following resources provide information on current State laws:

Breed-Discriminatory Legislation (BDL/BSL) Fiscal Impact
Best Friends Animal Society. Provides the fiscal impact of Breed-Discriminatory Legislation on States, Cities, and Counties. Users can download data tables, local talking points, general talking points, and opportunity cost talking points.
Comparative Laws Across the U.S.
Michigan State University's Animal Legal & Historical Center provides comparative table of laws at the state level for specific topics. They cover topics such as mandatory reporting laws, humane society enforcement powers, dog leash laws, and others.
Maps of U.S. Laws
Michigan State University's Animal Legal & Historical Center provides access to maps on specific animal law topics, showing which states have laws on that topic and which states do not.
State and Local Law and Guidelines
National Agricultural Library. Provides links to compilation of state laws regarding different topics such as euthanasia, assistance animals, animal cruelty, and other topics.
State Legislation
Animal Welfare Institute. Provides citations for state laws and whether or not the law is active, currently being challenged, or unconstitutional.
U.S. Animal Protection Laws State Rankings (2019)
Animal Legal Defense Fund. Ranks the 50 states based on their laws for animals and provides a report covering major trends, improved states, an overview of the top five best and worst states, and other information.

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports

Here are some reports that may be useful:

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports

Congressional Research Service (CRS), the research arm of the Library of Congress, provides authoritative, objective, and nonpartisan research and analysis to committees and members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, regardless of party and affiliation. CRS produces new research as issues develop or are anticipated, and their reports are designed specifically to meet the needs of Congress. CRS research, while on a variety of topics, falls under five divisions: American Law; Domestic Social Policy; Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade; Government and Finance; and Resources, Science, and Industry.

ProQuest Congressional
ProQuest Congressional provides CRS reports from 1916 to the present. It is one of the best, most comprehensive single sources for locating and searching through CRS Reports. (Use the Advanced Search page and uncheck everything except CRS Reports under Content Types on the left.)
CRS Reports on Congress.gov
Congress.gov provides public access to reports and other products created by Congressional Research Service. CRS routinely updates reports on their site, designed to reflect new developments and the needs of Congress. This is the official site for CRS Reports.
HeinOnline
HeinOnline provides scanned versions of older CRS Reports from 1999 to the present. CRS reports are listed alphabetically.
EveryCRSReport.com
EveryCRSReport.com provides free access to its collection of CRS reports and also includes archived reports from University of North Texas's CRS Report collection. You can Browse by Topic using the option below the search bar.
Lexis
Provides CRS reports as they are delivered from 2005 to the present. All reports link to the PDF version provided by CRS.

Animal Law Research Guide

Contents

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General Federal Law Resources

General State Resources

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports