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Texas Legal Resources at Tarlton

A guide to finding Texas law in the Tarlton Law Library.

How to Find 50 State Surveys

Useful sources include:

  • Bloomberg Law
    • Chart Builders (a kind of custom DIY 50 State Survey) can be found under:
      • Practice Tools
      • Practice Centers (which exist for selected topics such as Labor & Employment)
    • State and Local Charts: found within Practice Centers 
  • Lexis:
    • LexisNexis 50-State Surveys, Legislation & Regulations (login required) (start typing in main search box and auto-recognition will bring up database to select)
    • Practical Guidance >
      • State Law Comparison Tool (build your own state law comparison within selected topics and subtopics, and also compare state laws to federal counterparts)
      • Selected state law surveys; discover via kw search (Ex: Regulation of PFAS Chemicals in Drinking Water State Law Survey)
    • Protege: AI generated. Enter a prompt that includes phrases like “50-State survey,” “Which states,” “What states,” or “State survey.” Use with caution as this is a new and developing feature. (9/2025).
  • LawAtlas: The Policy Surveillance Portal: focused on public health topics
  • National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL)
  • National Survey of State Laws
  • Subject Compilations of State Laws:
  • Uniform Law Commission (ULC): aims to bring uniformity to state laws by proposing model legislation (previously known as National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws)
  • Westlaw
    • 50 State Surveys: Statutory and Regulatory
      • Editorially curated
      • Updated twice a year
    • AI Jurisdictional Surveys:
      • Access from AI-Assisted Research tab or Tools tab
      • Coverage: surveys federal and state statutes and regulations, including state constitutions
      • Users create customized statutory surveys on topics not otherwise covered and can filter results as needed
    • Practical Law:
      • Quick Compare
        • Customizable within selected topics
        • Can set up alert to be notified of changes to chart
      • Selected state law "charts"; discover via kw search such as state charts (Ex: Trusts & Estates 50-State Charts Toolkit)
  • Also, check different advocacy groups' websites. For a listing of organizations and their websites, see The Encyclopedia of Associations at UT Libraries.


If you cannot find a survey, one alternative is to look at Westlaw, Statutes > Topical that shows the major titles involved state by state for a given area of law. This helps narrow it down somewhat. For more ideas, check out Harvard Law Library's Comparing State Laws and Constitutions guide.

A related topic is researching initiative and referendum laws in the mainly Western states that allow law by popular vote. For guides to the different states, see Legal Reference Services Quarterly's volume 26, issues 3-4 (2008). For California, see Daniel W. Martin, Henke’s California Law Guide, chapter 5.

Occasionally researchers seek to compare state constitutions. One series that may be helpful is Reference Guides to the State Constitutions of the United States.