Tutorial Start               History FAQs

I have a specific section of the Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) I want to research.  Where do I go from here?

(For this step, you will need access to the Statutes of Nevada.  Here is a list of libraries with legislative materials.)

• The first step is to identify which bills went into the making of your specific section of NRS.
• At the end of every NRS section, there is a history line which identifies the years when the law was enacted and/or amended.  This line also refers you to the section or page in a particular year’s Statutes of Nevada to see where this language came from as part of a bill.
• For example, the history line [36:140:1913; A 1915, 378; 1937, 327] (NRS A 1991, 1783; 1995, 220) refers to section 36, Chapter 140, of the 1913 Statutes of Nevada, which was amended (A) in the 1915 Statutes of Nevada at page 378, amended in the 1937 Statutes of Nevada at page 327, amended in the 1991 Statutes of Nevada at page 1783, and amended in the 1995 Statutes of Nevada at page 220.
• Any additions or changes enacted prior to 1957 are listed in brackets; 1957 and later changes are shown in parentheses.
• The preface to the Nevada Revised Statutes includes additional information, with an explanation of the history line abbreviations.
• If you are using the Nevada Revised Statutes on our website, you will notice that anything in the history line that is a post-1984 addition or amendment is a hyperlink.
• If you click on the link, it will take you to the correct section of your bill in the online version of the Statutes of Nevada.
• Anything pre-1984 requires the print version of the Statutes of Nevada.
• The second step is to determine the bill number.
• Page back (or scroll up) to the beginning of the Chapter, which is also the beginning of the bill.  (When a bill is enacted it is sent to the Secretary of State, who assigns it a Chapter number.)  Just above the Chapter number will be the bill number and the bill's sponsors.
• For example, if you look up the final amendment in the example above – 1995, 220 – you’ll find that it is part of Senate Bill 100 from 1995. 
• The third step is to separate the wheat from the chaff.
• Check each of the history line’s year and page references in the Statutes of Nevada to determine which changes in language are relevant to your project.  Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted.
• Watch out for technical corrections bills, reorganization bills, and minor amendments.  You can save yourself a lot of time and resources by weeding out those changes which are unimportant, at least for your purposes.

I have a specific bill I want to research.  Where do I go from here?