Where's the best city
to relocate a business? Northeast? Southwest?
Would it make sense
for a client to expand their facilities on their existing site ... or just 20
miles down the road in another state, county and city? Does the city of
operation limit or promote business growth?
Good questions, but the answer can be hard
to pin down when your research comes to municipal codes. Now the LexisNexis®
services is greatly expanding its municipal codes coverage-complete with many
of the browsing, searching and refining features legal professionals and law
librarians are comfortable using.
You'll now find municipal coverage from all 50
states-nearly 1,100 municipal codes, with code updates or new
municipalities added frequently.
Why is This Important?
Municipal codes provide local rules and
regulations covering a wide variety of topics, most commonly - zoning, land
use, waterways, harbors, airports, construction, fire, public works &
utilities. These codes are provide critical information for commercial
real estate, energy, construction, urban planning and maritime practices.
This information can also be a critical for firms who advise corporate clients
in business establishment and expansion decisions.
Where Can I Find Municipal Codes?
Municipal codes from a specific state
are located on that state's page,
for example, available California Municipal Codes are at Legal tab >
California. You'll also find all available municipal codes via the Legal tab > Legislation
& Politics - U.S. & U.K.
Municipal Code Research Basics:
●Browse the
ETOC and get a document -
Select a state's municipal codes, and
an electronic table of
contents (ETOC) displays automatically. All available
municipalities for that state are listed alphabetically.
Often researchers are looking for a
specific section in a specific jurisdiction, so browsing or searching the ETOC
is efficient. Expand the state ETOC and view any municipality's code. Just rest your cursor on the +.
A pop-up box will allow you to open as many levels as you'd like. (Collapse levels
by selecting the - next to ETOC levels.)
To view a full-text section, click its link.
(You only pay to retrieve the document as you would with Get a Document.) Once
you view a full-text section, you can print, download* (*according to the terms
and conditions of your LexisNexis agreement) or email. You can return to
the ETOC; just click TOC
in the View display.
Or you can use the Book Browse feature to
move to preceding and succeeding code sections-no charge! For example, click
the Book Browse
link at the top of a full-text section. Use the arrows on either side of the
citation at the top of the page to move to preceding or succeeding sections. To
leave the Book Browse feature, click Return
to Search Results.
●Search the
ETOC: One municipal code or codes across the state -
Not sure if your topic is covered in
one or many sections? Or maybe you're not sure if your topic is covered. You
can browse through the ETOC for that jurisdiction ... or search that
jurisdiction's code. For example, you're looking for parking requirements for
business in Alameda County, California. You can browse the ETOC. To search that
jurisdiction's code for all sections pertaining to parking:
SOURCE: California
Municipal Codes
CLICK: The checkbox next to Alameda County Code of Ordinances. This limits your
search to that jurisdiction.
ENTER: parking
If you're researching the tax rates across the state
to help clients looking to expand their operations, you can search the ETOC for
all of the state's municipal codes at once.
SOURCE: California Municipal Codes
ENTER: tax! /5 rate /5
business
Your results screen shows an
abbreviated ETOC with your search terms highlighted so you can move directly to
chapters and sections with your search terms, i.e., TOC Hits. Move to a
specific code section or a specific title or chapter or more browsing. To
return to the abbreviated ETOC with your search terms, click TOC Hits. When you're
ready to return to the full ETOC (without search terms), click TOC.
You can also search all full-text code
sections and receive documents with your search terms anywhere in the document,
i.e., even brief mentions. Your results screen shows individual documents with
search term hits. To search full-text code documents, click the Full text of source documents
button under the source's
search box.
●Search all
available states or across specific states -
If you're working on a large
project-perhaps a client or management wishes to identify jurisdictions with
municipal laws favorable to business expansion, such as the availability of
reimbursement for infrastructure expansion- you can research a topic across all available
municipal codes simultaneously. Select the
Municipal Codes source.
SOURCE: Municipal Codes
PATH: Legal tab > States Legal - U.S. > Combined States > Find
Statutes & Legislative Materials
CLICK: Search ALL
MUNICIPAL CODES
ENTER: infrastructure /
10 reimburs!
When you select this group source, no
ETOCs display, just the search box for searching all full-text documents. Your
results display in alphabetical order by state. You can use the FOCUS® feature
to refine the topic or number of states.
Or you can use the HEADING segment in
your original Municipal Codes search to restrict your search to specific
states. For example:
SOURCE: Municipal Codes
CLICK: Search ALL MUNICIPAL CODES
ENTER: Heading(california
OR colorado OR nevada) AND
infrastructure /10 reimburs!
The HEADING segment is also a convenient way
to restrict your search
to specific titles,
chapters, articles, etc. of the codes, e.g.:
SOURCE: Municipal Codes
CLICK: Search ALL MUNICIPAL CODES
ENTER: HEADING(florida or
georgia) AND HEADING(telecommun!) and zon! /5 residen!
Questions or want to see a live demonstration? Kindly contact
your LexisNexis representative today!
Happy Researching!
....
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