How to Access Connecticut State Statutes

Department of Developmental Services

How to access the Connecticut General Statutes, revised to January 1, 2016, on the Connecticut General Assembly website: www.cga.ct.gov

(1) Search – One Section of the 2016 General Statutes at a Time (From the "Statutes" link or page, select "Search Statutes". This option will link you to the "Statutes Text Search" page of the Connecticut General Assembly and will enable you to search the General Statutes, revised to January 1, 2016. Select "Section Text (1/1/16)" from the various "Statutes" options.)
When you search a word or phrase, this format will retrieve every Section of the 2016 General Statutes, one Section at a time, in which that word or phrase appears.  Your search term will be highlighted and you will be able to go to your search term each time it appears within that Section.

(2) Search – One Chapter or Article of the 2016 General Statutes at a Time (From the "Statutes" link or page, select "Search Statutes". This option will link you to the "Statutes Text Search" page of the Connecticut General Assembly and will enable you to search the browseable General Statutes, revised to January 1, 2016. Select "Statutes - Chapter Format (1/1/16)".)
When you search a word or phrase, this option will retrieve every Chapter or Article of the browseable version of the printed 2016 General Statutes, one Chapter or Article at a time, in which that word or phrase appears.  Your search term will be highlighted and you will be able to go to your search term each time it appears in each Section within that Chapter or Article.  In addition, you will be able to browse within that Chapter or Article..

(3) Browse - One Chapter or Article of the printed 2015 General Statutes at a Time (From the "Statutes" link or page, select "Browse Statutes". This option will link you directly to the browseable version of the printed 2015 General Statutes and will enable you to browse the General Statutes,  revised to January 1, 2015.)
If you click on this option, a list of the Titles of the 2015 General Statutes, grouped by Volume number, will appear. If you click on one of the Titles, a list of the Chapters or Articles within that Title will appear. If you click on one of those Chapters or Articles, a list of the Sections within that Chapter or Article will appear. You can then click on any Section number and that section of the statutes, within the Chapter or Article, will appear. You will be able to browse up and down, from Section to Section, within the Chapter or Article.

(4) Browse - One Chapter or Article of the printed 2016 Supplement to the General Statutes at a Time   (From the "Statutes" link or page, select "Browse Statutes". This option will link you directly to the browseable version of the printed 2016 Supplement to the General Statutes and will enable you to browse the General Statutes, revised to January 1, 2016.)
If you click on this option, a list of the Titles of the 2016 Supplement to the 2015 General Statutes, grouped by Volume number, will appear. If you click on one of the Titles, a list of the Chapters or Articles within that Title will appear. If you click on one of those Chapters or Articles, a list of the Sections within that Chapter or Article will appear. You can then click on any Section number and that section of the statutes, within the Chapter or Article, will appear. You will be able to browse up and down, from Section to Section, within the Chapter or Article.

Organization of the 2016 Connecticut General Statutes

To select the best format for you, it is important to understand how the 2016 General Statutes are organized:

¨Titles: contain chapters, articles and sections of the statutes grouped in broad subject areas.
                Example: "Title 14 – Motor Vehicles"

¨Chapters: contain sections of the statutes grouped in broad subject areas.
                Example: "Chapter 248 – Vehicle Highway Use" (which is in Title 14)

¨Articles: (used instead of Chapters in Title 42a – Uniform Commercial Code), contain sections of the statutes also grouped in specific subject areas.
                Example: "Article 2 – Sales"; "Article 4A – Funds Transfers"

¨Sections: contain the text of each statute updated to January 1, 2016.
                Example: "Section 14-219 – Speeding" (which is in Chapter 248, which is in Title 14)

The Legislative Commissioners' Office (LCO) publishes the revised Connecticut General Statutes at the beginning of each odd-numbered year, and the Supplements at the beginning of each even-numbered year.

The browseable versions of the 2015 General Statutes of Connecticut and the 2016 Supplement to the General Statutes of Connecticut are the electronic versions of the printed volumes.