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Virginia is Best in the Country, When it Comes to a Website

With just one week left in Virginia’s General Assembly, the state already has 135 new laws on the books -- and will be adding many more before it’s over.

Luckily, you’ll easily be able to browse all of Virginia’s laws on it’s legal website, which is considered one of the best in the country. 

Virginia likely has many laws you agree with, and many you probably don’t, but there’s one thing you can’t argue about.

“There’s not even a second place in the competition of best state law website. There’s Virginia and then there’s everybody else,”  says Waldo Jaquith, the director of U.S. Open Data, a nonprofit that helps government with data problems.

He says Virginia’s website is great for a couple of reasons. First, it’s beautiful and easy to navigate. Second, the website provides raw data of the laws, which may not make a difference to website laymen -- but does have a trickle down affect. 

"By providing raw legal data it becomes possible for clever people to do things that make the laws more useful to the general public,” says Jaquith.  

For instance, Jaquith uses that data to create his own website with added features, like linking laws to court decisions, or providing cross references to other sections of the code.

Virginia's state website has its own added feature, the first of its kind in the country, that links changes in the code back to the legislation that created them. 

“The vast majority of Virginians when they have a legal question they turn to Google and they need to wind up at accurate, authoritative copies of Virginia’s laws," Jaquith says. "And Virginia’s doing a really great job of getting that to citizens.”

The website has been around for almost a year now and is constantly being updated with new features.