---
title: "A small, but positive change. "Publishing legal codes on GitHub is a…"
date: 2019-09-13
source: facebook
type: Archer T. Ships shared a link.
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# A small, but positive change. "Publishing legal codes on GitHub is a…

*September 13, 2019 · Facebook*

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[https://code.dccouncil.us/dc/council/code/](https://code.dccouncil.us/dc/council/code/){target="_blank"}
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A small, but positive change.\
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\"Publishing legal codes on GitHub is a real government innovation. It isn't like the techno-solutionist blockchain nonsense that is in vogue lately. It's the cherry on top of real work happening inside the DC government improving a process hundreds of years old:\
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The Council is able to publish the law better and faster than ever before. With the District's previous codification contractor, updates to the DC Code were published three times a year, and there could be a five-to-seven month delay in seeing the latest laws. But the Open Law Library has shortened the publication process to about a week after a law is enacted.\
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It also means we're all getting to see more of the actual law that governs us---not the law as it was months ago.\
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The laws are now published on an easy-to-use, modern, searchable, mobile-friendly, and free website: [https://code.dccouncil.us/dc/council/code/](https://code.dccouncil.us/dc/council/code/){target="_blank"}.\
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This increases access to justice for District residents and lawyers at legal aid organizations who don't have access to high-priced legal research tools.\
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I hope other jurisdictions learn from the District and move the law forward with the Open Law Library, and I especially hope that the District expands its use of Open Law Library tools to other aspects of DC law starting with the DC Municipal Regulations (DCMR).\"
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