If a page is wrong, we want to fix it. Here is exactly how corrections work — who to write to, how quickly we respond, and how the fix is logged.
Our commitment
State Law Handbook is a legal reference. Accuracy is the only currency we have. If we get something wrong — a statute number, a revenue limit, a filing deadline, a citation to a case that doesn't exist — we want to know immediately, and we want to fix it in a way that respects the reader who told us.
This is our public procedure for how corrections are reported, investigated, and applied. It is not aspirational — the timelines below are what we hold ourselves to.
How to report a correction
The fastest and most reliable way is email:
Email corrections@statelawhandbook.com
Please include:
- The URL of the page you believe is wrong.
- The specific claim or sentence you're flagging (a copy-paste is best).
- The source you believe is correct — a statute, agency page, or court decision link, if you have one.
- Optional: your name, credentials, and how you'd like to be credited if we publish the correction.
You can also use the form on our Contact page — select "Reporting a correction" as the topic.
What happens when you report one
- Acknowledgement (within 2 business days). An editor confirms we received your report and lets you know who's handling it.
- Investigation (within 5 business days). A researcher and editor check your report against the primary source — the state statute, agency guidance, or court decision that the page cites. If your report is right, we prepare the correction.
- Correction (within 5 business days of the investigation completing). The page is updated, the "Last verified" date is bumped, and — for material corrections — a Recent Changes note is added to the page describing what changed and when. For legal or high-stakes topics, the correction is also sent for attorney review before publication.
- Reply to you. We write back to let you know what we did — even if we decided not to correct (see "If you disagree with our decision" below).
How fixes are logged on the page
How we log a correction depends on how material it is:
- Material corrections
- Anything that changes what the law is said to require — a statute number, a revenue limit, a filing deadline, an enforceability question. These are logged in the Recent Changes section on the affected page with a date and a short description of what changed. The "Last verified" date is bumped.
- Non-material corrections
- Typos, broken links, formatting issues, phrasing that could be clearer without changing the underlying legal meaning. Fixed silently. The "Last verified" date is not bumped unless the entire page has been re-verified.
- Retraction
- If a page was substantively wrong at publication and had to be re-written to be accurate, we say so plainly at the top of the corrected page and preserve the correction note in the Recent Changes section indefinitely. We do not remove or hide pages that had errors — the correction stays visible so readers can see what happened.
Categories of correction
The most common corrections we receive fall into a few categories. All of them are welcome:
- Outdated law. A statute has been amended and our page reflects the old version. This is the single most common category on a legal reference site — send them in.
- Wrong number. A dollar limit, deadline, threshold, or fee is stated incorrectly.
- Wrong citation. A statute number, case citation, or agency reference is wrong or leads to the wrong provision.
- Missing exemption or caveat. The general rule is stated correctly, but an important exemption or condition is missing.
- Ambiguity or contested interpretation. The page states a rule as settled when courts or agencies are actually split.
- Preemption issue. The page states a state rule without noting that federal law preempts it in the relevant context.
- Typos, dead links, formatting. Also welcome, just less urgent.
Turnaround times
Our standard timelines for the four steps:
| Step | Standard target | Urgent (e.g., high-stakes error) |
|---|---|---|
| Acknowledge receipt | 2 business days | 24 hours |
| Investigate | 5 business days | 2 business days |
| Publish correction (once verified) | 5 business days | 24 hours |
| Reply to the reporter | Same day as correction publishes | Same day as correction publishes |
"Urgent" cases include corrections to statutes with active deadlines (filing periods, notice periods), pages that could lead to a reader missing a legal right, or matters flagged by an attorney reviewer as time-sensitive.
If you disagree with our decision
Sometimes we investigate a report and conclude the page is accurate as written. When that happens, we write back and tell you why — what source we're relying on, and why we read it the way we do.
If you still disagree, please write again. Escalations go to the editor-in-chief and, for legal disputes, to the attorney reviewer network. Our goal is to get to the right answer, not to defend our first draft.
If you believe our decision reflects a broader editorial or ethics problem, you're welcome to raise it publicly. We do not attempt to suppress good-faith criticism of our editorial standards.