Legislative and Law Information

• THOMAS
• Congressional Sites
• GPO Access
• What Bills Are
• Laws
• U. S. Code
• Regulations and Federal Register
• Code of Federal Regulations
• Ohio Legislative and Law Research

Lexis-Nexis Congressional
Access Info: Ohio U. - all campuses (off-campus access via OhioLINK login)

THOMAS: Legislative Information on the Internet

• THOMAS http://thomas.loc.gov/
• Bills 101st Congress (1989-1990) - Current http://thomas.loc.gov/home/multicongress/multicongress.html
• Bills Summary and Status 93rd Congress (1973-1974) - Current http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas2.html
• Primary Historical Documents http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/PrimDocsHome.html
• Congressional Information (Thomas)   http://thomas.loc.gov/links/

Bills (GPO Access)  103rd Congress (1993-94) - Current http://www.gpoaccess.gov/bills/index.html

Congress

• House of Representatives http://www.house.gov/
• Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives http://clerk.house.gov/
• Senate Web Site http://www.senate.gov/
• Congressional Committee Materials Online via GPO Access http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html

Congressional Record

• Congressional Record (GPO Access) 1994 (V. 140) - Current http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/index.html
• Congressional Record Index (GPO Access) 1983 - Current http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cri/index.html
• Retrieve a Congressional Record page in PDF Format (GPO Access) 1995, Vol. 141 - Current
  http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/retrieve.html
• C-Span http://www.c-span.org/
• Congressional Quarterly http://www.cq.com/
• Access CQ Publications via InfoTree includes CQ Researcher, CQ Weekly, Political Reference Suite,

Legislative Information from GPO Access

• Multi-Database Search (GPO Access)   http://www.gpoaccess.gov/multidb.html
• A-Z Online Resource List (GPO Access) http://www.gpoaccess.gov/databases.html
• Legislative Branch Resources on GPO Access http://www.gpoaccess.gov/legislative.html

Bills

Bills are the means by which legislation is introduced into Congress. Bills are numbered consecutively within the House and Senate starting with 1 at the beginning of each new congress. Thus, for the 106th Congress, H.R. 100 was the 100th bill introduced in the House of Representatives. S. 100 was the 100th bill in the Senate.

Introduced Bill The bill as it was introduced.
Reported Bill When a Committee reports on a bill, the bill is reprinted. Committee amendments are indicated in italics for additions and lines drawn through text for deletions.
Engrossed Bill Once a bill has passed the House (or Senate if introduced there), the bill with all its amendments is printed. The bill at this point becomes an Act. (The version of the bill to pass the other house also is referred to as an Engrossed bill.)
Act Print The Engrossed bill as it is presented to the other House of Congress.
Enrolled Bill The version of the bill, agreed to by both the House and Senate, that is presented to the president.

Call Number and Location varies:

1 October 2000 (106th Congress) to present - Bills available online only.
1981 (97th Congress) - 30 September, 2000 (106th Congress) - Government Documents Department
           SuDoc microfiche (Note: Use the index notebook to identify fiche containing your bill)

House Bills - Y 1.4/6: Congress Number-Bill Number
Senate Bills - Y 1.4/1: Congress Number-Bill Number

Bills are Indexed by: Congressional Index, Digest of Public General Bills and Resolutions

Electronic Indexes:

Lexis-Nexis Congressional-   1989 - present

GPO Access http://www.gpoaccess.gov/bills/index.html 103rd Congress (1993-94) - present

THOMAS http://thomas.loc.gov/   101st Congress (1989) - present, summaries from 93rd Congress (1973) - present

Public Laws

• Public Laws (GPO Access) http://www.gpoaccess.gov/plaws/index.html
  104th Congress, 1995-96 - 110th Congress, 2007-08
  
• Public Laws (Thomas) http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d110/d110laws.html
  93rd Congress, 1973-1974 - 110th Congress, 2007-2008

Laws

Public Laws are laws which apply to the country as a whole. They are designated as P.L. Congress-law number. Public Law numbers are assigned chronologically within each Congress. Public Law numbers bear no relationship to bill numbers. (Example P.L. 104-10 is the 10th Law passed under the 104th Congress).

Private Laws are laws which benefit a single person or organization. Private laws are designated as Private Law Congress-law number. Private Law numbers are assigned chronologically within each Congress.

Public and Private Laws are issued first as Slip Laws and later bound in the Statutes at Large.

Slip Laws

Slip laws are the first official version of a new law. A slip law may be a single sheet of paper or hundreds of pages. Marginal notes may indicate the section(s) of the U.S. Code into which the law will be integrated. A brief legislative history appears at the end of the law.

Call Number: AE 2.110: (before the Statutes at Large in Public/Private Law number order)
Location: Government Documents Department
Library Has: Slip Laws are retained until the Statutes at Large volume containing the law is received.

Lexis-Nexis Congressional    100th Congress, 1988 - present

GPO Access 104th Congress, 1995 - present)

Statutes at Large

A chronological arrangement of laws passed in each session of Congress. These volumes are usually cited as follows: 103 Stat.157 meaning volume 103 of the STATUTES page 157. Public/Private Law numbers can be used to locate specific laws. Volumes include subject and name indexes.

Note: 1963 through 1974 each volume of the Statutes at Large contained a "Guide to Legislative History of Bills Enacted into Public Law" (usually near the end of the volume). Beginning with the 94th Congress (1975), a brief legislative history is printed on the last page of each law.

V. 1 (1789) - V. 29 (1897) Microfilm 1st Floor,
V. 30 (1897/99) - V. 98 (1984) GS 4.111: Government Documents

Lexis-Nexis Congressional 100th Congress 1988 - present
GPO Access 104th Congress, 1995 - present
HeinOnLine U.S. Statutes at Large Volumes 1 - 118, 1789 - 2004
Library of Congress: 1789 - 1875 Volumes 1 - 18 via American Memory Project

United States Code

The United States Code is the codification of "general and permanent laws" currently in force (i.e. not private laws or appropriations). With its subject (i.e. Title) arrangement, the Code brings together initial laws and subsequent amendments. It is reissued every six years, with annual supplements in the intervening years. Citations to the United States Code are in the form of title number U.S.C. section number. subsection number (example 40 U.S.C. 210.1). Includes subject and popular name indexes.

Note: The United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.) is available through Lexis Nexis Congressional. This commercially produced version of the U.S.C. includes notes on the history of laws and related legal cases.

Call Number: Y 1.2/5:
Location: Government Documents Index Shelves
Library Has: 2000 edition
Indexed: self-indexed
Electronic:

Lexis-Nexis Congressional
GPO Access

Administrative Law (Regulations)

Executive (and Independent) Agencies are responsible for enforcing laws. These agencies establish rules and regulations detailing the enforcement process. These regulations have the force of law and are disclosed first in the Federal Register and later incorporated into the Code of Federal Regulations

Federal Register

The Federal Register is a daily publication containing new and proposed federal agency rules and regulations. It should be used in conjunction with the Code of Federal Regulations to determine how a law is enforced.

Call Number: AE 2.106: Location:

V. 48 (1983) - present Government Documents Microfiche collection
V. 24 (1959) - V. 47 (1982) - Microforms Department Microfiche M 190 1st Floor

Indexed: self-indexed Electronic:

Hein OnLine Federal Register Volumes 1 - 72, 1936 - 2007
Lexis-Nexis Congressional 1980 - present
GPO Access 1996 - present

Code of Federal Regulations

The Code of Federal Regulations or CFS is the codification of the general and permanent federal agency rules and regulations. Revised annually, the CFR is updated by the Federal Register. Consult the List of CFR Sections Affected (LSA) (issued monthly) or the Cumulative List of Parts Affected (part of the Federal Register) to determine if your regulation has been updated.

Call Number: AE 2.106/3:
Location: Current edition only - Government Documents Department
Indexed: self-indexed, Index to the Code of Federal Regulations
Electronic:

Lexis-Nexis Congressional 1981 - current revision
GPO Access 1996 - current revision
Hein OnLine Code of Federal Regulations 1938 - 1983

Legislative Research A Web-Based Bibliographic Instruction Program http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/softwarebi/
How our laws are made    http://thomas.loc.gov/home/lawsmade.toc.html
Ben's Guide to U.S. Government    http://bensguide.gpo.gov/

Ohio Legislative and Law Research

Gongwer News Service Access through InfoTree > Government > Ohio
Access Info: Ohio U. - all campuses (off-campus access via OhioLINK login)

Daily news organization dedicated exclusively to providing detailed, comprehensive, and timely coverage of Ohio's state government. The Ohio Report a source of independent news coverage of Ohio's state government and politics.

127th Ohio General Assembly http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/

Register of Ohio Providing public notice of state agency rule-making

Ohio Laws and Rules http://codes.ohio.gov/
Comprehensive source for Ohio Administrative Code and Ohio Revised Code.

Ohio.gov the official home page for Ohio offers many resources, including online services, links to governmental officials and agencies, and directories. Major sections include: Living in Ohio; Education; Working & Employment; Businesses; State Employees; Government.