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Statutes
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Federal Legislation
Pattern of Statutory Publication
- Slip Laws
- A pamphlet containing a single act.
- It is separately published and designated by a Public Law number (P.L. 92-195).
- The first part of the number represents the number of the Congress which enacted the law and the second part indicates the chronological sequence of its enactment.
- When the Statutes at Large are published, they supersede the slip law as authority.
- Session Laws
- Advance Session Laws
- Commercially published monthly pamphlets containing statutes within a month or two of enactment.
- West's United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN)
- Text of statutes (since 1941) and select legislative history materials
- Pamphlets cumulated at the end of the year into bound volumes that form a permanent commercial version of the Statutes at Large
- Pagination is the same as Statutes at Large since 1975
- Publisher Information
- Statutes at Large
- The official permanent session law publication for federal laws.
- Although slow to be published, the Statutes at Large supersede the slip laws upon publication.
- Published in chronological order at the end of each annual session of Congress.
- 1 - 3 volumes per session, bearing the same volume number.
- A Federal session law is cited by its Public Law Number and the volume and page in which it appears in the Statutes at Large. PL 96-195, 94 Stat 63
- Codes or Statutory Compilations
- Federal laws that are arranged by subject.
- United States Code Began publication in 1926
- Arranged in 50 subject titles, generally in alphabetical order
- Citations indicate title, section and year of publication 16 U.S.C. 1311 (1982)
- Annotated Codes
- Advantages of Commercial Annotated Sets
- Titles in separate volumes
- More current updating
- More detailed indexes
- Annotations
- Citations to other sources
- United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A)
- Publisher Information
- Features
- Notes of Decisions
- Topic and Key Numbers
- General and Title Indexes
- Supplements contain new Public Laws
- Popular Name Table
- Updating Tables
- United States Code Service (U.S.C.S.)
- Publisher Information
- Features
- Research Guide for references to other sources
- Revised General Index, kept current by General Index Update pamphlet
- Cumulative Later Case and Statutory Service contains latest Public Laws
- Table of Acts by Popular Name
- Updating Tables
- Lexis - not in print in the law library
- Popular Names for Federal Laws
- Tables in U.S.C., U.S.C.A. and U.S.C.S.
- Shepard's Acts and Cases by Popular Names
- USCCAN Popular Name Acts Table
- Electronic Sources for Federal Codes
- Westlaw
- United States Code Annotated USCA
- Historical U.S.C.A. 1990 USCA90
- United States Code USC
- U.S.C.A. Table of Contents Service TOC USCA
- U.S.C.A. General Index USCA-IDX
- U.S.C.A. Popular Name Table USCA-POP
- United States Code Annotated Tables USCA-TABLES
- U.S. Public Laws - Current US-PL
- Historical US Public Laws US-PL-OLD
- Lexis
- U.S.C.S. Titles 1 - 50 USCODE
- U.S.C.S. Popular Name Table USNAME
- U.S.C.S. Table of Contents USTOC
- U.S.C.S. Statutes Archive USARCH
- US Public Laws PUBLAW
- U.S.C.S. Statutes-At-Large Table USSALT
- HeinOnline Statutes at Large - Library Home Page - Databases/Indexes
- CD ROM
- Westgroup
- Lexis Law Publishing
- Government Printing Office
- Internet
- Cornell
- Use this
site with caution as it may be outdated.
Federal Legislation Research Strategy
- Index Method
- General Index
- Commercial versions are more up to date than the US Code
- Will lead you to the appropriate Code Title Index
- Code Title Index Will lead to the appropriate Code Section
- Topic or Analytic Method
- Outline or Table of Contents preceding Title
- Will provide headings for each section
- Definition Method
- General Indexes of all 3 Code sets have a main entry "Definitions"
- List of all terms that have been defined within the Code
- Updating
- Shepard's United States Citations Shepard's on Lexis
- KeyCite on Westlaw
Legislative History
- The components of a Legislative History are the documents that contain the words expressing the intent of the members of Congress.
- Ancillary documents often provide assistance in doing a legislative history.
- Preliminary Considerations
- Hearings, Debates, or Reports from Prior Sessions
- May exist before the proposal is introduced as a bill
- Presidential Recommendations
- Presidential Message
- State of the Union Address
- Printed Message Appears in Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents and the House and Senate Journals
- Indexed in the Congressional Record
- Memorandum from Executive Agency
- Documents Relevant to Federal Legislative History
- Congressional Bills
- Committee Reports
- Committee Hearings
- Congressional Debates
- Committee Prints
- Presidential or Executive Agency Documents
- Congressional Bills
- Original Bill
- Bill or Joint Resolution Assigned a H.R. or H.J. Res. Number in the House or a S. or S.J. Res. Number in the Senate
- Number stays with bill until passed or the end of the Congress in which it was introduced
- At the end of the 2 year term of Congress, pending bills lose their active status and must be reintroduced
- Bill with Amendments
- When amended, a bill is usually reprinted with the amending language, or the amendments are printed separately
- Comparison of language of bill as introduced and its subsequent amendments, with the final bill as passed may reveal legislative intent since insertion and deletion of language may indicate a legislative choice
- Bill as passed in originating body and introduced into other house
- Bill as amended by second chamber
- Bill as amended by conference committee of House and Senate
- Public Law
- Committee Reports
- Committee's obligation is to consider the bill and to decide whether or not to recommend passage
- If passage is not recommended or if no action is taken during the Congress in which the bill was introduced, the bill "dies in committee"
- If the committee recommends passage, it does so in a written report
- Reports of the committees of both houses to which the bill was assigned
- Contains Revised text of the bill
- Changes made in committee
- Analysis of intent and content of proposed legislation
- Rational behind committee's recommendation
- When the bill is approved by the house in which it was introduced, it is sent to the other house, assigned to an appropriate committee where it undergoes the same process
- Committee Reports are usually considered the most important documents in determining legislative intent because they reflect the understanding of those members of Congress most closely involved in studying the subject matter of the legislation.
- Conference Committee Reports
- When a bill is passed by both houses, but in different versions, a conference committee is convened, which consist of Representatives and Senators who are restricted to reconciling differing language in the respective versions of the bill.
- Report of the conference committee of the House and Senate Recommendations for reconciling differences between bills Statement explaining effect of actions
- Committee Hearings
- Hearings held by the committees to which the bill was assigned
- Transcripts Testimony of experts or interested parties
- Questions of committee members and answers of the witnesses Statements and exhibits submitted by interested parties
- Text of the bill under consideration
- Hearings from previous Congressional sessions concerning the subject matter of the bill being researched
- Hearings on related or similar bills that may have been held in prior Congresses
- Hearings are not held on all legislation and not all hearings are published
- Congressional Debates
- Can occur any time during process, but most often occurs after bill is reported out of committee
- Value of debate as evidence of legislative intent has been diminished due to
- contradictory nature of the statements
- calculated use of prepared speeches designed to manufacture evidence of legislative intent
- Courts do give some weight to statements, especially if made by the bill's sponsor, whose stated intention is to clarify or explain the bill's purpose
- Published in Congressional Record
- Committee Prints
- Special studies in specific subject areas for use by committees and their staffs
- Presidential or Executive Agency Documents
- Not primary source for legislative intent
- Explain President's or agency's intent of legislation
- Includes Presidential Signing Statement or Veto Message
- Incorporates rationale for Presidential action
Tools for Compiling a Federal Legislative History
- CCH Congressional Index
- Looseleaf Finding Tool
- Features
- Indexes of Public Bills by subject and sponsor
- Digests of each bill
- Status Table of actions taken on bills and resolutions
- Index of enactments and vetoes
- Table of companion bills
- Tables of voting records of Members of Congress by bill and resolution number
- Weekly report letter on major news and developments in Congress
- Publisher Information
- CIS/Index
- Indexes and abstracts in print
- Full text on microfiche from 1970
- Serial Set prior to 1970
- DIALOG from 1970
- CD ROM prior to 1970
- CIS Congressional Masterfile, 1789-1969
- Publisher Information
- Statutes at Large
- Legislative History Summary
- Citations of House, Senate, and Conference Committee Reports
- Dates of consideration and passage in each house
- References to Presidential statements
- USCCAN
Commercial Online Legislative History Databases
- Westlaw
- Legislative History - LH
- Congressional Record - CR
- US Congressional Testimony - USTESTIMONY
- Congressional Testimony - CONGTMY
- Check Database list for Legislative Histories compiled by law firm of Arnold & Porter
- Lexis
- Committee Reports from 1990 - CMTRPT
- Committee Prints, 105th - CMTPRN
- Committee Markups from 10/95 - MARKUP
- Voting Records from 100th - VOTARC
- Congressional Record from 99th - RECORD
- HeinOnline - Library Home Page - Databases/Indexes
Legislative Documents on the Web
- LexisNexis Congressional
Thomas
- Congressional
Record and Committee Reports from 1995
- GPO
Access
- Congressional
Record from 1994
- Senate
- House
- GovTrack: a civic project to track Congress
Federal Bill Tracking
- Westlaw
- Congressional Bills - CONG-BILLTXT
- Bill Tracking Federal - US-BILLTRK
- Bill Tracking Federal and State - BILLTRK
- Bill Tracking Federal and State Archives - BILLTRK-OLD
- Billcast - BC
- Billcast Archives - BC-OLD
- BNA Legislative Calendars - BNA-LEGCAL
- BNA Legis Tracking Calendars - BNA-TRACK
- Lexis
- Full text of bills - BLTEXT
- Bill Tracking - BLTRCK
- Combined BLTEXT and BLTRCK - BILLS
- Legislative Forecasts - BLCAST
Constitutional Research
Sources of the United States Constitution
- United States Code
- Black's Law Dictionary
- Most state and federal statutory compilations
- Annotated Texts
- USCA
- 10 Volumes
- Annual Pocket Parts and interim supplements
- USCS
- 4 Volumes
- Annual Pocket Parts and CLCSS pamphlets
- Library of Congress Edition
- Annotated State Statutory Codes
Updating Constitutional Research
- Shepard's United States Citations
- Shepard's state citators
Constitutions on the Web
- Thomas
- Includes Federalist Papers & Declaration of Independence
- Cornell
Uniform Laws and Model Acts
Uniform Laws
- National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws organized to promote uniformity among state statutes.
- The National Conference designates an act as a Uniform Act when it has a reasonable possibility of ultimate enactment in a substantial number of jurisdictions.
- Published
- Separate Pamphlets
- Annual Handbook of the National Conference
- West's Uniform Laws Annotated, Master Edition
- National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Law Archived Collection in Microfiche
Model Acts
- An act that does not have a reasonable possibility of uniform adoption is designated as a Model Act.
List of Uniform Laws and Model Acts
Web Sites
Colorado Legislation
Pattern of Statutory Publication
- Slip Laws - individually published new laws
- Session Laws - collection of slip laws published by date
- Official
- Unofficial
- West's Colorado Legislative Service
- West's Colorado Revised Statutes Annotated: Interim Annotation Service
- annotations supplementing pocket parts
- Lexis - CO-CALS
- Colorado Bound Session Laws
- Colorado Session Laws
- Codes - 43 titles arranged by subject
- Official from 2003 to present
- Unofficial
- Colorado Revised Statutes Annotated
- West
- Bradford
Colorado Revised Statutes
Colorado Legislative History
- Statutory Annotations
- Check both sets
- Check all secondary sources and cases
- Session Laws
- Session law statement for bill number
- Look for changes in text
- Bill sponsors
- Red Book of comparative tables
- Colorado Office of Legislative Legal Services
- The non-partisan, in-house counsel for the Colorado General Assembly and writes laws, produces statutes, reviews administrative rules, comments on initiated measures, and serves as a resource of legislative information for the public.
- 303-866-2045
- Citators
- Colorado Legislative Council
- The Legislative Council, the non-partisan research arm of the Colorado General Assembly, provides staff support to legislative committees, responds to requests for research and constituent services; prepares fiscal notes; provides revenue projections; and performs other centralized legislative support services.
- In-depth task force reports
- Colorado Legislative Council Research Publications - Library Database
- Online Sources
- Westlaw
- Statutes Annotated - CO-ST-ANN
- Statutes Unannotated - CO-ST
- Statutes Table of Contents Service - TOC-CO-ST
- Statutes General Index - CO-ST-IDX
- Legislative Service - CO-LEGIS
- Legislative Service Historical - CO-LEGIS-OLD
- Annotated Statutes by year from 1989
- CO-STANN89
- CO-STANN90
- etc.
- Lexis
- Colorado Revised Statutes - COCODE
- COCODE Table of Contents - COTOC
- Colorado Advanced Legislative Service - GOALS
- Internet
- State Statutes
- Other State Statutes
- Tapes of Colorado Senate and House Debates and Floor Proceedings
- Newspapers
Colorado Constitutional Research
- Colorado Revised Statutes
- Colorado Revised Statutes
- Colorado Revised Statutes Annotated
- Statutes on Lexis
Colorado Bill Tracking
- Westlaw
- Summaries and Full Text Combined - CO-BILLS
- Summaries and Status - CO-BILLTRK
- Full Text - CO-BILLTXT
- Lexis
- Bill Tracking from current legislative session - COTRCK
- Bill Text from current legislative session - COTEXT
- Combined COTRCK and COTEXT - COBILL
- Internet
Local Municipal Codes
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The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.
~Frank Zappa ~
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It ain't no sin if you crack a few laws now and then, just so long as you don't break any.
~Mae West ~
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