Subject Guides
Guide Contents
About Bills and Laws
A bill is a proposed law or a proposed amendment to an existing law, numbered consecutively for each Congress and chamber - H.R. 1; S. 1
Once the bill is passed by Congress and then either 1) signed by the President 2) vetoed by the President, but has the veto overridden by Congress or 3) passed by Congress, but is not acted on by the President for a specified by period of time - the bill becomes a Public Law. Public Laws are numbered by Congress, consecutively in the order they passed - P.L 105-322.
A legislative history of a Public Law can contain multiple bills, all which failed to pass the full Congress. A bill may be revised multiple times before becoming a law.
Sources for Bills
- ProQuest CongressionalFull-text of bills. Can be searched by bill number, public law number, sponsor, and keywords. Contains links to related full-text, when available.
- GovInfoUse Congressional Bills to find full-text of bills. Search by bill number or keyword. 1993-present.
- Congress.govBills and Resolutions, Congressional Record, Committee Reports, House Committee Live Streams, Presidential Nominations, and Treaties. (Replaces Thomas.gov)
Sources for Laws
- Congress.govSearch by Public Law number for full-text of laws (1993-present).. Also includes bills and Resolutions, Congressional Record, Committee Reports, House Committee Live Streams, Presidential Nominations, and Treaties. (Replaces Thomas.gov)
- LegislinkAll Statutes at Large 1787 to present. Search by SAL, Public Law, and US Code citations
- ProQuest CongressionalFull-text of laws from 1987 to the present. Can be searched by bill number, public law number, sponsor, and keywords. Contains links to related full-text, when available. ProQuest Congressional is a comprehensive collection of historic and current congressional information. Includes the full text of congressional publications, finding aids, a bill tracking service, and the full text of public laws.
- United States Statutes at Large
Full-text of all public laws, arranged by public law number. Before a law appears in these volumes, it can be found in the Slip Laws, located in Docs AE 2.110: public law number (example: Docs AE 2:110: 109-103).- Proquest Congressional
, 1789 - Present. - Bartle KF 50 .U55, 1789- present
- Online at FDsys, Statues at Large, 1951-2011
- Online at American Memory, Library of Congress, 1789-1875
- Online at Congress.gov, 1993-present
- Online at Legislink.org, all public laws
- Proquest Congressional
- United States Code (U.S.C.) (Docs Y 1.2/5:)
Official codification of the general and permanent U.S. laws in force. Laws are consolidated into fifty titles arranged by subject. Includes subject, name, and popular name index. Updated every six years with annual supplements containing changes to the laws since the last edition. Online edition started in 1996.- Online at FDsys, 1994-
- Online at Office of the Law Revision Counsel
- U.S. Code Classification Tables - shows were recently enacted laws will appear in the U.S.C
, 1789 - Present.Tools
- Shepard's Acts and Cases by Popular Names (Bartle Ref KF 80 .S5)
If you do not know the public law number, and you only know a law by its popular or common name, it may be difficult to locate. This book will help you determine its legal name and public law number.
- CIS Annual Legislative Histories (UDC Ref JK 1001 .C79), 1984-2003
This set contains the legislative histories of all laws for this time period, so if it missing in ProQuest Congressional, look for it here. This set will provide you will the citations for bills, but no the full-text. The Index provides a subject/title index as well. Useful for locating public law numbers.
- U.S. Code Congressional & Administrative News (Bartle Ref K U5 U6), 1969-2001
Use the tables in front to determine public law numbers, US Statues at Large reference, and more.
Search Tips: If all you need is a public law number, and you are certain you know the full name of your law, you can do a simple Internet search for "name of your public law" +PL and see if that brings up your Public Law number.
Also be aware that you may be looking for a much longer title that what a law is commonly known by. For example, "The Violence Against Women Act, is actually part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, PL 103-322. If you suspect his might be the case, use a source that will help you identify the formal name of the law, such as Shepard's Acts and Cases by Popular Names.
