Finding Federal and
State Legislative
Material
Online and in the Library
University of Michigan Law Library
Lunch and Learn Series
Jocelyn Kennedy, Reference Librarian
U N I V E R S I T Y O F M I C H I G A N L AW L I B R A R Y
What we’ll cover
• FEDERAL MATERIALS
– Bills
– Congressional materials
– Slip Laws
– Statutes at Large
– US Code
– Adminsitrative Rules & Regulations
– Federal Register
– Code of Federal Regulations
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What else we’ll cover
• State Materials
– Bills
– Session Laws
– Codes
– Administrative materials
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For more information see these research guides:
http://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes.php
FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE MATERIALS
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How a Bill becomes a Law
http://images.vizworld.com/wp-
content/uploads/2010/06/howlawsmadeWIRTH2.jpg
See also: http://thomas.loc.gov/home/lawsmade.toc.html
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What is that citation?
• H.R. 1; S.B. 1 = House Resolution 1; Senate Bill
1
• OFFICIAL TITLE = Uniting and Strengthening
America by Providing Appropriate Tools
Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism
(USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001
• POPULAR NAME = USA PATRIOT ACT
– In most databases you can search by Bill Number,
Official Title or Popular Name.
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House & Senate Bills
• [Bills and resolutions] [microform] Microforms Micro-10 S502 Reference can assist you in filling out a microfiche request.
• Thomas
– Bills, public laws and legislation, complete government information,
library of historical documents; committee information, text of
Congressional Record. 1973 – present (older material may not be
complete).
• GPO Access
– Links to Federal legislative, executive and judicial publications and
websites with coverage primarily from 1993. Moving to a new url in
the next few months (Oct/Nov 2010). Content will be added
progressively.
• Westlaw CONG-BILLTXT[# of congress] (covers 104th-111th)
• Lexis BTX###(insert #of congress 104th-111th).
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Congressional Materials (floor debate, hearings,
reports, etc). (citations vary)
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FLOOR DEBATES: Congressional Record – daily record of activities on the House and
Senate Floor. Includes floor debate, reading of bills, committee referrals. Available in
West/Lexis and for free on Thomas & GPO Access.
COMMITTEE HEARINGS: Transcripts sometimes available. For most recent materials,
check the Committee’s website. May also find committee reports here.
Lexis-Nexis Congressional - Full-text Congressional information, including bills,
committee reports, hearings, public laws, floor debates, congressional member profiles,
the Congressional Record, CRS Reports, and news from the National Journal and
Congress Daily.
United States Congressional Serial Set - A collection of over 325,000 digitally scanned
congressional publications. Searchable by full-text or a number of fields. Includes House
and Senate reports, executive reports, documents; Senate treaty reports; and Senate
Treaty Documents. Part of Lexis-Nexis Congressional. Coverage from 1789-1969.
CIS microfiche library [microform] Micro-10 S516. Consult the CIS Index in the
reference collection: KF 49 .C62 to find documents.
USCANN – United States Code Congressional And Administrative News Contains laws, legislative
history, administrative regulations, lists of committees, proclamations, executive messages and orders.
SMITH KF 48 .W45
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Slip Laws -- Citation: P.L. 111-1 (the
first law of the 111th congress)
• Slip Laws a.k.a Public Laws are unbound
individual printings of each law created in a
particular Congress.
• CITATION FORMAT: P.L. 1-111
• Thomas Public Laws from 1973-present
• Public and private laws (Online) 1995-present
• Lexis-Nexis Congressional – select “Legislative
Histories, Bills & Laws”
• Lexis and Westlaw
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Statutes at Large (119 Stat. 3)
• First bound printing of public laws. Arranged
in volumes chronologically by year. Within a
volume arranged in order of passage into law.
• Statutes at Large Library (HeinOnline)
(through 2007)
• United States statutes at large [electronic
resource]. (GPO; LLMC Digital – through 2007)
• United States statutes at large. SMITH KF
50.U5x (through 2007)
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United States Code (US Code.;
U.S.C.A; U.S.C.S)
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United States Code (official) – Unannotated. Published every 6 years, staggered
role out.
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United States Code (HeinOnline)
Government Printing Office
Westlaw/Lexis
SMITH KF62 2006x
United States Code Annotated–Fewer cases, but more annotations. Updated.
– Westlaw - USCA database
– SMITH & Ref Coll KF62 1927 .W45
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United States Code Service (Lexis; GENFED; USCS database) –Includes crossreference table to the Code of Federal Regulations. More cases, fewer annotations.
Updated.
– Lexis – GENFED; USCS databases
– SMITH KF 62 .U553 1936x
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Detailed research guide available at: http://www.archives.gov/federalregister/tutorial/tutorial_080.pdf AND
http://www.loc.gov/law/help/administrative.php
FEDERAL REGULATIONS
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Administrative Materials – Federal
Rules and Regulations
eil.stanford.edu
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Federal Register (51 FR 345678)
• Official publication for rules, proposed rules, and
notices of Federal agencies and organizations.
Also contains executive orders and other
presidential documents. Published daily.
• Federal Register Library (HeinOnline)
• FDsys - Government Publications
• Federal register [microform]
• Lexis: GENFED;FEDREG database
• Westlaw: FR database
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Regulations.gov
• “U.S. government regulations from nearly 300
federal agencies.
• Search for a regulation such as a proposed rule, final
rule or Federal Register (FR) notice
• Submit a comment on a regulation or on another
comment
• Submit an application, petition or adjudication
document
• Sign up for e-mail alerts about a specific regulation
• Quickly access regulations that are popular, newly
posted or closing soon-directly from the homepage
• Subscribe to RSS feeds by agency of newly posted FR
notices”
http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#aboutUs
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Code of Federal Regulations (18 CFR
400)
• After the rule/regulatory making process, regulations
are codified in the Code of Federal Regulations.
• Use the CFR Index & Finding Aids to locate specific
federal regulations. Located at end of print run of the
C.F.R.
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Code of Federal Regulations (HeinOnline)
FDsys - Government Publications (1990-)
Ref Coll KF 70 .A3 C63x
Westlaw – CFR database
Lexis – GENFED; CFR databases.
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STATE MATERIALS
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State Bills
• Generally, current bills and bill status are
posted on each state legislature's home page.
(The National Conference of State Legislatures
posts links to all State Legislatures pages
(http://ncsl.org/pulic/sitesleg.htm).
• Westlaw [state abbreviation]-LEGIS
• Lexis [state abbreviation]-BILLTXT
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Session Laws
• May be available on state legislature’s
website.
• Session Laws (HeinOnline)
• West & Lexis – Look under state materials in
directory.
• Do a title search in UMLaw Catalog: “Session
Laws of American States and Territories” then
limit your search by state name.
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Other State Legislative Materials
• Varies by state.
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State Codes
• May be available on State website
• Available on Lexis/Westlaw
• Available in Print in the law library. Locate the
name of the code (Michigan Compiled Laws)
and do a title search in the catalog.
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State Administrative Materials
• May be available on State website – usually under the
Governor’s office OR state’s justice department website.
• Like the federal process, there is a state version of the
register (title varies by state).
• Like the federal process there is a state version of the
regulatory code (title varies by state).
• Westlaw Directory Location: All Databases > U.S. State
Materials > Administrative & Executive Materials
• Lexis - Legal > States Legal - U.S. > [state name] > Find
Statutes, Regulations, Administrative Materials & Court
Rules
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Questions?
• AskaLawLibrarian@umich.edu
• Chat With Us!
• Visit the Reference Desk 7 days a week 9amMidnight
• Set up a Research Consultation with a
Reference librarian by emailing:
AskaLawLibrarian@umich.edu
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