How Federal Statutes Are Made
Current Federal Statutes
Statutes are laws passed by the legislature. Federal statutes are published in the United States Code (USC), available from:
- United States Code (House.gov)Current United States Code, provided by the U.S. House of Representatives.
- United States Code (govinfo)United States Code from 1994 to the present, provided by the U.S. Government Publishing Office.
- United States Code (CLII)Unofficial version of current United States Code, provided by the Cornell Legal Information Institute.
- Table of Popular Names (CLII)Look up federal statutes by popular name (e.g. Americans with Disabilities Act)
Federal Legislative History Materials
To find information on proposed statutes or background on how a statute was passed, try these resources:
- Bills and Statutes (govinfo)Statutes at Large since 1951, Public Laws since 1995, and bills since 1993, provided by the U.S. Government Publishing Office.
- Congress.govOfficial Congressional website providing information and full text for bills and public laws since 1993. Also provides the Congressional Record since 1995, member biographies and voting records, and a summary of the legislative process.
- GovTrack.usUnofficial website that provides information on current bills. Information is pulled from Congress.gov, then enhanced with more sophisticated browsing features and contextual information. See especially the features to browse bills by subject and U.S. code section.