PUBLIC LAWS

After a bill becomes law, it is sent to the National Archives and the Office of the Federal Register. The Office of the Federal Register assigns each enacted bill a Public Law Number and a United States Statutes-at-Large citation.   For example, the first law to pass during the 102^nd Congress is designated P.L.102-1. The first law passed during the 103^rd Congress is designated P.L. 103-1, and so forth.

Laws are initially published as slip laws. This is the first official printing of the law and is issued in pamphlet form by the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO).  The U.S. Statutes-at-Large are the official chronological accumulation of every law passed by Congress since 1789. Although Statutes at Large volumes are supposed to be issued at the close of each congressional session, publication usually lags by several years.  Therefore, when looking for recent slip laws in print, it is usually preferable to look in West Publishing's U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News ("USCCAN"), KF 48.W57, 9^th Floor.  USCCAN, while not the "official" version, generally publishes the full text of recently passed slip laws in its advance sheets within a few weeks of passage, and in any event much more quickly than in the Statutes at Large.  

The best way to search for recent slip laws is online, as slip laws are available online well before they are available in any print sources.  They can be found electronically on Westlaw and Lexis. Federal government web sites, such as GPO Access and Thomas, and the House of Representatives, will also have copies of recent slip laws.  

Public Laws are then codified (arranged by subject) in the United States Code. Commercial law publishers, such as West Publishing and Lexis Publishing, publish "unofficial" versions of the U.S. Code in the U.S. Code Annotated ("USCA") and U.S. Code Service ("USCS"), respectively. These commercial services can be particularly useful in that they cross-reference to other books issued by these publishers. These sets will also include references to case decisions, law review and journal articles, and other secondary sources such as ALRs and Legal Encyclopedias.

Full texts of Public Laws can be found online in the following sources:

• Lexis - USCS
• Westlaw - USCA
• Thomas - full texts for Public Laws from the 101^st Congress forward (1989 - present)
• GPO Access - full texts for Public Laws from the 104^th Congress forward (1995 - present)
• LexisNexis Congressional, (formerly Congressional Universe) from the Library's Electronic Resources page (accessible on campus or off campus with valid network ID and password), carries Public Laws from the 100^th Congress forward (1988 - present).