WSU Library: Laws and Regs, Federal

LAWS AND REGULATIONS, FEDERAL


Laws
Regulations
Specific Topics


Descriptions of the Links

Public Laws

  • From Thomas (Library of Congress)
  • Thomas uses its database of Bill Status and Summary information to provide information on Public Laws from 1973 to the present. However, the full texts of the laws are only available from 1995 (104th Congress) to the present (same as GPO Access). The interface is easier to navigate and is more richly hyperlinked than GPO Access, but Thomas does not allow Boolean keyword searching of the full text of the laws, as GPO Access does. The text is in HTML format.

  • Search FDSys (Government Printing Office)
  • GPO Access allows you to search for terms and phrases in the full text of Public Laws since 1995 (the 104th Congress). To get to a specific collection in FDSys, click on either Advanced Search or Retrieve by Citation, and then specify the collection, such as public laws.

  • FDSys Browse Public Laws (Government Printing Office)
  • This interface allows you to view a Public Law if you know its Public Law number (ex. Pub. L. 105-12) for laws from 1995 (the 104th Congress) to the present. The text can be downloaded as an ASCII text (able to be used in word processors) or in PDF format (gives the look of the originally published pages). PDF requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader (available free on the Internet).

    U.S. Code

  • From Cornell's LII (Legal Information Institute)
  • This richly hyperlinked version allows keyword searching, browsing by title, and access via a hyperlinked popular name table. The version is the most recent version available to from the House of Representatives. The text is provided in HTML format with linked cross references. One can search for parallel authority references in the Code of Federal Regulations. The site uses frames.

  • From the Internet Law Library (U.S. House of Representatives)
  • Search this version of the U.S. Code by keyword, title and section, or by cross Reference. The text is provided in ASCII text format. Also at this site: classification tables (not hyperlinked) that translate Pub.L. sections to USC sections. The version is the most recent available (supplements are added, so that you only see the current codification).

  • FDSys search by citation (Government Printing Office)
  • GPO Access allows you to search for terms and phrases in the full text of the U.S. Code. The 1994 version and the Annual Supplements are separate databases. To search by special features (such as by Public Law number), see its

    The U.S. Constitution

  • Original Text (Cornell's Legal Information Institute)
  • The basic text in HTML format. There are hyperlinks from the main text to any amendments that have altered the standing of the original article.

  • Annotated (long) (Government Printing Office)
  • The text of the constitution with annotations to court opinions that have articulated the legal meaning of the original text. The text can be searched by keyword or browsed by Table of Contents. There is an index and Table of Cases, but they are not hyperlinked for convenience. The text can be downloaded as an ASCII text or in PDF format.

    Federal Register

    Regulations are rules established by Executive branch agencies. Rules and proposed rules are announced in the Federal Register, and are codified in the Code of Federal Reulation (CFR).

  • Federal Register 2.0 (National Archives and Records Administration)
  • The Federal Register website from the Office of the Federal Register.

  • Browse the Federal Register at FDSys (Government Printing Office)
  • This site allows users to browse the Federal Register by date and section. To search FR, use the Federal Register 2.0 site above.

  • Regulations.gov (Government Printing Office)
  • This site allows people to email in comments on proposed Federal Rules and Regulations.

  • GovPulse.us (WestEd?)
  • This site organizes the contents of the federal register differently than either GPO Access or Regulations.gov. By making the Federal Register more searchable, more accessible and easier to digest, GovPulse seeks to encourage every citizen to become more involved in the workings of their government and make their voice heard on the things that matter to them, from the smallest to the largest issues.

    Code of Federal Regulations

  • From the Legal Information Institute Cornell University
  • The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the collection of regulations that are currently in force. This version of the CFR can be browsed or searched. The interface to locate sections is friendlier than in GPO Access. However, the LII search engine only indexes the section headings in the CFR, not the full text as GPO Access does. It retrieves sections in context. In other words you not only get sections whose headings contain your search terms but also those related sections in the same part of the Code. The text is the GPO Access text, available in both ASCII text and PDF format.

  • FDSys CFR (Government Printing Office)
  • This interface allows one to find CFR texts by volume and section.

  • List of CFR Sections Affected (Government Printing Office)
  • The List of CFR Sections Affected (LSA) contains new and amended Federal regulations that have been published in the Federal Register recently. One first specifies how recent the changes are in which one is interested, and then you select the CFR section about which you want to see changes.

  • Unified Agenda (Office of Management and Budget)
  • The Unified Agenda, also known as the Semiannual Regulatory Agenda, is published in the Federal Register twice a year, usually in April and October. It summarizes the rules and proposed rules that each agency expects to issue during the following 12 months. This version, from the Regulatory Information Service Center at the OMB, allows one to search the titles and abstracts of regulations, or browse table of contents or indexes. The link here takes the user to the search screen. To get to the table of contents, click on the "Unified Agenda" link on the upper menu bar, and then click on the "Current Plan" link.

    Specific Topics

  • Federal Acquisitions Regulations (FAR)
  • Federal Acquisitions Regulations tell how to sell products to the U.S. Government (Except for the Defense Department, which has separate regulations.) This version is available in HTML format (without cross references hyperlinked) and in PDF. Also links to copies of the forms and to Federal Acquisitions Circulars.

  • Administrative Decisions(University of Virginia)
  • This site provides access to administrative actions which are outside the scope of the CFR or the FR. It links to texts available on agency servers, rather than having the texts on a server at Virginia. The site uses frames. The links are not always current.

  • Freedom of Information Act (Society of Professional Journalists)
  • A site with a broad range of links relating to the Freedom of Information Act. It has Federal Agency contacts, State contacts and access laws, and a legal briefs index.

  • Historical Legal Documents (Winona State University)
  • Our own page of links to historical documents collections, such as the Avalon project and the Library of Congress's "Century of Lawmaking".

  • Immigration (Information Technology Associates)
  • A privately maintained site with resources related to immigration into the United States. The texts are available in a number of different languages. A number of FAQs are available, including for foreign students in the US.

  • Military Justice: Uniform Code (Legal Information Institute, Cornell)
  • This Uniform Code of Military Justice is just Title 10, Chapter 47 of the US Code, as provided by the Legal Information Institute at Cornell. The site uses frames. The text is in HTML format.

  • Native American Tribal Law (Oklahoma University and the National Indian Law Library)
  • This site contains the constitutions and legal codes for a number of Native American tribes. There are some historical constitutions, and a review of U.S. Supreme Court decisions for the last five years pertinent to American Indians.

  • OMB Circulars (Office of Management and Budget)
  • This site contains OMB documents, including circulars which contain OMB rules. These circulars may have been in the Federal Register at one time, but this site allows one stop shopping for them. This site also has recent OMB submissions to the Federal Register and other budget related administration documents.