Bill Tracking in the United States

Tracking the status of current federal legislation and regulations is often viewed
as a tough task requiring a vast library of costly resources, in-depth knowledge of the
issues, and strong familiarity with the federal government’s inner workings. This is
not necessarily so. Although access to sophisticated databases and comprehensive
knowledge of the federal government may help, it is possible for most constituents
to follow an issue by using a variety of resources available locally. The scope of the
issue will determine how complicated and time-consuming the process will be.

Those who prefer
weekly overviews would be interested in such publications as CQ Weekly, the Weekly
Compilation of Presidential Documents, Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News and World
Report. For daily coverage, helpful printed sources are the Congressional Record,
CQ Today (formerly CQ Daily Monitor), the Federal Register, the New York Times,
the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. Databases
such as THOMAS, GPO Access, the websites of the U.S. House of Representatives
and the U.S. Senate, LexisNexis, and WESTLAW would also be useful.
The Code of Federal Regulations, the Index to the Code of Federal Regulations,
and the CIS/Index to Publications of the United States Congress provide access by
subject to regulatory and legislative publications. The Capitol
Hill’s bill status office, the White House’s office of the executive clerk, and the
office of the Federal Register can give brief information on legislative and regulatory
developments too new to have been captured by standard online or printed sources.

CQ Weekly is a commercial publication that tracks the status of current
legislation.
Since some current legislation amends previously enacted law, it may be
necessary at times to consult the earlier laws in the United States Statutes at Large
or the United States Code.

References: Federal | Compiled | ERISA and History Notes | Bill Tracking | Legislative History Citations

Congressional Record

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the U.S. Congress. Action on legislation passed or pending in the current Congress, and its status in the legislative process, is reported in the Congressional Record. This is the primary source for the text of floor debates and the official source for recorded votes.

It is divided among four parts:

the Daily Digest: this part summarizes any House or Senate activity taken (e.g., bills introduced), committee meetings, and joint meetings
the House section: offers more lengthy information (in details) on any activity in relation to bills,
the Senate section: offers more lengthy information (in details) on any activity in relation to bills, and
Extension of Remarks.

The Congressional Record contains the edited transcript of activities on the
floor of the House and the Senate. The “Daily Digest” section summarizes action in
each chamber; committee hearings; new public laws; and committee meetings
scheduled for the next legislative day. Indexes are issued twice a month. The subject
index section can be used to identify bills by topic, and the “History of Bills and
Resolutions” section tracks action on specific bills. The indexes, which are available
online, are eventually cumulated into bound volumes.

CQ Roll Call

http://corporate.cqrollcall.com/

Bill texts, summaries, tracking, and analysis are provided in this database.
Among its other features are forecasts of major pending bills; versions of bills; links
to related bills; roll-call votes; legislative histories; floor and committee schedules;
detailed committee coverage; texts of committee reports; transcripts of witnesses’
testimony; and publications such as the CQ Weekly, CQ Today (formerly CQ Daily
Monitor), the Congressional Record, and the Federal Register. Among CQ.com’s
access points are bill number, keyword, phrase, Member name, and date. Time spans
covered vary by the category of information sought. Only CQ.com subscribers can
access this system on the Internet.

It had the following products:

CQ Today (formerly CQ Daily Monitor): In the past, CQ Today was a subscription newsletter provides daily news on Congress, such as planned
floor action for the Senate and the House, bill and amendment descriptions, and
notices of bill markup sessions and conference negotiations. Also, daily and selected
future committee schedules were given. Significant sections were the “Pulse of
Congress,” with behind-the-scenes information on Members and committees;
“People on the Move,” which highlighted congressional staff changes; and the
“Appropriations” section, which appeared during the appropriations cycle.
Subscribers also received an afternoon e-mail newsletter, CQ Today Extra, with the
day’s latest news about Congress and updated information on the next day’s
congressional schedule.

CQ Weekly

This weekly summary of congressional action and developments contained status
tables for appropriations bills and other major legislation, roll-call vote charts for
both chambers, and topical treatments of committee and floor actions. Most issues
had articles that provide current and background information on legislative topics.
Occasionally, special reports were printed. Quarterly indexes were issued, and the
annual Congressional Quarterly Almanac was a comprehensive review of the year’s
legislative session.

CQ.com is its signature online legislative tracking service, covering and analyzing every legislative action in Congress.

OpenCongress

OpenCongress.org is a free, nonpartisan project of the Participatory Politics Foundation and the Sunlight Foundation. One of the best features of OpenCongress is their parsing of bill texts so that users can link to a specific section within a bill and also comment on a specific section.

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)

The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) codifies final regulations having
general applicability and legal effect that first appeared in the Federal Register. Its
50 titles are arranged by subject. Since the annual revision incorporates new
regulations and drops superseded ones, the CFR reflects regulations in effect at the
time of printing. Several indexes and tables accompany the set.

MapLight

MapLight is a nonpartisan research organization that reveals money’s influence on politics in the Congress and in the California and Wisconsin state legislatures. The site provides transparency tools that connect data on campaign contributions, politicians, legislative votes, industries, companies, and more to show patterns of influence never before possible to see. Using the information, readers may gain insights into how campaign contributions affect policy in the United States.

Federal Register (FR)

The Federal Register (FR) is the official announcement of regulations and legal
notices issued by federal departments and agencies. These include proposed and
final federal regulations having general applicability and legal effect; executive
orders and presidential proclamations; documents required to be published by act of
Congress; and other federal documents of public interest. It also updates the CFR.
Daily and monthly indexes, and an accompanying publication, List of CFR Sections
Affected, aid in its use.
The Register also publishes the “Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and
Deregulatory Actions” twice a year (usually in April and October). This document
provides advance notice of proposed rulemaking by listing all rules and proposed
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rules that more than 60 federal departments, agencies, and commissions expect to
issue during the next six months. Regulations that concern the military or foreign
affairs, or that deal only with agency personnel, organization, or management
matters, are excluded. The agenda is available online from 1994 through the present
at [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/ua/index.html], and can be searched by subject,
agency, and Code of Federal Regulations part number.

Office of Management and Budget’s “Regulatory Matters” Web Page

[http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg/regpol.html]
Reviewing proposed and final federal regulations is the job of the Office of
Management and Budget’s (OMB’s) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
(OIRA), which focuses on cost-benefit analysis. Information on regulations that
OIRA is reviewing or has reviewed during the past 30 days can be found on the
“Regulatory Matters” page of the OMB website at the Web address given above.
Also available is data on rules reviewed by the agency since 1981.

THOMAS

THOMAS is a Web-based source of congressional and legislative information
on the Internet. Initiated by the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives in
the 104th Congress, it is available free to Internet users through the Library of
Congress website at [http://thomas.loc.gov].
Among the contents of THOMAS are the following categories, with the starting
coverage date for each given within the parentheses:
! full texts of bills (101st Congress/1989);
! bill summary and status information (93rd Congress/1973);
! full texts of public laws (101st Congress/1989);
! committee reports (104th Congress/1995);
! House roll-call votes (101st Congress, second session/1990);
! Senate roll-call votes (101st Congress/1989);
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! full text of the Congressional Record (101st Congress/1989);
! Congressional Record Index (101st Congress/1989);
! Résumés of Congressional Activity (80th Congress/1947);
! House “Days in Session” calendars (94th Congress/1975); and
! Senate “Days in Session” calendars (95th Congress, second session/
1978).
Also provided are links to two congressional publications that explain the steps
of the legislative process — the House’s How Our Laws Are Made and the Senate’s
Enactment of a Law.

United States Government Manual

Widely known as the federal government’s official handbook of departments,
agencies, boards, committees, and commissions, the United States Government
Manual provides citations to each body’s legislative or executive authority.
“Appendix B: Federal Executive Agencies Terminated, Transferred, or Changed in
Name Subsequent to March 4, 1933” provides citations to the authority that caused
an agency’s demise, transfer, or name change. An alphabetical list of federal
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agencies and departments that appear in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR),
including general information on the CFR titles, subtitles, or chapters in which they
are located, is provided in “Appendix C: Agencies Appearing in the Code of Federal
Regulations.”

Tracking Federal Regulations

Regulations are issued by federal departments and agencies under the authority
delegated to them by federal law or presidential executive order and have the force
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of law. Final regulations are printed in the Federal Register (FR) and later codified
by subject in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). By using these two sources
with their many indexes and tables, it is possible to identify all existing regulations
in a subject area or pertaining to a specific section of the United States Code, identify
regulations issued pursuant to a specific public law, or find proposed regulations that
are not yet final.
The Federal Regulatory Directory describes the regulatory responsibilities of
more than 100 federal agencies, and the Index to the Code of Federal Regulations
provides indexing to the CFR.

Regulations.gov

[http://www.regulations.gov]
This website was launched by the federal government in 2003 to enhance public
participation in federal regulatory activities. Here, people can search and view
proposed regulations from about 160 federal departments and agencies. Also, every
entry links to a comment form that readers can complete and submit to the
appropriate department or agency. Regulations.gov is updated each business day
with proposed new regulations. Among the database’s search options are:
! keyword or subject;
! department or agency name;
! regulations published today;
! comments due today;
! open regulations or comments by publication dates; and
! Code of Federal Regulations citation.

Web Aids

The following Internet sites provide access to guides to sources on federal
legislative and regulatory activities or to Web-based instruction on conducting
research in these areas:
Legislative Information [http://www.mnsfld.edu/depts/lib/bills.html]
Legislative Research
with THOMAS
[http://www.mnsfld.edu/depts/lib/mythomas.html]
Legislative Research [http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/softwarebi]
Public Policy Matrix [http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/polproc.html]
U.S. Government
Documents: The
Legislative Process
[http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/indiv/dsc/legproc.html]
Federal Regulations [http://www.mnsfld.edu/depts/lib/fedregs.html]
Federal Regulations [http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/library/Finding_the_Law/
Guides_by_Topic/fedregs.htm]
RegInfo.gov [http://reginfo.gov/]

Bill Tracking