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Tracking the Status of a Bill
Specialized Research #6 -- Dorraine Zief Law Library Handout
Contents
There are various ways to check the status of pending Federal
and California legislation -- with books, the telephone, the Internet, or LEXIS/WESTLAW.
Knowing the bill (or resolution) number is very helpful, but
most of these resources allow for subject or key word searching as well.
If you have questions specific to your project, please see a
reference librarian.
Federal Legislation
In Print
Use the Congressional Index. (Chicago, Commerce
Clearing House., 1937/38- ) KF 49 .C6 LAW REFERENCE (with earlier editions (from
1969) in LAW COMPACT STORAGE).
Check the "Status of Senate Bills" section or the "Status
of House Bills" section in the appropriate volume. A subject index is also
available.
By Phone
Call (202) 225-1772 with the bill number in question.
Via Internet, using the Library of Congress "THOMAS"
site
Go to http://thomas.loc.gov/
and follow the "Bill Summary &Status" links. Detailed status information,
with links to the text of amendments and the Congressional Record,
is available beginning with the 101st Congress (1989-90). Basic status information
is available beginning with the 93rd Congress (1973-74). You can retrieve status information by bill number, key word,
subject, type of legislation, sponsor, committee, or stage in the legislative
process.
The standard format for bill number searches is: s. 1 or
h.r. 1
Via LEXIS
Source: "Bill Tracking Report - Current Congress"
(LEGIS;BLTRCK).
Search by key word or bill number. Sample bill number searches:
- cite("h.r. 100") -- [to find House bills]
- cite("s. 100") -- [to find Senate bills]
Sources are available for prior Congresses beginning with the 101st. Source
names follow the pattern "Congressional Bill Tracking Reports - 106th Congress"
(LEGIS;BLT106).
Via WESTLAW
Select the US-BILLTRK database (for the current Congress).
Search by key word or bill number. Sample bill number searches:
- cite("h.b. 1") -- [to find House bills]
- cite("s.b. 1") -- [to find Senate bills]
For prior Congresses, beginning with the 102nd, use the BILLTRK-OLD database.
A typical search would be:
- prelim("united states") and cite("h.b. 1")
[Return to Contents]
California Legislation
In Print
Check Assembly Weekly History or Senate Weekly
History. These sources are organized by bill number. They also cover
resolutions and proposed Constitutional amendments.
A separate Legislative Index and a Table of
[Code] Sections Affected are also available. (The current year's versions
of these resources are in pamphlet boxes on ranges 115A - 116A in the California
Collection.)
By Phone
Call (916) 445-3753 with the bill number in question.
Select "Bill
Information" (http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html).
Select a session (from 1993-94 to date), then search by bill
number, key word or author. (Your search retrieves status and history information,
as well as all versions of the bill and all available committee analyses.)
For pending bills, you can request an e-mail update whenever
the legislature acts on the bill. Select the "subscribe" link while
viewing the bill information.
(In addition to status and history information, searches retrieve
all versions of the bill and all available committee analyses.)
Via LEXIS
Source: "CA Bill Tracking Reports" (CAL;CATRCK) (for
the current session).
Search by key word or bill number. Sample bill number searches:
- cite("a.b. 1") -- [to find Assembly bills]
- cite("s.b. 1") -- [to find Senate bills]
Via WESTLAW
Select the CA-BILLTRK database (for the current session).
Search by key word or bill number. Sample bill number searches:
- cite("s.b. 1") -- [to find Senate bills]
- cite("a.b. 1") -- [to find Assembly bills]
For prior years, beginning with 1991, use the BILLTRK-OLD database. A typical
search would be:
- state(ca) and cite("a.b. 1")
[Return to Contents]
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