Tracking Current Federal Legislation and Regulations: A Guide to Resources

Publication Date: February 2007

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Education

Type:

Abstract:

This guide has been designed to introduce congressional staff to selected official government and commercial sources that are useful in tracking and obtaining background information and specific facts on the status of federal legislative or regulatory initiatives. By using a variety of these sources, congressional staff can track federal legislation and regulations.

Those who prefer weekly overviews would be interested in such commercial publications such as CQ Weekly, Newsweek, Time, and U.S. News and World Report. For daily coverage, helpful resources 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 GPO Access, LexisNexis, Westlaw, and the websites of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate are also 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 subject access to regulatory and legislative publications. Government sources such as the Legislative Resource Center, 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. Capsule descriptions of directories and other media sources are provided. Annotations for each source contain publisher contact information. This report will be updated as needed.

Additional information on tracking legislation for congressional offices is provided in CRS Report RL30796, Legislative Research in Congressional Offices: A Primer, and CRS Report RS20991, Legislative Planning: Considerations for Congressional Staff.