How a bill becomes a law (and the documentation it leaves behind)

Let's start with a rousing chorus of "I'm Just a Bill."

"I became a bill"
When a bill is introduced in Congress, it appears in the Congressional Record, which is a record (but not a verbatim transcript) of what happened in each house of Congress that day.

Once a bill has been introduced, it can be tracked on the Thomas website using the Bill Summary and Status feature. Thomas (named after Jefferson) is a user-friendly tool provided by the Library of Congress.

"I'm stuck in committee"
The committee may hold hearings about a bill (often, but not always, released as hearing transcripts), request research about a bill (sometimes published as a committee print), accept research from other organizations including the executive branch (published as Congressional Documents), and issue a report (which can be accessed through Thomas) if the bill is sent back to the House or Senate for a vote. Amendments, debates, and votes on the floor of Congress are all covered in the Congressional Record.

"I'm off to the White House"
When a President signs a bill into law, he usually has things to say about it. These remarks are available in the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents.

"Now you're a law!"
The law is published a few days after it is enacted in a pamphlet called a Slip law. The Slip laws are accumulated for each congressional session and published in chronological order in a book called Statutes at Large. The distinction between these two documents is lost on-line where one can simply search for a Public Law on Thomas which will link to the full text of the law on the GPO Acess site.

Currently active laws are published in the U.S. Code. This compilation of laws is arranged by 50 subject categories called Titles.

(And soon you'll be a regulation)
After a bill is signed into law, it continues to generate documents in the form of regulations written by the executive agency charged with implementing the law. Proposed regulations are published in the Federal Register every weekday. A period of time is specified for public comment regarding the new regulations. The final regulations are also initially published in the Federal Register.

Final regulations are ultimately compiled by subject into the Code of Federal Regulations. The on-line version of the CFR is most easily accessed through Cornell's Code of Federal Regulations page.
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