Finding
US and Michigan Laws
| By: |
William S. Cramer
Assistant Professor
Government Documents Coordinator & Special Collections
|
Phone: (248)
370-2480
E-mail: wcramer@oakland.edu |
Ask A Librarian
Feel free to call, email, chat, or stop by the reference desk if you have questions. |
FINDING
U.S. BILLS AND RESOLUTIONS
As a depository library for United States government documents,
Kresge Library provides access to all bills and resolutions
introduced in the U.S. Congress (both the Senate and the House
of Representatives). These are presently received in electronic
format. The current congress as well as a number of preceding
congresses can be found by entering "Senate Bills", "House
Bills", etc. as titles in the library's Catalog. In
addition, Congressional bills for the current Congressional
session as well as some preceding congresses can be found
on the following websites: GPO
Access; or Thomas
at the Library of Congress. Bills and resolutions for the
97th through 106th congresses are in microfiche format housed
in file cabinets in the north wing of the main floor of Kresge
Library and are classified according to the Superintendent
of Documents scheme, as follows:
| Senate Bills |
Y 1.4/1: |
| Senate Resolutions |
Y 1.4/2: |
| Senate Joint Resolutions |
Y 1.4/3: |
| Senate Concurrent Resolutions |
Y 1.4/4: |
| House Bills |
Y 1.4/6: |
| House Resolutions |
Y 1.4/7: |
| House Joint Resolutions |
Y 1.4/8: |
| House Concurrent Resolutions |
Y 1.4/9: |
If the bill or resolution number is known, the appropriate
microfiche easily can be located by using the Cumulative
Finding Aid (Docs. GP 3.28:) that is kept on
top of the microfiche files holding the bills. This source
gives the microfiche piece number on which the bill or resolution
can be found (the bills are arranged numerically on each piece
of microfiche).
FINDING UNITED STATES LAWS
Once a bill or resolution is signed by the President, it
becomes public law. Kresge Library initially receives these
laws electronically via GPO
Access. At a later date the library receives
all passed laws in a bound set of volumes entitled United
States Statutes at Large (Docs. AE 2.111:).
Laws also eventually become codified (i.e., in-force laws
arranged by subject) in the United States Code,
which is available both electronically via GPO
Access or in hard copy in the government documents
collection (Docs. Y1.2/5).
FINDING MICHIGAN LAWS
Kresge Library does not receive the bills introduced in the
Michigan Legislature, but bills introduced during the most
recent two congresses are available on the Michigan
Legislature web site. A link to this site is
also provided on the Documents
Center web page, available from the library's
home page. The library does receive copies of legislation
which has been passed into law. These are compiled annually
in volumes entitled Public and Local Acts of the
Legislature of the State of Michigan (Mich. Docs.
KFM 4225 .A23, 2nd floor, north wing). The codified set of
Michigan law, accessible through the use of a subject index,
is called Michigan Compiled Laws Annotated
(Ref. KFM 4230 .1948 A44, 2nd floor, south wing). In addition,
Michigan Compiled Laws Online and the
most recent public laws are available on the same Michigan
Legislature web site.
BC:mj.1/12/93;
rev. 1/19/04
Created on 1/12/93 by William S. Cramer,
/ Last updated on
2/4/13 by
Marilyn Jereau