LEGISLATIVE LAW

1. LEGISLATIVE LAW • LEGAL INFORMATION AND ACCESS SERVICES • SLIS 5647 • UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS SCHOOL OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCES • Dr. Yvonne J. Chandler, • Assistant Professor

2. CHECKS & BALANCE SYSTEM OF AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

3. The United States Constitution is the basic fundamental law upon which all other laws - federal, state, or local - refer to and cannot contradict. The Constitution sets out the basic procedures, rights, and responsibilities of government and the fundamental rights of the governed.

4. UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION • Unlike other legal sources of law that are constantly being changed, revised, or updated with new policy information, the Constitution is difficult to change to assure no significant changes are made without broad agreement by all citizens.

5. PUBLICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION • Officially published in the United States Code. • Most available sources are annotated editions in the Constitution volumes of the United States Code Annotated published by West Publishing Company or in the United States Code Service published by Lawyers Co-Operative • Also available in the Congressional Research Service Set and Black’s Law Dictionary

6. INTERNET ACCESS TO THE CONSTITUTION • The Annotated Constitution - U. S. Senate - http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate/constitution/toc.html • Constitution of the U. S. - National Archives & Records Administration - http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/constitution/conmain.html • The Constitution Society - Founding Documents - http://www.constitution.org/cs_found.htm

7. INTERNET ACCESS TO THE CONSTITUTION • Constitutional Law Materials - Cornell University http://www.law.cornell.edu:80/constitution/constitution.overview.html • U. S. Founding Documents - Emory University http://www.law.emory.edu/FEDERAL/usconst.html

8. STATE CONSTITUTIONS • The text of the constitutions of most states are published in the codes of the states, usually with annotations as well as text of previous constitutions. • States also publish their constitutions directly to the Internet. • FindLaw State Constitutions - http://www.findlaw.com/11stategov/indexconst.html • Know Your Constitutional Rights! - Constitutions of the U.S. - http://www.harbornet.com/rights/states.html • Legal Materials From the Fifty States, & D.C. • - Cornell University School of Lawhttp://www.law.cornell.edu/states/

9. Judicial Branch Legislative Branch Executive Branch Cases and Opinions Statutes or Laws Enacted by Federal and State Legislatures Administrative Rules and Regulations Primary Law Created in Three Branches of Government

10. Judiciary Branch Legislative Branch Executive Branch Interpretation of laws known as Common Law or Case Law found in court opinions Federal and State Legislatures create legislative enactments or statutory law by passing bills, which become law when signed by the executive (Pres. or Gov.) Administrative Rules and Regulations created by agencies carry the force of law. Agencies can also act in a judicial capacity handing down decisions THREE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT MAKE LAW

11. ORIGIN OF LEGISLATION • THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH THROUGH THE PRESIDENT, HIS STAFF, OR ONE OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENTS OR AGENCIES • BY INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF CONGRESSES • BY SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS

12. INFLUENCES ON LEGISLATION • Understanding of the "original intent" or impetus of legislation allows legal researcher to go the real source of the idea for the statute or law. Influences on legislation may include: • Scholastic works or research • Laws of other states • Input from lobbyists for interested parties or constituencies • Political party philosophy, special interests, or practicality • Other governmental levels; e.g., the President, administrative departments or agencies, other states

13. TYPES OF LEGISLATION • BILLS (PUBLIC OR • PRIVATE) • JOINT • RESOLUTIONS • CONCURRENT • RESOLUTIONS • SIMPLE • RESOLUTIONS

14. PUBLIC OR PRIVATE BILLS or LAWS • PUBLIC LAWS: Affects the nation as a whole or deals with individuals as a class and relates to public matters • PRIVATE LAWS: Benefits only a specific individual or individuals, usually deal with matters relating to claims against the government or immigration and naturalization

15. RESOLUTIONS • Joint Resolutions - Used for constitutional amendments. After passage resolutions are sent directly to the Administrator of General Services. Designated H.J.Res. Followed by assigned individual number • Concurrent Resolutions- Used to address matters affecting the operations of both Houses. Designated as H.Con.Res. Followed by assigned individual number (Not Sent tot he President for Action) • Simple Resolutions - Used for matters addressing either the House or Senate. Designated as H. Res. Followed by its number. (Not sent to the President for action)

16. SCHOOLHOUSE ROCKI'm Just a Bill • How a Bill Becomes a Law • http://genxtvland.simplenet.com/SchoolHouseRock/song.hts?hi+bill

17. The Legislative Process • The process by which a bill becomes law is very complex, and indeed there are many paths that a bill might take to becoming a law. • LEGI-SLATEhttp://www.legislate.com/d/ddlegpr1.htm

18. PUBLICATION OF LAWS • Slip Law - First official publication of a law. Separately published • Session Law - Statutes at Large - All slip laws enacted during a year, numerically ordered since 1789.dification • U. S. Code - Laws arranged into fifty titles. • Annotated Codes - U. S. Code Service or U.S. Code Annotated -

19. SESSION LAWS • SESSION LAWS - Laws in chronological order as passed and signed. Advance session law services provide access: • United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN) • U. S. Code Service • U. S. Law Week - http://www.bna.com/mkt/leg/a.LW.html • U. S. Session Laws are bound together in the Statutes At Large

20. STATUTES AT LARGE • Session laws published in the Statutes at Largeare cited by the Congress enacting the legislation and numbered sequentially. • Public Law 88-190 (P.L. 88-190) • Congressional Session 88 • Numerical Order of • Enactment 190

21. ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO PUBLIC LAWS • Session or Public Laws are available from LEXIS, WESTLAW and on the Internet • Thomas - http://thomas.loc.gov - 93rd (1973-1974) through 105th (1997-98) • Thomas - Major Legislation 105th Congress - http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d105/hot-titl.html • GPO Access - http://www.access.gpo.gov /nara /nara005.html - 105th Congress (1997-98) and 104th Congress (1995-96)

22. ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO PUBLIC LAWS • Session or Public Laws avail. continued • Library of Congress Information System (LOIS) - http://www.lcweb.loc.gov/homepage/ more.html#locis • University of California GPO Gate - http://www.gpo.ucop.edu:80/search/publaw.htm • 105th Congress (1997-98) and 104th Congress (1995-96) • ALSO! - American Law Sources Online - Popular Names of Significant New Laws from the 104th and 105th Congresses http://www.lawsource.com/also/usa.cgi?usp0

23. SESSION LAWSWhy Codify! • When laws are enacted by the legislative body they are presented only in chronological order. • Laws are not passed in any subject matter order • The first act is not necessarily related to the second in any way other than sequence of passage

24. SESSION LAWS Why Codify! • If the legislature passes 50 acts a year it is not possible to determine the subject matter by its number or its position • The information seeking behavior of users of legal information resources tends to organized legal matters into subject matter groups; torts, contracts, criminal law

25. SESSION LAWS Why Codify! • It would be necessary to review each act individually or review a detailed table of contents to ascertain the subject matter of each law. • One piece of legislation may discuss many subject matters

26. SESSION LAWS Why Codify! • It is not possible to tell by act number if it is a new piece of legislation or an amendment because statutes are amended by adding new statutes. • Some organization is necessary.

27. STATUTORY CODES • Laws arranged in subject or topical arrangement are published in the official government publication - • U. S. Code - the official codification of general and permanent federal law. • The code is kept current by pocket parts.

28. DEVELOPMENT OF CODIFICATION BY WEST • The West Publishing Company developed the codification of statutes by subject matter in the 1880's. Editors: • Created legal subject matter categories • Reviewed all existing law, removed all amended or superseded legislation • Assigned title numbers to the U. S. laws

29. DEVELOPMENT OF CODIFICATION BY WEST • Current state of the law is then logically though arbitrarily arranged within the repository and given a subject name and arbitrary title number • Statutory codes preserve the original language of the laws and only rearrange and group them under broad subject categories to enhance access to the text • Codes are published in official & unofficial editions

30. CODIFICATION AND THE U. S. CODE • U. S. Code - Laws arranged into fifty titles. (Background Information published at the U. S. House of Representatives) • Citation to the U. S. Code • TITLE SECTION YEAR OF PUBLICATION • 15 §1311 (1988)

31. ANNOTATED CODES • Annotated Codes are published by two commercial publishers • U. S. Code Service (USCS) - Lawyer’s CooperativeWest) • U.S. Code Annotated (USCA)-Westhttp://www.westgroup.com/practice/federal/fdusca.htm

32. ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO THE U.S. CODE • Electronic publication of the U.S. code is available from LEXIS, WESTLAW, and via the WWW on the Internet at a number of sites. • The U.S. House of Representatives Internet Law Library - http://law.house.gov/usc.htm • GPO Access - http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/cong013.html http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aaces002.html

33. ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO THE U.S. CODE • Electronic publication of the U.S. Code continued • University of California - GPO Gate - • http://www.gpo.ucop.edu:80/search/uscode.html • Cornell University School of Law - Legal Information Institute - http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/ • Table of Popular Names - http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/topn/

34. STATUTORY CITATIONS • Statutory Citation • 29 U.S.C. § 1001 (1976)

35. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY • Through the examination of documents produced during the legislative process, researchers can get a better understanding of the “legislative intent”

36. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY DOCUMENTS • Congressional Bills • Committee Reports • Committee Hearings • Congressional Debates • Committee Prints • Conference Committee Prints • Presidential or Executive AgencyDocuments

37. USES FOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY - INFLUENCES ON LEGISLATION • Legislative History is helpful for examining the influences on legislation that may have been considered by the court.

38. USES FOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY - INFLUENCES ON LEGISLATION • Influences on legislation may include • Scholastic Works or Research • State or Local Government Laws • Input From Lobbyists for Interested Parties, Organizations, or Constituencies • Reports from Other Governmental Levels (Administrative Agencies) • Congressional Research Service - Pennyhill Press - http://www.clark.net./pub/pennyhill/pennyhill.html • Congressional Research Service Reports on Legislation http://www.house.gov/rules_org/crs_reports.htm • Earlier Court Decisions

39. USES FOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY -INFLUENCES ON LEGISLATION • They are helpful in showing the internal documents, information and data that were considered and rejected by the legislature • Courts may ignore "original" or "legislative intent.” Courts have commonly argued that it does not matter what the legislature intended, it only matters what is stated in the passed version of the legislative bill • Courts are the final interpreters of what the statute means

40. ACCESS TO LEGISLATIVE HISTORY RESOURCES • Both electronic and print resources are available for compiling legislative histories and identifying documents by commercial publishers such as West, Congressional Quarterly, and the federal databases on WESTLAW and LEXIS. • Congressional Information Service - Congressional Masterfile - http://www.cispubs.com/ • LegiSlate - http://www.legislate.com/ • Congressional Quarterly - http://www.cq.com/ • Congressional Index - Commerce Clearinghouse

41. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY ON THE INTERNET • Guides for organizing legislative histories from these electronic documents, files, or databases as well as from the print versions are also available on the Internet. • Legislative Histories - University of Michigan Documents Center - http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/legishis.html • Thomas: Legislative Histories-Bill Summary and Status - http://thomas.loc.gov/ • LOCIS - Library of Congress Information System - http://www.lcweb.loc.gov/homepage/more.html#locis

42. STATE LAWS AND CODES • Statutory law at the state level is parallel to that of the federal government. State Legislative and Statutory information is available on the Internet: • StateSearch - http://www.nasire.org/ss/STlegislatures.html • State Web Locator - http://www.vcilp.org/State-Agency/index.html • State Web Pages - http://www.lib.duke.edu/pdmt/state/states.htm#legislature

43. STATE LAWS AND CODES • State Legislative and Statutory information is available on the Internet: • StateLaw - WASHLAWWeb - http://lawlib.wuacc.edu/washlaw/uslaw/statelaw.html • FindLaw - State Resources -http://www.findlaw.com/11stategov/ • The Law Office - Quick - Lists for Legal Research • http://www.thelawoffice.com/Research/Research.htm#state

44. UNIFORM STATE LAWS • Uniform State Laws - promote uniformity in state laws on subjects where uniformity is desirable and practical. • Uniform laws are drafted for subjects suitable for interstate compact, for which uniformity will make the exercise of state powers more effective. • They also promote uniformity of judicial decisions because state laws are in agreement with each other.

45. UNIFORM STATE LAWS • Uniform State Laws on the Internet • National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State • http://www.kentlaw.edu/ulc/ • ALSO! - American Law Sources Online - Interstate, Multistate, and Boundary Compacts • http://www.lawsource.com/also/usa.cgi?usi • http://www.lawsource.com/also/usa.cgi?usm • Cornell University - Legal Information Institute - Uniform or Model Codes • http://www.law.cornell.edu/statutes.html#state

46. MUNICIPAL LAWS AND CODES • The city codes, ordinances, and laws of many cities and municipalities are available on the Internet. • Codes By State - Municipal Code Corporation - Florida League of Cities • http://www.municode.com/database.html • Municipal Codes Online - Seattle Public Library • http://www.spl.lib.wa.us/collec/lawcoll/municode.html

47. CONGRESSIONAL SERVERS • U. S. House of Representatives WWW Server - http://www.house.gov/ • House of Representatives Internet Law Library - http://law.house.gov • U. S. Senate WWW Server - http://www.senate.gov

48. CONGRESSIONAL DIRECTORIES • CapWeb - Internet Guide to the U. S. Congresshttp://www.capweb.net/directory.html • Congress.Org -http://congress.org/congdir.html • Congressional E-mail Addresses - http://www.efn.org/~dmorgan/congress.html • Contacting The Congress- http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

49. CONGRESSIONAL DIRECTORIES • LEGI-SLATE - State Delegations of the 105th Congress -http://www.legislate.com/c/105tot.htm • GPO Access-104th & 105th Congressional Directory -http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/cong016.html • GPO Access - Congressional Pictorial Directory -http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/105_pictorial/index.html