Updated October 5, 2000 How to Research Federal Policy David M. Heger National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center University of Missouri - St. Louis Political Analyst U.S. Code United States Code refers to the general and permanent laws of the United States. It does not include The Constitution, federal regulations issued by executive departments, federal court decisions, or treaties. The Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives consolidates and codifies acts of Congress into the U.S. Code and is responsible for preparing and publishing these federal laws, which change annually with the law-making process. U.S. Code consists of 50 titles, which are further separated into chapters and sections. Federal laws are typically referenced by title and section (e.g. Megan’s Law, found in section 14071(d) of title 42 of U.S. Code, is referred to as 42 U.S.C. 14071(d)). Research Tools Researchers have a broad range of choices when looking up federal law on the Internet. The Web page of the Office of the Law Revision Counsel provides a text-based search that can be narrowed by title, chapter, section, etc. (http://uscode.house.gov/uscode.htm). One can cross-reference provisions with other sections of Code at this site. Additionally, full titles and chapters of Code are available to download. The Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School hosts a Web site that is a wonderful resource for researching all types of law, including U.S. Code, laws of the 50 states, and more (http://www.law.cornell.edu/). This site uses frames, giving viewers a much different presentation of Code than the Office of the Law Revision Counsel page. To view federal laws click on "Constitutions & codes," which will bring you to "U.S. Code (Acts of Congress)." On THOMAS (http://thomas.loc.gov/), one can research federal laws as they were packaged when passed as acts of Congress and signed by the President (before the House codifies them). To find federal laws on THOMAS, one can search by public law number, the act’s short title (i.e. Megan’s Law), or subject words within legislation (i.e. domestic violence). (Public law numbers always begin with the session in which the act passed Congress and end with the order within the session the act was signed into law. For example, the Hillary J. Farias & Samantha Reid Date-Rape Drug Enforcement Act is cited as P.L. 106-172 because it was the 172nd bill to attain final approval in the 106th session of Congress.)