LibGuides: Legal resources: Laws and Legislation

Legislation and hearings

Congress.gov
Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. The site provides access to accurate, timely, and complete legislative information for Members of Congress, legislative agencies, and the public. It is presented by the Library of Congress (LOC) using data from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, the Government Publishing Office, Congressional Budget Office, and the LOC's Congressional Research Service.

Congress.gov is usually updated the morning after a session adjourns. Consult Coverage Dates for Legislative Information for the specific update schedules and start date for each collection. (https://www.congress.gov/about)
Kansas Legislation
Search for current legislation by bill number or keyword; find existing law by clicking on "Statute."
Legiscan
Legiscan monitors current legislation in the U.S. Congress and all 50 states. State legislation information includes top bill sponsors, a list of most viewed bills, and an overview of past legislative sessions. You can browse Congressional bills by House and Senate and by their current status. (http://crln.acrl.org/content/77/11/563.full)
Open States
Their website tells you that you can discover politics in your state: find your legislator, review their votes, find upcoming legislation, and track bill progress.
Govinfo Congressional Hearings
Use the word "hearings" along with your subject (i.e., "family leave") to retrieve only hearings about that topic.

Statutes (Laws)

U.S. Code
The United States Code is a consolidation and codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States. It is prepared by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the United States House of Representatives.
Kansas Statutes
Find existing law by clicking on "Statute."

Legislative histories/research about proposed legislation

Congressional Research Service Reports
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) does not provide direct public access to its reports, requiring citizens to request them from their Members of Congress. Some Members, as well as several non-profit groups, have posted the reports on their web sites. This site is not affiliated with the Congressional Research Service, but aims to provide integrated, searchable access to many of the full-text CRS reports that have been available at a variety of different web sites since 1990.
Every CRS Report
Congressional Research Service reports are the best way for anyone to quickly get up to speed on major political issues without having to worry about spin — from the same source Congress uses.

CRS is Congress’ think tank, and its reports are relied upon by academics, businesses, judges, policy advocates, students, librarians, journalists, and policymakers for accurate and timely analysis of important policy issues. The reports are not classified and do not contain individualized advice to any specific member of Congress. (More: What is a CRS report?)

Until today, CRS reports were generally available only to the well-connected.

Now, in partnership with a Republican and Democratic member of Congress, we are making these reports available to everyone for free online.