D'Angelo Law Library Blog

New bill-tracking resource for state law

The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Government Relations Committee has launched a new page with resources to help you track state legislation. The chart includes the dates when the state legislatures are in session and links to free resources to help you track legislation.

For information about tracking federal legislation, see the Library's research guide.

Where do bills go when they die?

The Sunlight Foundation recently released a new study, "The Life and Death of Congressional Bills in the 110th Congress," which analyzes all bills that were introduced during the 110th Congress. They found that over the two years that Congress was in session, 11,059 bills were introduced, and only 4% of those became law. Most bills died in the committee of the chamber where it was introduced. 3724 were introduced in the Senate, and 7335 were introduced in the House.

The data is presented in several interesting charts, and this thing, which I admit I don't really understand. Maybe you are made of better stuff.

[Seen @ Legal Research Plus]

What’s the 111th Congress Doing? Find out today at lunch in Room B!

Today's D'Angelo Law Library workshop topic is "Tracking Current Legislation: What’s the 111th Congress Doing?" at 12:15 pm in Classroom B.  We will look at some online resources for tracking federal legislation, including subscription sources and those freely available on the web.  If you aren't able to attend, you should take a look at the Library's bill-tracking and federal legislative history guides online, or stop by the Reference Desk.