Library Guides: Public Administration Subject Guide: Finding Policies

Bill Help

Types of Legislation
A Key to U.S. Federal Legislation Codes
How Laws are Made
This resource from the U.S. House of Representatives describes the path a bill takes to become a law, including the resolution process and committee involvement.

Congress.gov
Official website for U.S. Federal legislative information. Find bills, laws, and other congressional documents.
Search Tips:
-Use filters on the left-hand side of the results pages. Ex: Bill Type, Status of Legislation, Subject, etc.
-Use the 'browse' features to see the legislation for various topics.
GovTrack
Nonpartisan source for legislative information and statistics.

Illinois General Assembly
This link shows legislation that has been introduced in the current session of Illinois Congress but has not yet become law.
To see current laws, look under "Public Acts."
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)
This searchable bill-tracking database covers bills from all 50 states. NCSL also organizes collections of bills on hot topics.
Open States
This organization aggregates legislative information from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
BillTrack50
BillTrack50 allows searches across state and federal legislation. Sign up for an account to build your own search and see a short summary of results. Click to see the full bill text, action history, voting records, plus sponsors and detailed contact information for all legislators. Additional tools available at cost.