Finding Acts and Laws
- GovinfoGovinfo is a site produced by the United States Government Publishing Office (GPO) that provides free public access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal Government.
Tip:
Looking for materials from U.S. government sources?
Enter your search terms into the library catalog and use the Advanced Search to limit your Material Type to Government Document. For additional support, see Finding Government Information.
- Congress.gov (formerly Thomas)Full text of laws from the 101st Congress (1989-1990) to the current Congress.
For laws from the 104th Congress (1995-1996) to the present Congress, there is a link to the Public Law via the GPO FDsys site.
For laws from the 101st to the 103rd Congress (1993-1994), the law is presented in the form of the enrolled bill, which is the final version of a bill that is is the final copy of the bill that has been passed in identical form by both the House and Senate and then sent to the president for his signature.
Links to a predecessor system, THOMAS, that provides summaries of public laws from the 93rd Congress (1973-1974) to the 100th Congress (1987-1988). - Public & Private Laws1995 - present, 104th - 114th Congress
- HeinOnlineProvides access to more than 80 million pages of legal history available in an online, fully-searchable, image-based format.
- ProQuest CongressionalThis comprehensive database of U.S. Legislative information contains the full-text of bills (1989 to date), laws (1988 to date), the Federal Register (1980 to date), the Code of Federal Regulations, the National Journal (1980 to date), information on members of congress, committees, and congressional publications.
U.S. Demographic & Government Data Sets
- U.S. Census BureauGateway to the range of statistics collected by the Census Bureau: people and industry, business and industry, etc.
- Proquest Statistical Abstract of the U.S.A database of tables and graphs depicting statistical reports for the U.S., including Labor Force, Employment, Earnings, Health, Education, Law Enforcement, Vital Statistics, Manufacturing, Banking, Finance, etc.
- Pew Research Center"Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research."
- Data.gov"The purpose of Data.gov is to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government."
- Ethics.Data.govA subset of the Data.gov database, Ethics.gov allows you to "enter a name and see every record of that person across the entire collection of ethics data—including campaign finance, lobbying, and White House visitor records."
- Recovery.gov"Recovery.gov is the U.S. government's official website that provides easy access to data
related to Recovery Act spending and allows for the reporting of potential fraud, waste, and abuse."
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) info
- FOIA OnlineSubmit FOIA requests, search existing and prior FOIA requests and generate reports. FOIA Online allows "Guests" to submit FOIA requests without registering. Participating government departments include: "Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Commerce (except the US Patent and Trademark Office), Office of General Counsel of the National Archives and Records Administration, Merit Systems Protection Board, Federal Labor Relations Authority, and the Department of the Treasury's Departmental Offices (headquarters), Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Bureau of the Fiscal Service, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and United States Mint."
- FOIA MachineCurrently in development, the FOIA Machine helps automate FOIA requests, track the progress of your requests and share your progress online through social media venues.
