Bills and Resolutions are the most common way that legislation is introduced. They are numbered in series for each Congress. If not acted on, they die at the end of the Congress during which they were introduced. Most introduced legislation is never acted on - bills that do get into the process may undergo many markups (revisions) and number changes. Amendments, related or not, may be attached to final legislation.
Abbreviations used in bill numbering system:
| Senate Bills (S.) Resolutions (S. Res.) Joint resolutions (S.J. Res.) Concurrent resolutions (S. Con. Res.) |
House Bills (H.R.) Resolutions (H. Res.) Joint resolutions (H.J. Res.) Concurrent resolutions (H. Con. Res.) |
There are several sources for bills and resolutions. Pick the best one for your purposes from the table below based on the year/Congress you are researching. If you need help, contact , 413-597-4321, Reference and Gov't Documents Librarian or Ask a Librarian.
| Year | Congress | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1873/74 to 1981/82 | 43rd to 97th | Congressional Record Index Gov Docs X1.1 "History of Bills and Resolutions" section contains a chronological listing of bill numbers, titles, sponsors, and references to pages within the Congressional Record. |
| 1935/36 to 1989/90 | 74th to 101st |
Digest of Public General Bills and Resolutions GovDocs LC 14.6: Provides summaries of bills only. Includes indexes for sponsors, short titles and subjects. |
| 1973/74 to 1987/88 |
93rd to 100th | THOMAS Library of Congress, free web resource Provides bill summary and status only. Select "Search Bill Summary & Status" to search for a word or by bill number. Select "Advanced Search" to choose sponsors or committees from a list. With both search options, users can only search one Congress at a time. |
| 1981/82 to 1987/88 | 97th to 100th | Final Cumulative Finding Aid, House and Senate Bills GovDocs Index Table GP 3.28: Use to locate the call number for the microfiche containing the full text. Microfiche is located in cabinet E in the microforms area. These finding aids do not have indexes by sponsor or subject; you must have the bill number to locate the full text. |
| 1989/90 to present |
101st to current | Congressional Publications Williams subscription database Provides full text of bills. Select "Legislative Histories, Bills & Laws" from list on left. Choose "Keyword Search" tab to search by words in text or sponsor. Choose "Get a Document" to search by bill number. THOMAS |