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It is easy to update regulatory sections (see the tip
"Updating Federal Regulations"),
but frequently researchers are less familiar with the process of updating statutory sections.
Due to the number of laws voted on and passed during each Congressional session, it may seem next to impossible to update statutory law
easily.
Fortunately, the Office of the Law Revision Counsel
in the U.S. House of Representatives prepares and publishes the United States Code (USC or "Code"), and provides on its website
resources that can be used to update USC sections. If you are working with a USC section and want to determine if recently passed
legislation has affected it, simply go to the
U.S. Code Classification Tables.
These tables show where laws enacted during the current and most recent prior session of Congress will appear in
the United States Code and which sections of the Code have been amended by those laws. The tables sorted in Public Law
order may be used to identify the sections of the Code affected by a particular law. The tables sorted in Code order
may be used to determine whether a particular section of the Code has recently been amended. Included in the tables
are those provisions of law that have been classified to the Code. All tables list the revised Code section,
the Public Law number, and the section of the Public Law that affected it, as well as the Statutes at Large citation.
If the section of the Code you are updating is listed in the classification tables, you may want to
obtain a copy of the actual Public Law and review the section that was amended.
THOMAS
provides listings of and online access (not comprehensive for all sessions) to Public Laws from
the 93rd Congress (1973-1974) to present. GPO Access
also provides access to Public Laws
from the 104th Congress (1995-96) to present.
The Wirtz Labor Law Library also has print copies of the more recent updates to the Statutes At Large, called Supplements.
In addition, the Law Library has print copies of many older and more current Public Laws. Please contact the
Law Library for more information.
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