SWK 202 Library sources
| Finding a recent legislative topic | Additional background | Citing
Legislative Resources
Choosing a topic
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- The assignment asks you to find a topic for which a recent law was passed or a recent bill was introduced. You can use the sources in the next section to help. If there isn't a recent law or bill on the topic you started with, is there a law or a bill on a similar topic that interests you?
- In order to understand the law or bill and locate the text of it, it is useful to :
- Find out if the law or bill is at a state or federal (national) level.
- Find out what year the law passed or when the bill was introduced
- We are focusing on bills and laws from the legislative branch of government.
- The legislative branch consists of Congress (House of Representatives and Senate for federal, Assembly and Senate for New York State).
- Regulations come from the executive branch (which includes agencies such as the Health and Human Services Administration. Here are other federal executive branch websites and New York state and local executive branch websites)
- Court decisions come from the judicial branch
Regulations and court decisions may also have a major impact on any topic. If you find out about regulations or court decisions related to your law or bill, it could be useful to mention them in your paper.
- If you find a public law (PL) number or a bill number, save it! You can use these to locate the text of the law or bill.
Places to find out about legislative topics
CQ Researcher
Description: An encyclopedia addressing public policy issues. Over 44 reports are released each year, covering legislative action in areas ranging from social and teen issues to environment, health and nutrition, education, international affairs, economics and science and technology. Each report focuses on a single topic and features concise background discussion and chronologies, overviews of the current situation, pro and con commentary, as well as online links to relevant organizations, and a lengthy bibliography of related books and articles. Covers 1923-present.
CQ Weekly
Description: A week by week non-partisan report on activity within the United States Congress. Discusses issues about to be addressed by Congress, summaries of the previous week's legislative events, status of bills pending before the House and Senate, committee and floor activity, and outcomes of roll call votes. Searchable by date, topic, latest votes. Covers 1983- present.
Brookings Institution
"The Brookings Institution is an independent, nonpartisan organization devoted to research, analysis, education, and publication focused on public policy issues in the areas of economics, foreign policy, and governance." Includes articles about topics such as children and families, community development, health policy and welfare reform.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
"A nonpartisan research organization and policy institute that conducts research and analysis on a range of government policies and programs."
Information for Practice
Information for Practice's mission is "to help social service professionals throughout the world conveniently maintain an awareness of news regarding the profession and emerging scholarship." Information for Practice offers a monthly digest, which will focus on new grey literature and scholarship, while the web site will also include news items from around the world. *Many articles which require a fee on this site are available for free with your SUID through the Library E-journals
Institute for Policy Studies
IPS seeks to create a more responsible society, one built around the values of nonviolence, justice, sustainability, and decency. "The only multi-issue progressive think tank in Washington, D.C."
Moving Ideas Network (MIN)
Shares ideas and resources from progressive research and advocacy institutions.
NASW legislative agenda
Pew Charitable trusts
The Pew Charitable Trusts serves the public interest by providing information, policy solutions and support for civic life. The Trusts is an independent nonprofit. It gives grants to nonprofits, reports their research on it's website, and includes its own publications on the website.
SU Library subscription databases to search for newspaper articles
Some recommended newspaper databases:
National Newspapers Description: Coverage of 27 major newspapers, including The New York Times and Washington Post, plus other important US, international and minority interest papers. Covers 1986 - present.
New York State Newspapers Description: Full-text access to newspapers from New York State.
Social Work related databases to search for journal articles
Additional Social Work websites
Print sources to find additional background information
West's Encyclopedia of American Law 2nd ed. Detroit : Thomson/Gale, c2005 Call Number: KF154 .W47 2005 Location: Bird Library Reference, 1st floor.
Encyclopedia of Social Work (and supplements)
Call Number: HV35 .S67 Location: 1st Floor Reference, Bird Library
Additional Social Work related print resources
Citing
Citation style guides
These links explain how to write citations for the bibliography of your paper. More thorough explanations are available in Publication manual of the American Psychological Association and other style guides, located at the Reference Desk in Bird Library.
Legislative Resources
Federal
LexisNexis Congressional
Library subscription database includes comprehensive index to bills, hearings, reports, committee prints, public laws, etc. Many items in full text. For other items, use SuDoc or accession numbers to find publication on shelves or in fiche cabinets (most on 3rd floor Bird Library).
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Legislative history, bills and laws (1969-present)
Click Legislative history, bills and laws
If you are searching by keyword:
To find legislation chronologically as it was passed, choose Public Law.
To find legislation integrated with other legislation on relevant subjects, choose US Code. This version of the law is sometimes referred to as "consolidated law". It is divided by title, chapter, and section numbers. Here is a browsable list of the titles in the US Code
If you are interested in additional documents created during the legislative process, such as hearings, debates and reports, choose Legislative history.
If you have a number, click Get a document:
Laws:
If you have a Public Law number, enter it. (105-33) and click the radio button for Public Laws.
If you have a US Code citation, choose US Code from the pulldown menu.
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Bills: If you have a bill number, enter it. (105 H.R. 1003). Click the radio button for Bills (Full text)
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Thomas
Freely available government website includes the Congressional Record and full text legislation from 1989 (101st Congress) to the present. THOMAS also provides summaries (not full text) of legislation back to 1975 (94th Congress). Includes bill summaries and status, committee information, roll call votes, historical documents, etc. A service of the Library of Congress.
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Laws (1989-present)
Click US Code to find legislation integrated with other legislation on
relevant subjects. Search by keyword or by citation.
OR
Click Public Laws to find legislation chronologically as it was passed by Public Law number. Click Search Multiple Previous Congresses to find legislation chronologically as it was passed by keyword.
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Bills (1989-present)
Click Search Multiple Previous Congresses
Choose Congressional sessions you want to search
GPO Monthly Catalog
Description: Congressional reports, hearings, debates, and records; judiciary materials; and documents issued by executive departments (Defense, State, Labor, Office of the President, etc.) Includes a bibliographic citation in each record. Updated monthly.
State
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Findlaw
Links to the information each state makes freely available online. Some states post more than others.
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Lexis Nexis Academic
Library subscription database includes statutory laws, court rules from all states & Attorneys General opinions from all states.
Click the state you want to search.
For New York, the New York Advance Legislative Service option in the pulldown menu contains the full text of laws enacted during 2006 legislative session. The New York Code option in the pulldown menu includes all laws of a general and permanent nature, as enacted by the New York Legislature.
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Laws of New York
Select Laws of New York from the menu. That page will include consolidated and unconsolidated laws, Court Acts, Rules, and miscellaneous (constitution, NY City charter and administrative code). Unconsolidated laws are any laws passed by the legislature that are not part of the Consolidated Laws. They can include court acts, the NY City Charter and Administrative Code, miscellaneous laws that do not fit into the Consolidated Laws, and other special laws.
McKinney's Consolidated Laws of New York Annotated (print source)
New York's statutory code, compiled into 91 subject areas. Pocket parts (located inside back covers) include text of very recent legislation. Table volumes show major revisions and trace section changes. Also includes separate general indexes and popular names table. Cross-references to New York Official Compilation of Codes, Rules, and Regulations (NYCRR). Source notes provide chapter numbers and year of passage. Historical notes show law's development and may reference corresponding Session Laws.
KFN 5030 1939 A324
Government Information Reference
3rd floor, Bird Library
McKinney's Session Laws of New York (print source)
Session laws are printed in chronological order, exactly as they were passed. Also includes related reports and memoranda. "Legislative findings and purpose," if available within the Session Law, express the official intent of the legislation. They do not show subsequent appeals or amendments. Pamphlets contain subject indexes and cumulative tables indicating which sections of the Consolidated Laws are affected by new legislation.
KFN 5025 M3
Government Information Reference
3rd floor, Bird Library
NY State Assembly bill search
Freely available government website allows searching by bill number or keyword; current bills only (latest amended version). Results may include summary, action, votes, memos; plus full text of bill.
NY State Assembly Committees Commissions and Task Forces
See the Committees on Aging, Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, Children and Families, Health, Insurance, and others.
NY State Library Digital Collections
To browse legislative resources, click the browse button, New York State Government Publications, Legislative Branch, then the chamber and and files you want, such as Legislature (Assembly) and New York State Assembly Committee on Health. Text of some public hearings, committee reports, testimonies and more are available. Be sure to disable popup blockers to see the documents.
For more information, including some print sources, see SU Library's Government Information page.
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