Law Making in U.S

1. Law making inU.S
Statutesare the actual provisionssetforthasthe lawsenactedbythe Legislature (atthe federal level,
the U.S. Congress). Regulations are guidance thathave the force of law that describe how statutesare to
be executedandenforcedbythe Executive.
While statutesare debated,consideredand enacted bythe Congress,regulationsare debated,
consideredand promulgatedby administrativerulemaking bodies,these havingbeenprovidedforin
statute.Insome cases, administrativetribunals performan adjudicatory function subjectto judicial
review bythe judiciary,if necessary.
At the federal level,the bodyof statutorylaw iscontainedinandcalledthe United StatesCode.The
regulationspromulgatedthereunderare containedinthe Codeof FederalRegulations.While rulesdo
have the force of law,theyhave sucharisingfromenablinglegislationenactedinstatute--whichare,in
turn,enactedby the legislatureaccordingtothe relevantConstitution.
Act: a bill passedbybothhousesof Congressthathas become law.Actscan be publishedasSlipLawsor
"newlyenactedlegislation";see Publishingthe Law.Actsaren't publishedtogether,butindividually.
Once publishedinStatutesatLarge,they're the same as a statute.
Statute:A lawenactedbya legislature."Statute"and"sessionlaw"canbe usedinterchangably.Statutes
are publishedinUnitedStatesStatutesatLarge;see Publishingthe Law.However,StatutesatLarge isn't
cumulative - eachvolume representsaparticularlegislative session.
Legislative Law
Legislative law originates as a bill or resolution introduced either independently, jointly, or
concurrently in the House of Representatives and/or the Senate. After introduction, the bill is
sent to the appropriate committee(s) for study. The committee(s) may choose to let the bill "die"
by taking no action, or it may report its findings to the full chamber for further action. Any
number of bills on the same topic may be introduced into each chamber with different text and
each chamber may alter each text of a bill originally introduced for consideration and it may
even include the text from several bills, amendments, and/or riders. A bill passed in the House
may differ from the version passed in the Senate. When differences arise, they are are resolved
through the negotiations of a joint committee. Both chambers must agree on an identical form of
the bill before it can go to the President for further action.
Legislative Process
A bill or resolution may be introduced only by a member of Congress. It is introduced and read
into the Congressional Record, the daily transcript of action on the floor of Congress. Once
read, it is placed on the Calendar and referred to Committee. The Committee then will mark-up
the bill (edit the language) and may hold hearings to gather information from experts. Once the

2. hearings are concluded, the Committee votes whether to revise the proposed language, refer to
another Committee, or report back to the full chamber. This report is scheduled for floor debate
and then a vote. Amendments and riders to the bill may be offered according to the rules of the
chamber. Once the legislation passes in one chamber, it is sent to the the other chamber
(engrossed) and the entire process starts again. Both Chambers must approve the same language
of a bill before it can be sent (enrolled). At any point in the process, the bill can "die". The
President then is required to sign or veto the legislation. After a bill or resolution is passed by
both chambers of Congress and approved by the President, or by a veto override, it becomes
either a Public Law (one that applies to the general public) or a Private Law (one that applies to
one person or to a specific group of people).
Administrative Law
Administrative law originates in the executive branch of government.. It may be a decision,
rule, or regulation issued by a department or an agency of the federal government, or it may be
an Executive Order or a Proclamation issued by the President. There are not any comprehensive
indexes exclusive to administrative law decisions. Executive agencies which publish decisions
include the Department of the Interior, Federal Maritime Protection Board, Federal Labor Board,
Federal Communications Commission, etc.
Regulations
After legislation is passed by Congress, it is the responsibility of the appropriate federal agencies
within the executive branch to administer and implement the law. For example, responsibility
for the Safe Drinking Water Act is assigned to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Rules
and regulations are the result of a lengthy process, so it may be difficult to find any regulatory
action on recent legislation. The process includes: (1) the announcement of proposed rules or
regulations in the Federal Register (FR), (2) a public comment period, generally at least 60 days,
(3) agency consideration of the public comments received, (4) public hearings may be held on
the proposed regulations, and (5) the announcement of the final rule and its effective date, with
summarization of the comments and the changes made as a result, in the Federal Register. Rules
and regulations are organized in 50 titles by broad subject in the Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR). These titles are NOT the same 50 titles of the United States Code (USC). Newly issued
Executive Orders are published in the Federal Register. Executive Orders and Proclamations
that have the force of law are published in Title 3 of the CFR.
code isa type of legislationthatpurportstoexhaustivelycoveracomplete systemof lawsora particular
area of law as itexistedatthe time the code wasenacted,bya processof codification.Thoughthe
processand motivationsforcodificationare similarindifferent commonlaw andcivil law systems,their
usage isdifferent.Inacivil lawcountry,a Code typicallyexhaustivelycoversthe completesystemof law,
such as civil laworcriminal law.Bycontrast, ina commonlaw countrywithlegislative practicesinthe
Englishtradition,aCode isa lesscommonformof legislation,whichdiffersfromusual legislationthat,
whenenacted,modifythe existingcommonlaw onlytothe extentof itsexpressorimplicitprovision,
but otherwise leavesthe commonlawintact.Bycontrast,a code entirelyreplacesthe commonlawina
particulararea,leavingthe commonlawinoperative unlessanduntil the code isrepealed.Inathirdcase

3. of slightlydifferentusage,inthe UnitedStates andothercommonlaw countriesthathave adopted
similarlegislative practices,aCode isa standingbodyof statute law on a particulararea, whichisadded
to, subtractedfrom,or otherwisemodifiedbyindividual legislative enactments.
About Public and Private Laws
After the President signs a bill into law, it is delivered to the Office of the Federal Register
(OFR), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) where it is assigned a law
number, legal statutory citation (public laws only), and prepared for publication as a slip law.
Private laws receive their legal statutory citations when they are published in the United States
Statutes at Large.
Prior to publication as a slip law, OFR also prepares marginal notes and citations for each law,
and a legislative history for public laws only. Until the slip law is published, through the U.S.
Government Printing Office (GPO), the text of the law can be found by accessing the enrolled
version of the bill.
Note: A slip law is an official publication of the law and is "competent evidence," admissible in
all state and Federal courts and tribunals of the United States (1 U.S.C. 113).
What is the difference between a public and private law?
Public Laws
Most laws passed by Congress are public laws. Public laws affect society as a whole.
Public laws citations include the abbreviation, Pub.L., the Congress number (e.g. 107),
and the number of the law. For example: Pub.L. 107-006.
Private Laws
Affect an individual, family, or small group. Private laws are enacted to assist citizens
that have been injured by government programs or who are appealing an executive
agency ruling such as deportation. Private laws citations include the abbreviation,
Pvt.L., the Congress number (e.g. 107), and the number of the law. For example: Pvt.L.
107-006.

4. Statutes at Large and the United States Code
At the end of each session of Congress, the slip laws are compiled into bound volumes called the
Statutes at Large, and they are known as "session laws." The Statutes at Large present a
chronological arrangement of the laws in the exact order that they have been enacted.
Every six years, public laws are incorporated into the United States Code, which is a codification
of all general and permanent laws of the United States. A supplement to the United States Code
is published during each interim year until the next comprehensive volume is published. The
U.S. Code is arranged by subject matter, and it shows the present status of laws with
amendments already incorporated in the text that have been amended on one or more occasions.
It is maintained as a separate collection.
statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or
country.[1] Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy.[1] The word is
often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and
regulations issued by government agencies.[1] Statutes are sometimes referred to as legislation or
"black letter law." As a source of law, statutes are considered primary authority (as opposed to
secondary authority).
Ideally all statutes must be in harmony with the fundamental law of the land (constitutional).
Code of Federal Regulations (Annual Edition)
The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) annual edition is the codification of the general and
permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the departments and agencies of the Federal
Government. It is divided into 50 titles that represent broad areas subject to Federal regulation.
The 50 subject matter titles contain one or more individual volumes, which are updated once
each calendar year, on a staggered basis. T
What Triggers Rulemaking ?
•
Legislation, Congressional hearings/reports
•
Executive orders and OMB Circulars
•
Court Orders
•
Agencies act on own initiative to carry out mission
See the Unified Agenda for regulatory plans
•

5. Petitions for Rulemaking and informal requests from
affected parties
•
Federal Advisory Committee Recommendations
•
Emergency situations, technological developments
•
Political Factors
Rulemaking
Process
When developing regulations, the first thing we do is ask if a regulation is needed at all. Every
regulation is developed under slightly different circumstances, but this is the general process:
Step 1: EPA Proposes a Regulation
The Agency researches the issues and, if necessary, proposes a regulation, also known as a
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). The proposal is listed in the FEDERAL
REGISTER(FR)so that members of the public can consider it and send their comments to us.
The proposed rule and supporting documents are also filed in EPA's official docket on
Regulations.gov.
Step 2: EPA Considers Your Comments and Issues a Final Rule
Generally, once we consider the comments received when the proposed regulation was issued,
we revise the regulation accordingly and issue a final rule. This final rule is also published in the
FR and in EPA's official docket on Regulations.gov.
Step 3: The Regulation is Codified in the Code of Federal Regulations
Once a regulation is completed and has been printed in the FR as a final rule, it is codified when
it is added to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The CFR is the official record of all
regulations created by the federal government. It is divided into 50 volumes, called titles, each of
which focuses on a particular area. Almost all environmental regulations appear in Title 40. The
CFR is revised yearly, with one fourth of the volumes updated every three months. Title 40 is
revised every July 1.
Federal regulationsnotyetcodifiedorcitationstoa regulationasoriginallypromulgatedare citedtothe
Federal Register(Fed.Reg.),precededbyname ortitle of the regulations If the regulationistobe
codifiedinC.F.R.,the locationwhere itwill appearorthe portionitamendsshould,inmostcases,be
furnishedparentheticallyFederal regulationsnotyetcodifiedorcitationstoa regulationasoriginally
promulgatedare citedtothe Federal Register(Fed.Reg.),precededbyname ortitle of the regulationsIf
the regulationistobe codifiedinC.F.R.,the locationwhere itwill appearorthe portionitamends
should,inmostcases,be furnishedparentheticl
AlaskaAdmin.Code tit.x,§ y (year)-Stateregulationcodified.

6. Congress,andonlyCongress,createslaws.Federal executivedepartmentsandadministrative agencies
write regulationstoimplementthe authorityof laws.Regulations(aswellasExecutive Ordersand
Proclamations) are ancillaryorsubordinatetolawsbutbothlawsand regulationsare enforceable.The
U.S. Code isthe official compilationof current,codifiedlawsbysubject;the U.S.Statutes-at-Large isthe
official chronological compilationof alllaws;and the Code of Federal Regulationsisthe official
compilationof regulations.
Rule is a principle or condition that customarily governs behavior. A regulation is the state of
being controlled or coerced to conform to a certain standard.
Rahul Mishra