Laws

Each bill that is passed and signed by the president, or passed over the presidential veto, becomes a law. Eventually the law is incorporated into the U.S. Code, which is organized according to subject matter and divided into titles, chapters, and sections. The Code is updated annually by the House Office of the Law Revision Counsel, and a new set of bound volumes is published every six years. (See legislation.)

Laws are also given numbers separate from their designation in the U.S. Code. A new series of numbers is assigned at the beginning of each two-year term of Congress; thus, the first public law passed in the 108th Congress (2003–2005) was labeled Public Law 108–1, or PL 108–1. Private laws, which deal with individuals and not the general public, have a separate numbering system (Private Law 108–1, etc.). Laws are also referred to by their formal titles, such as the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 or the Ethics in Government Act of 1978.

Although a bill technically becomes an act as soon as it has been passed by one chamber of Congress, the term act is generally reserved for measures that have become law. Statute is used interchangeably with law. Since 2001, the number of laws in a year has ranged from 313 in 2006 to just 90 in 2011.

At the end of each session of Congress, all the public and private laws, as well as concurrent resolutions, are compiled and published as United States Statutes at Large by the Office of the Federal Register, which is part of the National Archives and Records Administration. Throughout the year, the same office publishes “slip laws,” which are single sheets or pamphlets containing the text of a bill as enacted and a summary of its legislative history. In the margin, alongside the legal language, are notes that identify a section as dealing with a particular subject.