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Federal Legislative History: I want to find ...

Where can I find ...?

Bill Number from Public Law Number

I have the public law number (Congress-number of law, e.g. 86-3 is the 86th Congress or legislature, 3d law of that legislative session), how do I find the bill number?

  1. Go to Heinonline and find the U.S. Statutes at Large library.  [Note:  Heinonline is a proprietary resource available to UH Manoa students.]
  2. Find the year (right-hand column).
  3. Click on the linked volume number.
  4. Load the table of contents in the left-hand pane, if necessary.
  5. Scroll down the list until you find the public law.
  6. The bill number is in the margin.
Law as Originally Enacted

This question asks to find the slip law or session law.  Session laws are accumulated in the Statutes at Large.  You will need to provide either the citation to the Statutes at Large (Stat.) or the citation to the Public Law (Pub. L.).  Both can be found in the history of the statutes or in the Popular Names Table.

  1. Go to Heinonline and find the U.S. Statutes at Large library.  [Note:  Heinonline is a proprietary resource available to UH Manoa students.]
  2. If you have a citation to the Statutes at Large, find the volume number in the left-hand column.
  3. If you have a citation to the Public Law, find the year in the right-hand column.
  4. Click on the linked volume number.
  5. Load the table of contents in the left-hand pane, if necessary.
  6. If you have a citation to the Statutes at Large, open the drop-down menu at the top of the page and scroll to the page number.
  7. If you have a citation to the Public Law, load the table of contents in the left-hand pane, if necessary; scroll down the list until you find the public law.