Administrative Law & Legislative History

Research

April 6, 2009

Learn These Terms

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)

Federal Register U.S. Government

Manual Ohio Administrative

Code (OAC)

Register of Ohio Ohio Monthly Record LexisNexis

Congressional USCCAN Compiled legislative

histories

Federal Administrative Law

What Is Admin Law?

A third source of primary law.

The output of federal and state admin bodies.

Three Hints for Researching

1. Know the agency, e.g. using United States Government Manual.

2. Read the underlying legislation. This is This is really important!really important!

3. Monitor the agency.

Agencies Make Regulations

Regs are published in TWO formats.1. Federal Register

Daily publication; chronological order Publishes final regs and proposed regs. Generally hard to find stuff in it But essential for the most up-to-date regs & for updating updating

the CFRthe CFR.

2. Code of Federal Regulations More accessible. Arranged by issuing agency and subject. Usually start here.

Where to Find the CFR?

e-CFR, GPO Access, Lexis, Westlaw, HeinOnline

Print version comes out quarterly.

Where to Find the Federal Register?

GPO Access/FDsys, Regulations.gov, Lexis, Westlaw, HeinOnline

Print version runs about 2 weeks behind.

Two Ways to Find Regs

1. In Annotations to US Code (USCA, USCS)

2. By searching the CFR

Baby Food Example

21 USCA 350a Infant formulasNotes:

Code of Federal Regulations:

   Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services--Infant formula quality control procedures, 21 CFR Part 106.   Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services--Infant formula, 21 CFR Part 107.

eCRF, browse to Title 21; search “infant formula”

Updating the CFR

Search the Federal Register; restricting to last several days (based on CFR currency)

KeyCite your reg (not Shepard’s) Lexis Regulatory Impact Print: List of Sections Affected (LSA) at end

of CFR books lists page references in Federal Register

Beyond Regs: Other Types of Agency Materials

Federal Agency Decisions, e.g. EEOC decisions

Compliance Manuals, e.g. FDA Enforcement Guidelines, e.g. USDA Official Interpretations, IRS private letter

rulings

Ohio Administrative Law

A Quick Comparison

Federal Ohio

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)

Ohio Administrative Code (OAC)

Federal Register Register of Ohio (online)

or

Ohio Monthly Record (print)

Ohio Administrative Code

Arranged by agency and subject matter Annotated version on Westlaw / Lexis Unannotated version online at

http://codes.ohio.gov

Ohio Monthly Record

Print only Publishes new rules, proposed rules, notices

of repealed rules Comes out …. monthly

Register of Ohio

Online only Publishes new rules, proposed rules, notices

of repealed rules Great source for news rules or recent

changes – updates the OAC Purges old records – not good for older

changes

Updating the OAC

Register of Ohio Regulation tracking databases in Lexis &

Westlaw KeyCite the reg (not Shepard’s)

Federal Legislative History

What is Legislative History?

Figuring out what a statute “really means” by determining the “intent” of the law makers.

A collection of all of the documents associated with the passage of a statute.

Top Docs

Congressional bills Hearings Committee reports Congressional debates Presidential approval or veto

Where to Find the Docs

CIS/LexisNexis Congressional - #1 Source#1 Source USCCAN (U.S. Code Congressional and

Administrative News) Compiled legislative histories (e.g. USA

Patriot Act)

CIS/LexisNexis Congressional

CIS (Congressional Information Service) started indexing Congressional publications in 1970.

Online, the CIS Indexes are available on LexisNexis Congressional.

Much of LexisNexis Congressional is full-text now, but not all.

USCCAN

“Quick & dirty” precompiled legis history of every enacted federal law since 1947.

Use to find especially reports – key docs. It is not a comprehensive legislative history. Good for the major documents.

Compiled Legislative Histories

Let someone else do the work for you! If you’re researching a major act, check for

these first. e.g. USA Patriot Act: A Legislative History Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories Union List of Legislative Histories Your library catalog.

Get Me More: Research Guides

Federal Administrative

Law

Ohio Federal Legislative

History

Administrative Law Research

Ohio Legal Research Guide

Legislative History Research Guide

Ohio Legislative History