ENSP 400: Capstone in Environmental Science and Policy

Brief Summary:
After a bill has been approved by both the House and Senate in identical form, it is sent to the President. 
If the President approves of the legislation he/she signs it and it becomes law.

Federal laws are published in two formats - a chronological format (U.S. Statutes at Large) and a topical format (U.S. Code).

Once laws have been passed, regulatory agencies create the rules and regulations necessary to implement and enforce the law.

Proposed rules are published chronologically in the Federal Register before they take affect and are open for comment.

Once rules are adopted, they are compiled in a topical arrangement (issuing agency and subject) in the Code of Federal Regulations.

To find proposed legislative information, visit congress.gov.

The default is to search current legislation. If you want to search all legislation, make sure to change it using the drop down menu.

Once you do your search, click on a bill number to see more

Note that you can see the progress of the bill in your search results.

Once you've clicked into your search results, use the tabs below the summary to access the full text, and see more information about the bill.

How do I cite this?

If the bill passed, it should be cited as a statute (public law) unless the bill is being cited as part of a legislative history.

Title [if relevant], bill or resolution number, xxx Cong. (year).

Reference List:

     Presidential Funding Act of 2010, S. 3681, 111th Cong. (2010).   OR   S. 3681, 111th Cong. (2010).

In-text:

     Senate Bill 3681 (2010)   OR   (S. 3681, 2010)

The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)

• The CFR is a codification of the rules published in the Federal Register by the Executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government.
• The CFR is divided into 50 titles which represent broad areas subject to Federal regulation, with environmental regulations contained mainly in Title 40 - Protection of Environment.
• Each volume of the CFR is revised once each calendar year and updated on a quarterly basis, Title 40 is issued every July 1.
• The official legal edition of the CFR is available from the Government Printing Office Website.
• Other titles that are relevant to Environmental Law:
  • Title 18 - Conservation of Power & Water Resources
  • Title 33 - Navigation & Navigable Waters

The Federal Register

• The Federal Register contains proposed regulations and final regulations that have yet to be added to the CFR. 
• It is available online through GPO FDsys, Congressional Publications (Proquest)  and HeinOnline Federal Register Library;
• Federal Register citations are found at the end of the CFR section text. 

Proposed regulations dealing with environmental issues and comments on those regulations, can be found on the Environmental Protection Agency's website.
EPA Regulatory information by topic.

To find a proposed rule, visit regulations.gov and enter your search terms into the search box.

On the search results page, you can narrow the results so that you only see proposed rules.

How Do I Cite This?

If a proposed rule has passed, the citation for regulations should include:

• The title number followed by a space and "C.F.R." (for "Code of Federal Regulations)
• The section number preceded by the section symbol and a space
• the year of the most recent compilation of that title

Example:

40 C.F.R. § 122.2 (2010).

If the regulation does not yet appear in the C.F.R. , cite to the Federal Register: