gfouts
January 20, 2000, 7:37pm
1
After the President signs a bill into law, what happens to the paper on which it was written? And what, technically, would happen if that paper were to be destroyed or lost?
It goes to the National Archives.
More on the subject than you could possibly ever want to know: http://www.nara.gov/
Elmer J. Fudd,
Thank goodness you answered this, Elmer. I thought it was a continuation of the “Wiping Our Butts” thread.
The Dave-Guy
More precisely, The Federal Register: http://www.nara.gov/fedreg/
Part of the Register’s job is to publish new laws. Once that is done it’s considered codified (is that the right word?). The original document becomes legally redundant after that and is only retained for historical purposes. The destruction of the original would have no effect on the law.
Elmer J. Fudd,
BobT
January 20, 2000, 9:43pm
5
The “Federal Register” carries regulations and Presidential documents, but not laws. Those end up getting published in “Statutes at Large.”
BobT, did you click the link provided?
United States Public Laws
And then they are published in <a ref="
And two paragraphs later:
The slip law is the official publication of the law and is admissible as evidence of the law in all courts of law (1 U.S.C. 113). The OFR determines the permanent law number and legal statutory citation of each law after receiving the signed original from the President. Before releasing a slip law for printing, OFR editors add marginal notes, citations, and the legislative history (an abbreviated description of the action taken on each public bill from the time it is introduced in the House or Senate until it becomes law).
And then they are published in <a ref=“http://www.potomacpub.com/StatutesHistory.htm ”>U.S. Statutes at Large</a>
United States Statutes at Large. A year or so after the conclusion of each session of Congress, the slip laws are republished in collected form as a new Volume of the United States Statutes at Large, which also includes Private Laws, Concurrent Resolutions passed by Congress, Presidential Proclamations and various lists and indexes. Corrections and other edits may be made to the slip law versions before the laws are republished in the bound editions of the Statutes.
“That it is unwise to be heedless ourselves while we are giving advice to others, I will show in a few lines.” - Phaedrus, translator of Aesop’s Fables
What the hell is that mess? Let me try that again.
Two partially correct answers that need to be combined for the straight dope.
United States Public Laws - The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) publishes slip laws, which are the printed version, in pamphlet form, of a public or private law as enacted by Congress and signed by the President, or if not acted upon by the President within 10 days of his receipt, or if his veto is overridden by Congress.
And two paragraphs later, same source:
The slip law is the official publication of the law and is admissible as evidence of the law in all courts of law (1 U.S.C. 113). The OFR determines the permanent law number and legal statutory citation of each law after receiving the signed original from the President. Before releasing a slip law for printing, OFR editors add marginal notes, citations, and the legislative history (an abbreviated description of the action taken on each public bill from the time it is introduced in the House or Senate until it becomes law).
And then they are republished in <a ref=“http://www.potomacpub.com/StatutesHistory.htm ”>U.S. Statutes at Large</a> later.
United States Statutes at Large. A year or so after the conclusion of each session of Congress, the slip laws are republished in collected form as a new Volume of the United States Statutes at Large, which also includes Private Laws, Concurrent Resolutions passed by Congress, Presidential Proclamations and various lists and indexes. Corrections and other edits may be made to the slip law versions before the laws are republished in the bound editions of the Statutes.