Starting Points
- Congress.gov
Excellent web resource for legislative information from the past and present. Maintained by the Library of Congress. The FAQ is very helpful to first-time policy researchers as it explains the legislative process, how to track bills, etc. - USA.gov
The U.S. government's official web portal. Designed to make it easy for the public to get U.S. government information and services on the web.
Federal Policy Resources
Reports, documents, etc.
- Homeland Security Digital Library"Over 90,800 documents related to homeland security policy, strategy, and organizational management from a wide variety of sources including federal, state and local governments; international governments and institutions; nonprofit organizations and private entities."
- FDsys.govEnables the U.S Government Printing Office (GPO) to manage government publications from Congress and Federal agencies that are submitted to GPO in digital form or created by scanning previously printed publications, thus offering perpetual, free, and ready public access to the print and digital publications of the Government.
Legislative Process
- Congressional Research Service. Legislative History Research: A Basic GuideProvides an overview of federal legislative history research, the legislative process, and where to find congressional documents.
- ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new windowProvides comprehensive access to U.S. legislative information, including congressional publications and documents, statistics, current members of Congress and congressional committees, and regulatory and statutory information.
- ProQuest legislative insight This link opens in a new windowFull text access to the publications associated with a legislative history of Public Laws from 1929-present. Includes texts of proposed legislation (bills), debates in Congress (Congressional Record pages), Committee Report and Documents, Committee hearings and other associated reports such as those from Congressional Research Service and Congressional Budget Office.
Regulatory Process
- Federal RegisterThe Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents.
- Regulations.gov
"Website providing public users ease of access to federal regulatory content and a way to submit comments on agencies' regulatory documents published in the Federal Register (FR). " - Code of Federal RegulationsCFR is the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the federal governments.
Funding
- Catalog of Federal Domestic AssistanceThe Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Programs (CFDA) is a “government-wide compendium of all 1,458 Federal programs, projects, services, and activities that provide assistance or benefits to the American public.”
- USAspending.gov
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) maintains a single searchable website, accessible to the public at no cost, which includes for each Federal award:
1.the name of the entity receiving the award;
2.the amount of the award;
3.information on the award including transaction type, funding agency, etc;
4.the location of the entity receiving the award; and
5.a unique identifier of the entity receiving the award.
State Policy Resources
- Open States : Discover Politics in Your State
Product of the Sunlight Foundation.
Find your legislators - Review their votes - Search upcoming legislation - Track bill progress.
Kansas
- Influencing State PolicyISP was developed by a group of social workers/educators as a means of helping social work researchers understand and influence state-level policy and legislation. The site includes links to state legislatures, information about current policy issues, and other resources.
- Kansas Legislative HotlineThis is a very helpful service provided by the Kansas State Library. Kansas residents can use the "ask a librarian" service to inquire about bills, bill tracking, and related information. The toll-free number to call is: 1-800-432-3924.
- StateScape - Legislative & Regulatory TrackingFind free resources to track policy activities at the state level.
Additional Websites
- C-Span video library This link opens in a new windowThe video archive includes all programming from the three C-SPAN networks. Coverage includes Congressional sessions 1987-present. The C-SPAN Congressional Chronicle is an index to the video recordings of the House and Senate floor proceedings. Access points include: subject, speaker names, titles, affiliations, sponsors, committees, categories, formats, policy groups, keywords, location, congressional calendar and programming date/time. The video recordings coincide with the text of the Congressional Record as soon as the Record is available.
- Public Agenda OnlineA great starting point for researching a range of current policy issues.
