Michigan State University Libraries

Administrative Law: Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations

• How the Sausage is Made
  
  Chart of the regulatory process from ProPublica
• Interactive Guide to the Federal Register
  
  How to read a federal register notice.
• OMB Watch Regulatory Resource Center
  
  "The Regulatory Resource Center is designed to educate citizens on how they can become involved in the regulatory process (Advocacy Center) and to inform the public about the workings of the regulatory process (Policy Library)." Provides an excellent overview of the regulatory process, researching regulations and additional reference material.
• Reginfo.gov
  
  Information on regulatory information and process from the the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA). "GSA's Regulatory Information Service Center (RISC) is responsible for gathering and publishing information on Federal regulations through the semiannual Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions and the annual Regulatory Plan..."

• Code of Federal Regulations (1996-present)
  
  The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is a codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the Executive departments and agencies of the Federal government.
  Official version from the Government Printing Office. Free to all.
  
  
  • Search the Code of Federal Regulations. Identify the relevant CFR title(s) and part(s). Note the date of the CFR issue (given as the revision date in the upper left corner of the document).
    
  • Browse the latest issue of the List of Sections Affected (LSA) for references to the CFR title(s) and part(s) identified above. The numbers are the pages in the Federal Register which contain changes to the particular CFR title(s) and part(s).
  • Go to the Current List of CFR Parts Affected to identify changes made since the last monthly issue of the LSA. Bringing the information up-to-date without gapa requires that you search Last Month's List of CFR Parts Affected and the List of CFR Parts Affected Today as well.
  • Search the Federal Register for the page numbers identified in steps 2 and 3 above. Make sure the correct FR volume and year are selected.
  • To find proposed rules and regulations still open for comment, use Regulations.gov. This also allows you to submit electronic comments for some rules. The Advanced Search feature allows searching by CFR citation. Otherwise, browse by agency or subject category or do a keyword search.
• E-CFR
  
  The Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR) is a prototype of a currently updated version of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The e-CFR prototype is a demonstration project. It is not an official legal edition of the CFR.
• HeinOnLine
  
  This version is not the official, legal version, but has an almost complete set of historical regulations.
  
  Code of Federal Regulations (1938-1986, 2006-2007)
  Code of Federal Regulations - List of Sections Affected (1960-1980)
  Federal Register (Vols. 1-72#210 (1936-2007)
  Federal Register Indexes (Indexes to Vols. 1-71 (1939-2006))
• LexisNexis Congressional
  
  This version is not the official, legal version, but is easier to search and updated more frequently than the GPO Access site.
  
  
  • Connect to LexisNexis Congressional. Select Regulations.
  • Enter keywords to search the Code of Federal Regulations by topic. The date of last update and CFR citation is at the top of each CFR section retrieved. Make a note of these as this information will be required for updating the CFR.
  • Select the Get a document tab. Select Federal Register in the drop down menu. Select CFR in the second drop down menu. Enter the citation for the CFR sections you want to update.
  • Search results from the Federal Register will be presented in reverse chronological order. Only those published after the date of the last update of the CFR sections found in step 2 need to be considered.

• Sources
  
  
• • Federal Register
    
    3West microfiche; AE 2.106:
  • Code of Federal Regulations
    
    Current edition in paper in Main Library Reference; earlier in 3West microfiche AE 2.106/3:
  • List of Sections Affected
    
    Microfiche; filed in a binder after the print volumes of the CFR.
  • CIS Federal Register Index
    
    1984-1998 Gov. Docs./Reference
• Finding current rules and regulations
  
  1. Use the Code of Federal Regulations Index volume to find the appropriate title(s) and part(s). Note the date of the CFR volume containing the regulations.
  
  2. Browse the latest issue of the List of Sections Affected (LSA) for references to the CFR title(s) and part(s) identified above. The numbers are the pages in the Federal Register which contain changes to the particular CFR title(s) and part(s).
  
  3. Update that information by using the "CFR Parts Affected" table in the "Reader Aids" section of the most recent issue of the Federal Register. (This table covers only the current month. If you need to check changes made in earlier months, go to the last Federal Register issued for that month.)

• Going from the law to the CFR
  
  Use the index volume of the CFR, labeled "CFR Index and Finding Aids." The "Parallel Table of Authorities and Rules" gives the following cross-references:
  
  United States Code (USC) to CFR
  Statutes at Large (Stat.) to CFR
  Public Law (PL) to CFR
  Presidential Documents to CFR
  
• Going from the CFR to the law
  
  In the table of contents to the subparts of each CFR title you will find the following citations:
  
  Authority: Gives Statutes at Large, United States Code, and Public Law citations for enabling legislation.
  Source: Federal Register volume, page and date.
  
• Going from the Federal Register to the CFR and vice versa
  
  Each rule and proposed rule in the Federal Register gives CFR citation.
  CFR sections will give a reference to the Federal Register.

• Office of the Federal Register Public Inspection Desk
  
  Provides access to documents that will be published in tomorrow's Federal Register.
• Regulations.gov
  
  Find proposed rules and regulations still open for comment using this site. This also allows you to submit electronic comments for some rules
• Federal E-Rulemaking Sites
  
  Most of these sites offer the text of Proposed and Final Rules, along with other regulatory information, and some enable the public to comment online.
• Unified Agenda
  
  Published twice a year; contains each agency's projected regulatory activity for the next six months.