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The title display presents the official title of a bill, and short and/or popular titles if they are available.
Official Title
The THOMAS Bill Summary & Status (BSS) record provides the official title of the bill as it is introduced. All bills are assigned an official title which reflects the purpose or intent of the legislation; it often begins with the phrase "A bill to..." or "A resolution to...." Official titles may be lengthy, and may be truncated in the BSS brief display, but the entire official title for each bill appears in the full display option.
As bills pass through the legislative process, additional official titles may appear in the display: the official title as passed the House, the official title as passed the Senate, and -- if a bill passes both Houses and is enrolled -- the official title of the legislation as enacted.
Popular Titles
Popular titles are the names by which bills are referred to in the press and other popular media. Only a small number of the bills introduced are ever known by popular titles. Often several bills may share the same popular title, e.g., "Anti-Crime bill," "Contract with America bill," "Flat Tax bill."
Short Titles
In addition to an official title, a bill may be assigned one or more short titles. As the name "short title" suggests, it succinctly describes all or part of the bill's content. One bill may have a number of distinct sections, each having its own short title; thus the same bill may be assigned a number of short titles. Conversely, a number of different bills may share the same short title. As a bill passes through the legislative process, short titles are often dropped, added or changed as the content of the bill is amended, so that some short titles apply only to certain version(s) of a bill (that is, a bill at a certain stage of the legislative process). Examples of bill versions are: as introduced in House (or Senate); as reported to House (or Senate); as passed House (or Senate); as enacted (or enrolled).