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Office of the Law Revision Counsel

Currency and Updating

This website provides the content listed below:

Classification Tables

Current through December 7, 2012, including public laws through Pub. L. 112-207

Searchable United States Code - same database used to print the latest official Code

Code Titles & Tables Current Through Includes Public Laws Through 2006 Edition Supplement
All titles, Tables I to VI and the Table of Popular Names 1/3/2012 Pub. L. 112-90 V
Organic Laws 1/3/2007   2006 Edition

Searchable USCprelim - most current, but preliminary, version of selected titles of the Code

Code Titles Current Through Includes Public Laws Through Publication
All titles 12/07/2012 Pub. L. 112-207 2012 Main Edition

Downloadable Code - ASCII text, PDF, XHTML and GPO locator files

Code Titles & Tables Current Through Includes Public Laws Through 2006 Edition Supplement
All titles, Tables I to VI and the Table of Popular Names 1/3/2012 Pub. L. 112-90 V

Prior Searchable and Downloadable Versions of the Code

Form Edition and Supplement
Searchable 1988 Edition, Supp. II, through 2006 Edition, Supp. III (2/1/2010)
Downloadable PDF, XHTML and GPO Locators 1994 Edition through 2006 Edition, Supp. II (1/5/2009)
Downloadable CD-ROM 1998 Edition, Supp. II, through 2006 Edition, Supp. II (1/5/2009)

Currency of the Online Code

A large majority of U.S. Code sections are up-to-date just as they appear because they have not been affected by recent laws. Each section of the U.S. Code database contains a date in the top right corner indicating that laws enacted as of that date and affecting that section are included in the text of that section.The date is not necessarily an indication of when the last law affecting the section was enacted or when provisions become effective. Because the website version of the Code is updated sequentially on a title-by-title basis, some earlier titles may have a more recent currency date than later titles, so the currency date should be noted for every section retrieved.

The currency of each title included in the USCprelim is indicated above, and the date and public law number of the last update also appear in the top right corner of each section retrieved through a search of the USCprelim database.

Updating a Section

When a search for a specific section is done by entering the title and section numbers in the search boxes, in addition to the hit for the section itself, there may appear an additional hit labeled “UPDATE”.The “UPDATE” item lists public law information for laws affecting the section or notes under it since the currency date of the section. If there are no “UPDATE” hits, the section is as current as the latest law appearing in the most recent classification table.

An “UPDATE” hit retrieved through a title and section search provides the information needed to find the specific provisions of recent laws affecting the section since its last update. The public law number, section number, and Statutes at Large volume and page number are given for each provision, as well as a description of the nature of the update, such as an amendment to the section text or a new note being added.

The classification tables can also be used to find the latest laws affecting the U.S. Code. The tables show where recently enacted laws will appear in the Code and which sections of the Code have been amended by those laws. They provide a separate method of identifying any amendments to a section not already reflected in the text of that section.

The text of the public law can be found in a number of sources, such as the Government Printing Office's Federal Digital System (FDsys) at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys or the Library of Congress' THOMAS database at http://thomas.loc.gov. Keep in mind that there may be an effective date or other provision that is relevant to the section but does not appear in the list of pending updates because it is not classified to that section. Therefore, when researching a public law, it is important to consider the context of the updating provision because it may fall within the scope of an effective date provision not reflected in the list of pending updates.

Note that the “UPDATE” feature does not work with searches within the USCprelim database. To determine whether any laws have affected a title included in the USCprelim after the currency date for that title, consult the classification tables.

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