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Generally, the laws passed by legislatures deal with complex subjects and contain no detailed provisions on how they are to be implemented or enforced. Administrative agencies, both federal and state, are authorized by law to issue rules, policies, and procedural guidelines to enforce the statutes within their jurisdiction. These rules or regulations have the same legally binding effect as the statutes. Like the statutes, regulations are published in two ways: in chronological order and by subject matter.
The Federal Register (FR) is the official daily publication from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). It publishes federal agency rules and regulations arranged in chronological order, including proposed rules and rulemaking notices.
Each issue is organized into the following categories:
The Table of Contents is alphabetically arranged by agency and lists each document with its corresponding page reference. There is a separate cumulative subject index to the Federal Register which is published every month. The Federal Register's companion publication is the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). Each regulation published in the Federal Register contains a preamble and citations to the CFR to help researchers keep track of the changes in the CFR. The CFR also has a List of CFR Sections Affected (LSA), published every month. The LSA contains a numerical listing of changes to the CFR.
Locations:
The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the official source for complete text of federal agency regulations. It is organized by subject matter and divided into 50 titles covering broad areas of federal administrative regulations. Each title contains the regulations arranged according to the agency issuing them and is further divided into chapters. Each chapter contains the regulations of a specific agency and is subdivided into parts and sections. Each part contains an "Authority" note that cites to the statutes or executive orders authorizing the issuance of the regulation in that part. Each part also contains a "Source" note that cites to the particular issue of the Federal Register where the regulation was last published in full. If individual sections have been amended or added later, a separate source note is listed. Some title numbers of the CFR parallel those of the USC; other titles do not.
The CFR is updated and published once a year in print and microfiche; the online formats are updated more often (see below). In the print format the appropriate revision date of the CFR is printed on the front cover of each volume.
Locations:
Use the CFR Index and Finding Aids volume published with the CFR. It is revised annually and covers regulations currently codified in the CFR. The index entries are listed by name of the agency issuing the regulations and by subject matter. The descriptive entries provide references to the CFR title and part number (sometimes a section number also). For example:
8 CFR 500 refers to Title 8, Part 500, of the CFR.
The index volume also includes a list of agency-prepared indexes appearing in individual CFR volumes; a parallel table of authorities and rules which include statutory citations for the regulations codified in the CFR; a list of CFR titles, chapters, subchapters, and parts; and an alphabetical list of agencies appearing in the CFR.
West's Code of Federal Regulations General Indx [KF70 .A34 W47] provides a more detailed index than the one included with the CFR. References are to specific sections, rather than to parts. It is republished annually to reflect changes that took place in the previous year. Unfortunately, there are no specialized indexes such as those found in the old CIS Index to the Code of Federal Regulations, which has not been published since 1999.
Both the United States Code Annotated (USCA) and the United States Code Service (USCS) can be used to quickly locate regulations relating to particular subject. They provide citations to related regulations in the annotations following a given code section.
Specialized loose-leaf services can be used to find the most recent version of a regulation on a particular subject. These services often contain helpful tables and finding aids for locating current regulations related to the subject covered in the loose-leaf service. For example, the CCH Standard Federal Tax Reporter contains current tax regulations. These loose-leafs can be located in LEOPac.
Be sure to check if there are any recent changes to the regulations you found. To do this follow these steps:
California regulations are promulgated similarly to the federal regulations. State agencies enact the enabling rules necessary to effectuate the statutes passed by the California Legislature. Notices of rulemaking and the actual rules are first published in the California Register:
The California Code of Regulations [KFC35 .A224] is a loose-leaf publication. New regulations are filed weekly to keep it up-to-date. Prior versions are available on microfiche. The C.C.R. has subject index for the entire code as well as indexes for individual titles.
The California Regulatory Notice Register [KFC36 .C3, January 1996-present] provides notice of agency activities, such as meetings and proposed regulations.
California Code of Regulations: http://www.ccr.oal.ca.gov
Searchable version with an online tutorial on how to use this site.
Posted 2 Oct. 2004; revised 2 Oct. 2007