SLIP LAWS
The first official publication of the
statute is in the form generally known as the ‘‘slip law’’. In this form, each
law is published separately as an unbound pamphlet. The heading indicates the
public or private law number, the date of approval, and the bill number. The
heading of a slip law for a public law also indicates the United States Statutes
at Large citation. If the statute has been passed over the veto of the
President, or has become law without the President’s signature because he did
not return it with objections, an appropriate statement is inserted instead of
the usual notation of approval. The Office of the Federal Register, National
Archives and Records Administration prepares the slip laws and provides marginal
editorial notes giving the citations to laws mentioned in the text and other
explanatory details. The marginal notes also give the United States Code
classifications, enabling the reader immediately to determine where the statute
will appear in the Code. Each slip law also includes an informative guide to the
legislative history of the law consisting of the committee report number, the
name of the committee in each House, as well as the date of consideration and
passage in each House, with a reference to the Congressional Record by volume,
year, and date. A reference to presidential statements relating to the approval
of a bill or the veto of a bill when the veto was overridden and the bill
becomes law is included in the legislative history as a citation to the Weekly
Compilation of Presidential Documents. Copies of the slip laws are delivered to
the document rooms of both Houses where they are available to officials and the
public. They may also be obtained by annual subscription or individual purchase
from the Government Printing Office and are available in electronic form.
Section 113 of title 1 of the United States Code provides that slip laws are
competent evidence in all the federal and state courts, tribunals, and public
offices.