LibGuides: Public Health: Policy & Legislation

Public Health Policy Resources

Local Health Policy Resources

US Law & Policy Resources

Government Publications can keep you up to date regarding the laws and policies in effect and in development in the United States.

Federal Register (FR)
This is the freely available electronic version of the Federal Register, the journal of the government in the United States. The Federal Register publishes proposed and final versions of administrative regulations and rules from the federal agencies. You can search by departments, agencies, topics, and more to find current news, proposals, and other documents.
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
Made available by the Government Printing Office (GPO), the Code of Federal Regulations (or CFR) is published annually and officially outlines the laws and regulations from government departments and agencies. Titles are published on a cycle.
GovInfo (formerly FDsys)
The Government Printing Office (GPO) govinfo website allows you to search through government publications produced by the U.S. government. Some of the sources you will be able to find here include the Code of Federal Regulations, Presidential Documents, Congressional Bills, Congressional Record, Economic Indicators, U.S. Code, and many more. FDsys was retired in late 2018.
Regulations.gov
Provides access to federal regulatory materials including proposed regulations. The federal regulations included span across many government agencies.

Regulations related to a specific area may be more easily located on the websites of government agencies (i.e. Food & Drug Administration, Health & Human Services, etc.). Consult the Regulations.gov page on contributing agencies for ideas on other places to look.

International Law & Policy Resources

Finding international law or policy resources may prove challenging, especially if the documents are written in another language. The following website from the Library of Congress offers a good starting point for law research from countries around the world. You can find the country or countries you are interested in to find some ideas of where to start.

Guide to Law Online: Nations
Library of Congress collection of resources to assist with doing legal research concerning other nations.

Another way to begin would be to find the official website of the country and then finding the agencies or ministries who would be in charge of the area related to your topic to find any online resources.

EUR-Lex
The EUR-Lex search provides the opportunity to search European Union law and legislation.

Legal Research

The following are two library databases for legal research that contain information related to laws, court cases, and more.

Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Nexis Uni, formerly called LexisNexis Academic, contains a variety of news and specialized sources. Users may search for: regional, national, and international news publications and wire services; US state and federal cases and statutes; company profile and dossier information by company name or ticker symbol; country profiles, risk information, and news; patent information; and biographical and news information on public figures. Topical pages include Business, Criminal Justice, and Political Science. Users may register for an account to save searches and bookmark documents, add notes, collaborate with other users, and set up alerts to track new content.
WestLawNext This link opens in a new window
WestlawNext includes the laws and statutes of the federal government and all 50 states. All precedent-setting court decisions of the federal and state courts from the National Reporter System are also included in the database. The KeyCite tool enables users to research whether a case, statute, or regulation is still good law. Reference resources in WestlawNext include American Law Reports, American Jurisprudence, and articles from hundreds of leading law reviews and journals.