Breaking it Down: LawTrack

• What is LawTrack?
• How can I use LawTrack?
  • Example
  • Conducting a Search
  • Finding the Impact
• Setting an Alert

What is LawTrack?

LawTrack is a unique CQ feature that allows you to see how pending federal bills will affect existing federal laws, making it easy to identify and track potential changes to US law or code.

Not only does LawTrack offer a summary of potential changes to US law or code, but it also allows you to drill down into the ramifications of a pending bill line-by-line in the section of the code or U.S. public law it would modify.

How can I use LawTrack?

Example

Say, for example, we wanted to understand how PL 116-92 (the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act) may be impacted by pending legislation. After searching for PL 116-92 in LawTrack, we’ll find:

1. Bill details, such as the name, title, sponsors, cosponsors and introduction date. 
2. A summary of the pending bills that would affect this law and the number of changes.
   
3. Public laws that changed this law since first enacted, and laws this law has changed.
   
4. By clicking yellow text to the right of the pending bills that may affect PL-116-92, you can see the exact impact, line-by-line, that the bill will have on the law you’ve selected (as shown below).
   

Or, if we were looking for the impact a pending bill such as HR3684, may have on current laws or US code, we would find:

1. Bill details.
2. A summary of the number of laws and number of changes this bill may have if passed. 
   
3. Details on the specific sections of the code or U.S. public law it would modify, line-by-line. 

Conducting a Search

LawTrack allows you to search by the following criteria:

1. Public Law or US Code: Type in name or number of a law or US code to see how it may be affected by pending legislation.
2. Words in Law Text: Type in keywords you wish to locate in law text to see how those laws may be affected by pending legislation.
3. Bills: Type the name or number of the bill(s) you’re tracking to see what current laws or code they may affect. 

When using the LawTrack search fields, wait to let the system pull your results before clicking enter. A dropdown will appear with your selected law, code, word or bill - when it does, click it to select it for your search.

Finding the Impact

Once you've conducted a search, click "Find Impact" and take a look at the summary section. This includes bill details, the overall number changes a pending bill may have on an existing law, and vice versa.

Then, you can dive deeper. Click the orange text to view the text of a bill, past or pending, and the specific section of the code or U.S. public law it would modify line-by-line.

Setting an Alert

To track pending bills that may affect laws or US code you care about, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to ‘Create → Alert’ in the upper left hand corner.
2. Select ‘Bills’ as your alert type; click continue.
3. Select “Alert me to bills I might want to track” as the type of alert you’d like to receive; click continue.
4. Select ‘Laws’ under “Find bills by one of the following.”
5. Enter the law number you wish to track; click continue.
6. Enter an alert name, delivery frequency, and click continue. All set!