rule of thumb (was Database legislation)

Re: the discussion of where to find H.R. 354. Sometimes bills show up on Thomas by bill number before you can find them in a bill number search or in pdf format on the GPO site. If you know the bill number and you know the pattern, you can pull up the bill. Here's the rule of thumb: In general, you can find a bill at

<http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?cxxx:yy.www:>

where "xxx" is the number of the congress (here 106), "yy" is "s" or "hr" (here hr) and "www" is the bill number (here 354). Thus, H.R. 354 is at <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c106:hr.354:>.

-- 
Jessica Litman
Professor of Law, Wayne State University
litman[_at_]mindspring.com