AGLC4 Rule 25.6.2: Bills and Resolutions

A bill gives its title, the chamber abbreviation and bill number, the ordinal Congress and the year. A resolution gives its optional title, the resolution type abbreviation and number, the ordinal Congress and the year. A Statutes at Large or Congressional Record citation may be inserted before the year where the resolution is hard to find, and a Daily Edition citation replaces the year with its full date.

AGLC4 page 287

Format

Quoted from the Guide, page 287
Bill Title, Abbreviated Name of Chamber Number of Bill, Ordinal Number of Congress Congress (Year).
Resolution Title, Abbreviated Type of Resolution Res Resolution Number, Ordinal Number of Congress Congress (Year).

A boxed element is filled in with the source's details; everything outside a box is written exactly as shown.

Formatting

  • Bill and resolution titles are roman, not italic, and are followed by a comma.
  • House of Representatives is HR and Senate is S; resolution types use the abbreviations in the table.
  • The chamber or resolution type abbreviation is followed by a space and the number, then a comma.
  • The Congress is an ordinal with a superscript ending, a space and the word Congress.
  • The year follows in round brackets, and is kept even when the title contains a year.
  • An inserted Statutes at Large or Congressional Record citation follows the Congress after a comma and precedes the year bracket.
  • A resolution title may be omitted, in which case the citation begins with the resolution type abbreviation.

Examples

Quoted from the Guide, page 287
  1. 85
    Guam Commonwealth Act, HR 100, 105th Congress (1997).
  2. 86
    Resolution Condemning the Taliban Regime and Supporting a Broad Based Government in Afghanistan, H Con Res 336, 105th Congress (1998).
  3. 87
    Authorization for Use of Military Force against Iraq Resolution of 2002, HRJ Res 114, 107th Congress (2002).
  4. 88
    Joint Resolution Providing for the Acquisition of Certain Lands in the State of California, HRJ Res 10, 56th Congress, 31 Stat 711 (1900).
  5. 89
    HR Res 1010, 111th Congress, 156 Congressional Record H118 (daily ed, 13 January 2010).

Forms in the rule

Quoted from the Guide, page 287
  • HR
  • S

Types of congressional resolution and their abbreviations

Quoted from the Guide, page 287
Type of ResolutionAbbreviation
House ResolutionHR Res
Senate ResolutionS Res
House Concurrent ResolutionHR Con Res
Senate Concurrent ResolutionS Con Res
House Joint ResolutionHRJ Res
Senate Joint ResolutionSJ Res
Senate Executive ResolutionS Exec Res

See also

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Formats, examples, passages, tables and the forms marked Not are quoted from the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (4th ed, Melbourne University Law Review Association, 2018), with the page of the Guide they appear on. Titles, summaries and explanations are our own.