To direct the Librarian of Congress to promote the more cost-effective, efficient, and expanded availability of the Annotated Constitution and pocket-part supplements by replacing the hardbound versions with digital versions.
Summary
What This Bill Does
Modernizes publication of the Constitution Annotated by replacing hardbound editions with digital editions. After the October 2031 Supreme Court term and every tenth October term after that, the Librarian of Congress must prepare a digital decennial revised edition covering Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Constitution. After the October 2025 Supreme Court term and later odd-numbered terms whose final digit is not 1, the Librarian must prepare digital cumulative pocket-part supplements. The Library of Congress must make the digital editions and supplements available on a public website and ensure continuing availability to Congress and the public.
Who Benefits and How
Members of Congress, congressional staff, legal researchers, law students, educators, journalists, civic organizations, and members of the public benefit from free public website access to current Constitution Annotated materials rather than dependence on hardbound volumes. Taxpayers and congressional support offices benefit from lower printing, binding, storage, and distribution costs.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Librarian of Congress, Congressional Research Service editors, Library of Congress web teams, digital preservation staff, accessibility staff, and public-information offices must prepare, host, maintain, update, and preserve the digital editions and supplements. The Government Publishing Office, printers, binders, mailrooms, and users who prefer physical hardbound volumes lose the recurring hardbound production and distribution model after the October 2025 term.
Key Provisions
- Requires digital decennial revised editions of the Constitution Annotated starting after the October 2031 Supreme Court term.
- Requires digital cumulative pocket-part supplements starting after the October 2025 Supreme Court term for covered odd-numbered terms.
- Requires the Library of Congress to provide the digital editions and supplements on a public website.
- Requires the Librarian of Congress to ensure continuing availability to Congress and the public.
- Repeals obsolete hardbound publication and distribution requirements and ends the hardbound-only model after the October 2025 term.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Replaces hardbound Constitution Annotated decennial editions and pocket-part supplements with Library of Congress digital editions and public website access after the October 2025 and October 2031 Supreme Court terms.
Key Policy Areas
Congressional Operations, Legal Research, Digital Government
Primary Purpose
Replaces hardbound Constitution Annotated decennial editions and pocket-part supplements with Library of Congress digital editions and public website access after the October 2025 and October 2031 Supreme Court terms.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Members of Congress
- Congressional staff
- Legal researchers
- Law students
- Educators
- Journalists
- Members of the public
- Taxpayers
Identified Costs
- Librarian of Congress
- Congressional Research Service editors
- Library of Congress web teams
- Digital preservation staff
- Government Publishing Office
- Printers and binders
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
Passed HouseReceived; read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules …
Passed House (inferred from eh version)
Mrs. Bice (for herself, Mr. Morelle, Mr. Carey, and Mrs. …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Congressional Research Service editors, Library of Congress, Members of Congress
Positive-direction: Members of Congress
Negative-direction: Congressional Research Service editors, Library of Congress
Government Publishing Office
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "constitution_annotated"
- → Congressional resource explaining Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Constitution.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology