About Bill Numbers and Formats

Bill Number

The number assigned to introduced legislation. Individual pieces of legislation are numbered sequentially as they are introduced. Most state sessions typically begin with the number 1 in both the house and the senate. There are some states that may start their numbering in the 1000 to 5000 range and there are rare instances where there are gaps in numbering.

Bill Number Format

The bill number format is unique to each individual bill and generally has three parts. For example:

State Abbreviation   +   Legtype   +   Bill Number

would be formatted like this:

ny   s    200

or

nys200

To check the status for more than one bill, string bills using a comma. For example, to check the status or retrieve text of New York Senate Bill Number 200 AND United States Senate Bill 134, enter the following bill numbers:

nys200,uss134

Special Session Bill Number Format

Bills from a special session are identified by the addition of a special session suffix as seen below: State Abbreviation   +   Legtype   +   Bill Number +   Special Session Suffix would be formatted like this:

us   s   2   a

So, for example, to check the status or retrieve text of United States Senate Bill Number 2 from the First Special Session, enter bill number:

uss2a

To check the status for United States Senate Bill 2 from the First Special Session AND United States Senate Bill 6 from the Second Special Session, enter bill number:

uss2a, uss6b

Special Session Suffix

LexisNexis® State Net® assigns a letter (a through y), used in alphabetical sequence, denoting special sessions held during the course of a legislative cycle. If more than one special session is held, the first special session is assigned the suffix a, the second, b, etc. The letter is added to the end of a bill number. See our 50-State Session Summary to see which states are currently holding special sessions and how many.

Multiple Active Sessions

Legislation in states with more than one active regular session is identified by the appropriate session year. This legislation would be formatted like the following:

Session Year   +   State Abbreviation   +   Legtype   +   Bill Number

would be formatted like this:

2002   nj   s   100

So, for example, to check the status or retrieve text of New Jersey Senate Bill Number 100 from the 2002 Legislative session, enter bill number:

2002 nj s 100

Executive Order Format

The executive order format has four parts. For example: EO + State Abbreviation + EO Number + Year would be formatted like this:

eo md 1 2015

Ballot Measure Format

The ballot measure format has four parts. For example: BM + State Abbreviation + BM Number + Year would be formatted like this:

bm mi 1 2015