Make sure to look in the pocket part before considering your study of a particular law complete. If there has been a change made in the last couple years, the new wording will likely be found in the pocket part, and not the main volume. How Your Congressperson Gets Information Legislators suffer from the unhappy dilemma of being starved for information at the same time they are drowning in it. Congresspeople must live and work in Washington, DC, but have to represent the views of folks in their district. Indeed, staying employed as a Congressperson means keeping the folks at home happy.
Many state legislators face a similar problem.
They live and work in state capitols such as Albany, but have to represent the views of their district far away in Brooklyn. One obvious way is to read the hometown newspapers. But while newspapers are important sources of information, the concerns of journalists aren't necessarily the concerns of ordinary folks. Yet after a while, legislators tend to confuse newspaper opinion with public opinion. So when the editorial board of your hometown newspaper goes on an anti-gun rampage, your representative starts to think the folks back home are against guns.