Unenacted federal bill
Parenthetical citation
Format
(Bill title, year)
Example
(Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act, 2023)
Reference list
Format
Bill title, H.R. or S. bill/resolution number, ### Cong. (Year). URL
Example
Preserve Access to Affordable Generics and Biosimilars Act, S. 142, 118th Cong. (2023). https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/142
Unenacted Georgia bill
The APA 7th manual does not specify a format for unenacted state bills. It defers to Bluebook legal citation for anything not included in the APA manual. I've split the difference with a parenthetical citation in a more typical APA style and Bluebook style for the reference list.
Parenthetical citation
Format
(Bill number, Year)
Example
(H.B. 129, 2023)
Reference list
Format
Bill number, ### legislature, session type. (State year).
Example
H.B. 129, 157th Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Ga. 2023).
Bluebook style uses many abbreviations. You can find the number of the legislative session on Wikipedia. Typically, your bill will be from a regular session. Occasionally, the governor recalls legislators back to a special session at another point in the year.
