H.R. 3237 (111th Congress) Title 51, United States Code National and Commercial Space Programs
	BACKGROUND & PURPOSE Over the past five decades, a substantial amount of legislation has been enacted relating to national and commercial space programs. In the United States Code, some of these provisions appear in title 15 (Commerce and Trade), some in title 42 (The Public Health and Welfare), and some in title 49 (Transportation). No distinct title for national and commercial space programs exists in the United States Code because the organizational scheme for the Code was originally established in 1926, before such programs were contemplated. The bill gathers provisions relating to national and commercial space programs, and restates the provisions as title 51, United States Code, ``National and Commercial Space Programs''. The bill does not provide for any new programs. Nor does it modify or repeal any existing programs. Rather, the bill restates existing law in a manner that adheres to the policy, intent, and purpose of the original enactments, while improving the organizational structure of the law and removing ambiguities, contradictions, and other imperfections. The bill was prepared by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives, as part of its responsibility under 2 U.S.C. 285b to submit to the Committee on the Judiciary proposed bills to enact titles of the United States Code into positive law. For more information about the process of positive law codification generally, see the brochure Positive Law Codification in the United States Code.   BILL STATUS & MAJOR ACTIONS H.R. 3237 was introduced on July 16, 2009, and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives. The Committee considered the bill in a full committee mark-up session held October 21, 2009, and ordered the bill to be reported. On November 2, 2009, the bill was reported by the Committee and placed on the House Calendar.   LINKS TO BILL & RELATED MATERIALS Links to the bill and related materials ... all PDF documents ... are provided below:                   • H.R. 3237 IH...........this is the bill as introduced on July 16, 2009.                   • Explanation...............this is the explanation prepared to accompany the bill as introduced.                   • H.R. 3237 RH..........this is the bill as reported on November 2, 2009 (identical to introduced bill, except for preliminary matter on first page).                   • H.Rept. 111-325......this is the Committee Report prepared to accompany the bill as reported.   QUESTIONS & COMMENTS Questions and comments about this legislation may be directed to:                    Robert M. Sukol, Senior Counsel                    Office of the Law Revision Counsel                    United States House of Representatives                    email: Rob Sukol      telephone: 202-226-9060