Local Access to Courts Act
Adds College Station, Texas, and El Centro, California, to the places where federal court can sit.
What this law changes
From a secondary sourceAdds College Station, Texas, and El Centro, California, to the places where federal court can sit.
This account is written from the official description of the bill.
Transparency Score
The Transparency Score is the share of this law’s dollars that goes to what the law says it is for.
Transparency Score
Share of the text within the stated purpose:Not checked yetThe text of this law provides and authorizes no dollar amount. The score is the share of its text within the stated intent. That share is "Not checked yet": no reading of this law is approved by a person yet.
How this is counted
- Transparency Score: dollars in sections a person approved as within the stated intent, divided by total dollars in the law. Shown as a percentage. Higher means more of the money goes to what the law says it is for.
- Beside it, the same two numbers the other way round: total dollars divided by dollars within the stated intent. 1.00 means every dollar is within the stated intent. When no dollar is within the stated intent this ratio cannot be computed, and the answer says so.
- Total dollars: appropriated dollars plus authorized dollars, read from the law's text by the rules below. Dollars in a section whose reading is unclear or was not read count in the total and are shown apart as unclear.
- A law whose text provides and authorizes no dollar amount reads "No money in this law". Its score is the share of its words that are in sections within the stated intent.
- The score reads "Not checked yet" until a person approves the law's reading of which sections are within the stated intent. The dollar totals need no reading and are shown before that.
- The dollar totals read "Not checked yet" when more than 10 percent of the dollars read could not be sorted by the rules.
- Every dollar amount in our saved text of the law is read: "$1,234,567", "$5 billion", "$2.5 million". Margin notes, page marks and the table of contents are left out. Each amount is kept with the words printed around it.
- Appropriated: the sentence says "there is appropriated", "is hereby appropriated" or "out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated"; or the amount is the one an appropriations paragraph ("For ..., $X") provides under an account heading of an appropriations act.
- Authorized: the sentence says "authorized to be appropriated". An authorization lets a later law provide the money. It provides none itself.
- A list under such a sentence ("there is appropriated the following: (1) ...; (2) ..."): an amount that begins an item is counted the same way as the sentence says, unless the sentence gives a total first. Then the items are parts of that total.
- "$X for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2030" is counted as X times the number of years named (here 5). The yearly figure, the years and the product are all kept. "For each fiscal year" with no years named is counted once, and the answer says so.
- Open-ended: "such sums as may be necessary" names no amount. It is counted as an item and adds no dollars.
- Rescinded: "is hereby rescinded", "permanently cancelled", or an item of a list headed "the following funds are hereby rescinded". Shown apart. Not subtracted from the total.
- Not spending, and left out of the total: an amount after "not to exceed", "not more than", "up to", "less than", "in excess of" and like words; a fine or penalty; a limit the law raises ("the limitation is increased by $X"); a figure the law strikes from another law; and a figure inside words it writes into another law ("striking $X and inserting $Y"), unless the same sentence says the figure is authorized or appropriated.
- Counted once: an amount after "of which", after "Provided, That", or after "of the amounts made available" is a part of a total already counted. Where a paragraph ends "in all, $X", that total is counted and the amounts before it are its parts.
- An amount the rules cannot sort is "not classified". It is listed with its words and left out of the total. Nothing is guessed.
- Total dollars: appropriated dollars plus authorized dollars. The two are also shown apart.
What the law says it is for
Confirmed from the official recordThese are the law’s own words, and the words of Congress’s records, about what the law is for.
Official title
“To clarify where court may be held for certain district courts in Texas and California.”
The words under "An Act", Public Law 119-109, official text · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint 3ffddf53e461b336
Short title
“Local Access to Courts Act”
The sentence that names the Act, Public Law 119-109, official text · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint 3ffddf53e461b336
Short title
“LACA”
The sentence that names the Act, Public Law 119-109, official text · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint 3ffddf53e461b336
Congress's summary · Congressional Research Service
“Local Access to Courts Act or LACA This act adds College Station to the list of places where court must be held in the Galveston Division of the Southern District of Texas. Additionally, the act adds El Centro to the list of places where court must be held in the Southern District of California.”
Summary of the version: Public Law, Congressional Research Service summary: Public Law · Saved October 6, 2026 · Fingerprint 798c3abe13ad84fe
The law has no findings or purpose section.
The bill's record names no committee report.
Dollars in this law
Confirmed from the official recordThe text of this law provides and authorizes no dollar amount.
Source: Public Law 119-109, official text · Saved October 5, 2026 · Fingerprint 3ffddf53e461b336
Other measures
Each measure has its own status. None is added into the score.
- Dollars in sections added along the way
- No money in this law
- Member-requested dollars as a share of appropriated dollars
- Not checked yet
No list of member-requested spending is printed in the 19 official records saved for this law, and no committee report says there is none.
- Open-ended amounts (“such sums as may be necessary”)
- 0 passagesConfirmed from the official record
- Other bills whose text this law contains
- 0 billsConfirmed from the official record
- How the House passed it
- Recorded vote: 378 Yes, 10 No, 0 Present, 42 Did not vote, August 31, 2026Confirmed from the official record
- How the Senate passed it
- Unanimous consent, February 12, 2025Confirmed from the official record
- Committee report saved
- None in the official recordConfirmed from the official record
The bill's official record names no committee report.
- Hearing saved
- None in the official recordConfirmed from the official record
The bill's official record names no hearing.
A voice vote or unanimous consent leaves no record of how each member voted.
How these are counted
- Added along the way, sections: sections of the final law marked "added later", divided by the sections compared.
- Added along the way, words: words in those sections, divided by the words in the sections compared.
- Each text is read as a list of words. A run is 5 words in a row. For each section of the final law we count the share of its runs that appear anywhere in the first published text of the bill. 90 percent or more: in the first text. From 20 to 90 percent: changed. Under 20 percent: added later. A section with fewer than 20 words is not compared.
- Sections outside the stated intent: sections a person approved as outside the stated intent, divided by the sections read. The same count is given in words.
- Member-requested spending: the number of items in the lists Congress printed for the law, and the sum of their dollar amounts.
- A part that is not checked yet is shown as "Not checked yet". It is never counted as zero. No single blended number is given.
Added along the way
Confirmed from the official record0 of the 2 sections compared are added after the first published text of the bill. None is changed. 2 are in the first text. 1 heading or short section is too short to compare.
A section counts as added later when under 20 percent of its wording appears in the first published text.
The first published text (Introduced in Senate, January 8, 2025): S. 32, Introduced in Senate · Saved October 7, 2026 · Fingerprint 5629b5ee9f5ecb2c
Published texts of this bill, in order: Introduced in Senate (January 8, 2025), Engrossed in Senate (February 12, 2025), Enrolled Bill.
Sections added later
No section compared is added later.
Amendments adopted
The record lists no adopted amendment to this bill.
Other bills whose text this law contains
The Congressional Research Service marks no other bill as one whose text this law contains.
Member-requested spending
No list foundNo list of member-requested spending is printed in the 19 official records saved for this law, and no committee report says there is none.
Sections outside the stated intent
Not checked yetA person reviews each reading before it appears here.
On the record
On the record: Not started.
Press releases by members of Congress
No saved press release names this law.
Read from 539 of 539 members' sites, releases since January 3, 2025, through October 7, 2026.
Press releases by organizations
No saved press release from these organizations names this law.
Read from 510 of 510 organizations' sites, releases since January 3, 2025, through October 7, 2026.
What it touches
Kind of law: New or changed rules. Budget effect: No direct effect on agency budgets.
Government
- Justice and enforcement
- Service delivery
The economy
- No direct economic effect
Daily life
- Courts and legal rights
Agencies it funds or directs
Dollar amounts:Not checked yetHow it passed
The Senate passed it without objection on February 12, 2025. No individual votes are recorded.
The House passed it 378 to 10 on August 31, 2026, with 42 members who did not vote.
The question on the official record: House, “On Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass”.
| Chamber and party | Yes | No | Present | Did not vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| House Republicans | 186 | 10 | 0 | 21 |
| House Democrats | 191 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| House independents | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
How each member votes
The Senate passed this law without objection, so only House members have a recorded vote.
Pick a state to see how its members vote on this law, or show all states. Enter a ZIP code to see your own officials first.
Where this comes from
We saved our own copy of each official vote file listed here before writing this page.