FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

Legislative history is the record of legislative activity by Congress during the drafting and passage of a bill into public law. It is used by courts for evidence of Congressional purpose or intent when the language of a statute is unclear. Courts sometimes also refer to legislative history in order to confirm their interpretation of a statute and you can also use it as background information to help you understand a statute that is unclear to you. You compile a legislative history by pulling together the documents that Congress produces during the legislative process. In most cases these documents are bills, hearings, committee reports, committee prints, floor debates and presidential signing statements. To understand legislative history research, you need a basic understanding of the legislative process. If you would like to review the process as well as find descriptions of Congressional documents go to HOW OUR LAWS ARE MADE. Another excellent site is CONGRESSIONAL UNIVERSE Click on the "Overview Icon," scroll down to the "help icon" and there is a link to the "legislative process." Have your Lexis password ready for access to CONGRESSIONAL UNIVERSE

This guide is divided into three parts: Legislative History Sources, Sources for tracking pending legislation, and Sources for Individual Congressional Documents. I have also listed printed and online sources separately.

Link to the sources below to locate compilations of legislative history citations and citations to comprehensive legislative histories for public laws.

SOURCES FOR TRACKING PENDING LEGISLATION
Most of the sources listed below can also be used for compiling legislative history citations for public laws and for bills that were not enacted.

INDIVIDUAL CONGRESSIONAL DOCUMENTS

Printed Bills

Online Bills

Printed Committee Reports

Online Committee Reports

Printed Floor Debates

Online Floor Debates

Printed Hearings

Online Hearings

Printed Committee Prints

Online Committee Prints

Printed Presidential Signing or Veto Statements

Online Presidential Signing or Veto Statements

Printed Legislative History Sources
Sources listed below can be used to locate compilations of legislative histories.

CIS Legislative History

(Since 1970)
Location: 6th Floor - Main Reading Room - Library
Microforms Collection, Room 675 on 6th Floor of Library, Drawers 1- 22.

CIS, published by the Congressional Information Service, provides comprehensive
legislative history citations for public laws. it cites to bills, committee, conference reports, prints, hearings, floor debates, and presidential statements. Access to the full text of committee and conference reports, prints, and hearings is provided through the corresponding microfiche collection. From 1984 to the present, there is a separate volume for legislative histories.

United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (since 1948)
Location: 6th Floor - Main Reading Room - Library

Provides selective legislative history citations for all public laws. It includes the dates of selected floor debates and citations to and reprints of selected committee and conference reports.

Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories

, by Nancy Johnson. (1st. Congress to the 101st)
Location: 6th Floor - Reference Collection,Reference KF 42. S6

Contains sources of selected compiled legislative histories. The histories are not all comprehensive and they are generally for major pieces of legislation. For each history, it is noted which Congressional documents are reprinted and cited. It is updated periodically.

Federal Legislative Histories: An Annotated Bibliography and Index to Officially Published Sources

, Compiled by Bernard D. Reams, Jr.
Location: 6th Floor - Reference KF42.2 1994

Provides access to 255 official sources of compiled legislative histories. The Public Laws that are included begin with the 4th (1796) Congress and end with the 101 st Congress (1990). Each history is annotated and lists which Congressional documents are included.

Digest of Public General Bills, and Resolutions

, Congressional Research Service (1936-1990) Location: Microforms Collection, Room 675 on 6th Floor of Library in drawer 38 (1937-1978).

Provides a summary of the bill, legislative history notes, citations to committee and conference reports, and the dates of floor debates in the Congressional Record.

ONLINE LEGISLATIVE HISTORY SOURCES

Congressional Universe

(Since 1984)
You can access CIS legislative histories by using Congressional Universe. This is one of the most comprehensive sites for researching compiled legislative histories. Have your Lexis password ready http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp? Click on the icon for Congressional Publications .

WESTLAW


Database: LH
Contains legislative histories from USCANN since 1948.

Arnold & Porter Legislative Histories


These are compiled legislative history citations done by the law firm
of Arnold & Porter for a limited number of public laws. There is not a specific database identifier by which you can access all the histories. Each history has its own database such as the American with Disabilities act is ADA-LH. For a list of all available histories, you need to go to the Federal Materials Database, choose the Legislative History and Bill Tracking Database, than click on the Legislative History - Specific Acts Database. This will give you a list of the available histories. The histories are also available in the various topical databases.

Calendars of the US House of Representatives and History of Legislation

(since 1996)
http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/cong003.html
Provides a brief summary of the bill, citations to committee and conference reports, dates of amendments, date of passage, and date the bill was enacted.

THOMAS

(since 1994)
http://thomas.loc.gov
Provides very detailed legislative history information with citations to the floor debates, amendments, committee and conference reports, and selected hearings.

U.S. Congress by the GPO


http://www.gpoaccess.gov/legislative.html#materials
Many Congressional and legislative materials are located here. From 1993. Search engine available.

SOURCES FOR TRACKING PENDING LEGISLATION

Most of the sources listed below can also be used for compiling legislative history citations for public laws and for bills that were not enacted. Please note:

Printed Sources for Tracking Pending Legislation

(CCH) Congressional Index INDEX (since 1937)
Location: 5th. floor Law Treatises KF 4945. A65
Provides citations to committee and conference reports, dates of hearings, dates of debate and date of enactment.

Digest of Public General Bills, and Resolutions , Congressional Research Service (1936-1990)
Location: Microforms Collection, Room 675 on 6th Floor of Library in drawer 38 (1937-1978).
Provides a summary of the bill, legislative history notes, citations to committee and conference reports, and the dates of floor debates in the Congressional Record.

Online Sources for Tracking Pending Legislation

Congressional Universe(since 1989)
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp? Have your password ready.
Provides a summary of the bill, legislative history notes, citations to committee and conference reports, dates of floor debates and amendments, and the date the bill was enacted.
LEXIS: Library LEGIS
FILE: BLTRCK (Current)
BLT105 (1996-1997)
BLT104 (1995-96)
BLT103 (1993-94)
BLT102 (1991092)
BLT101 (1989-90)

Provides a summary of the bill, legislative history notes, citations to committee and conference reports, dates of floor debates and amendments, and the date the bill was enacted.

WESTLAW
US-BILLTRK (Current)

Calendars of the US House of Representatives and History of Legislation(since 1996)
http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/cong003.html
Provides a brief summary of the bill, citations to committee and conference reports, dates of amendments, date of enactment.

THOMAS(since 1994)
http://thomas.loc.gov
Provides citations to debates, amendments, committee and
conference reports. It also provides citations to companion bills.

Congressional Record Index (since 1994)
http://Thomas.loc.gov
The "History of Bills and Resolutions" section contains citations to debates, amendments, committee and conference reports.

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Printed Sources
Free copies of bills for the current Congress are available from the House and Senate Document Rooms.

Superintendent of Documents Congressional Bills and Resolutions
Location: Microforms Collection, Room 675 on 6th Floor of Library in microfiche drawer 31.

Congressional Record (selected bills)
Location: 6th Floor - Main Reading Room Library KF35.C749
The Congressional Record is also online (See under FLOOR DEBATES)

Congressional Universe (since 1989)
Click on the Icon for "Bills, Regulations and Laws""

LEXIS:Library (LEGIS)
FILE: BLTEXT (current Bills)

BLT104 (1995-96)
BLT103 (1994-94)
BLT102(1993-94)
BLT101(1991-92)
BLT101(1989-90)

WESTLAW
CONG-BILLTXT (Since 1995)
THOMAS (Since 1993)

GPO ACCESS (Since 1993)
http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/cong009.html

GPO ACCESS - (History of Bills 1983-Present)
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/hob/index.html

CIS/Index & CIS/Microfiche Library (Hearings are available since 1970)
Location: 6th Floor - Main Reading Room - Library Z1223.Z7 C66
Microforms Collection, Room 675 on 6th Floor of Library in microfiche drawers 1- 22.

Congressional Universe (Since 1988)
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp? Have Lexis password ready
Contains the full text of selected testimony. Provides the accession number and abstract for the full text of official hearings reproduced in the CIS Microfiche Collection.

LEXIS:Library: LEGIS
File: FEDNEW

Contains the full text for selected hearings since August 1988.


File: CNGTST
Contains the text of prepared testimony by witnesses since July 1993. It is not the verbatim statements by witnesses. It is the written statement that a witness submits to a congressional committee before a witness testifies. It does not contain the question and answer exchanges between Congressional members and witnesses.

WESTLAW
File: USTESTIMONY
Contains transcripts of oral and written statements for selected hearings since January 1993.

THOMAS
(http://thomas.loc.gov)
Go to link for the home pages of Congressional committees. There is selected prepared testimony by witnesses.

GPO ACCESS
(http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html)
Provides citations through the GPO Monthly Catalog.

GPO Monthly Catalog
Available since 1976 through Westlaw's Dialog gateway in the GPO-CTLG file. The Monthly Catalog provides citations to hearings.

Free copies of Committee reports for the current Congress are available
from the House and Senate Document Rooms.

CIS/Index & CIS/Microfiche Library (1970-current)
Location: 6th Floor - Main Reading Room - Library Z1223.Z7 C66 The corresponding microfiche is located in the Microforms Collection, Room 675 on 6th Floor of Library in microfiche drawers 1- 22.

United States Code Congressional & Administrative New Service (USCANN)
Location: 6th Floor - Main Reading Room - Library
Contains selected committee reports for public laws since 1948.

Congressional Record
Location: 6th Floor - Main Reading Room - Library KF 35.C749
Selected committee reports and all conference committee reports. The Congressional Record is also online. See under FLOOR DEBATES.




Online Committee Reports

Congressional Universe (Since 1990)
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp?

LEXIS: Library (LEGIS)
file: CMTRPT(since 1990)

WESTLAW
Database: LH
Contains committee reports from USCANN from 1948 to December 1989. These reports are selected only for bills that were enacted into law. Since December 1989, all committee reports are available.

THOMAS
Contains committee reports since 1995.
(http://thomas.loc.gov)

Printed Floor Debates
Congressional Record
Location: 6th Floor - Main Reading Room - Library KF 35.C749
Full text of floor debate since 1873. We have since 2/4/1977.

Online Floor Debates
Congressional Universe (Since 1985)
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp?
Have Lexis password ready

LEXIS: Library LEGIS
File: Record (since 1985)

WESTLAW
Database CR (since 1985)

THOMAS
Contains the Congressional Record since 1993.
(http://thomas.loc.gov)

GPO-ACCESS
Contains the Congressional Record since 1994.
(http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/index.html)

COMMITTEE PRINTS

Printed Committee Prints

CIS INDEX & CIS MICROFICHE LIBRARY (since 1970)
Location: 6th Floor - Main Reading Room - Library Z1223.Z7 C66
Microforms Collection, Room 675 on 6th Floor of Library in microfiche drawers 1- 22.

Online Committee Prints
Congressional Universe (Since 1995)
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp? Contains select committee prints. Provides the accession number and abstracts for the full text of committee prints reproduced in the CIS microfiche collection.
Have Lexis password ready

WESTLAW
GPO MONTHLY CATALOG
Available since 1976 through WESTLAW's gateway to DIALOG in the GPO-CTLG file. It provides citations to committee prints.

PRESIDENTIAL SIGNING OR VETO STATEMENTS

Printed Presidential Signing or Veto Statements

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents
5th Floor Law Treatises J80 .A284

Public Papers of the President (since 1977) 5th Floor Law Treatises J 80. A283

United State Code Congressional & Administrative New
Contains statements since 1986
Location: 6th Floor - Main Reading Room - Library


Online Presidential Signing or Veto Statements
GPO ACCESS (since 1995)
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/nara003.html Contains the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents since 1995.

LEXIS: Library ( LEGIS)
FILE: PRESDOC
Contains the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents since 1981.

WESTLAW
Database: WCPD
Contains the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents since January 1, 1995.

Database: LH
Contains presidential signing statements from USCANN since 1986.

For more information contact lfazzino@suffolk.edu

Last Updated: June 1, 2006. Created by Madeleine Wright.


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