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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.

Printed Legislative History Sources
Online Legislative History Sources





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.


Printed Tracking Sources
Online Tracking Sources

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.
    Back to the Top

    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:

    You can access information regarding the status of a bill by calling the Congressgional LEGIS Staff. Their information dates back to 1979. (202) 225-1772




    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)


    Provides brief information on the status of a bill. It does not include citations to floor debates or committee reports.

      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.

      Back to the top


    INDIVIDUAL CONGRESSIONAL DOCUMENTS
    BILLS

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

    House Document Room (202) 225-3456
    Senate Document Room (202) 224-7860

      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)

    Online sources for bills

      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

    Printed Hearings

      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.

    Online Hearings Sources

      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.

    Printed Committee Reports

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

    House Document Room: (202) 225-3456
    Senate Document Room: (202) 225-3456

      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

      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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