STARTING LEGISLATIVE HISTORY RESEARCH

This guide will help you to locate federal legislative history documents.  In particular, it details where to locate the individual documents that comprise a legislative history. Just as important to knowing how to conduct a legislative history is understanding the legislative process and statutory interpretation.  You can find a bibliography of sources here and a comparison of government and non-government sources here, while a glossary of terms is available here.  Before conducting your research, please consider the following:

1. When starting a legislative history project, it is always a good idea to first check and see if someone has compiled a legislative history for you, see below for a listing of sources for compiled legislative histories.  There are also a lot of electronic databases that will help you gather the various documents that make up a legislative history, including Westlaw, LexisNexis, Lexis Nexis Congressional, Thomas, etc.  These databases allow you to run keyword searches and to limit your searches by particular fields such as dates or Congressional term.
2. If you are unsure how to use a particular database, please consult a reference librarian.  There are also various web-based guides to help you with your research.  For instance, UC Berkeley has a wonderful web tutorial for how to use the Thomas database here.  Westlaw and Lexis also have web tutorials and guides.
3. This guide only covers federal legislative history documents.  If you are interested in state legislative history materials, please consult a reference librarian.  A keyword search in MORRIS of the state and "legislative history" will help in locate print research guides.  In addition, the University of Indiana has a wonderful online state-by-state guide on legislative history research here. 
4. If you are interested in secondary commentary on particular pieces of legislation, consider the following databases:
   
   • Congressional Quarterly: Legislative news and analysis from Congressional Quarterly
   • The New Republic: Journal of politics and culture
   • Index to Legal Periodicals: Index of law review articles 1918 - present, including, but not limited to, Harvard Journal on Legislation, Journal of Legislation, New York University Journal of Legislation and Public Policy.
   • Jstor: Contains scholarly articles in the area of law and political science.
   • New York Times and Washington Post

PUBLISHED LEGISLATIVE HISTORIES
Johnson, Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories, at the Reference Desk and on HeinOnline

Union List of Legislative Histories, 7th ed. at the Reference Desk and Online

Reams, Federal Legislative Histories: an Annotated Bibliography and Index to Officially Published Sources, at the Reference Desk

Individually published histories, commercial or congressional, in stacks.  Search morris: Keyword search using the bill title and " Legislative and History"

CIS Annual Legislative Histories in L3 reading room and online at Lexis or LexisNexis Congressional.  Also check Congressional Research Service Reports (CRS), which are also available online at LexisNexis and LexisNexis Congressional

INDIVIDUAL LEGISLATIVE DOCUMENTS: WHERE TO FIND THEM

PUBLIC LAW
(Pub. L. after 1957 or c. through 1956 — printed in Stat.)
Statues at Large contains all of the public and private bills passed by both houses that become law. This is the only source for laws that are not codified in the U.S. Code, e.g. appropriations laws. Stat. is available:

Print (L3 source cite room in Statutes at Large) and HeinOnline	1789 – date
PDF images (Lexis)	1789 – date (PDF) 1987 - date (electronic text)
Electronic text (Westlaw)	1973 – date
PDF Images  (U.S. GPO)	1995 - date

A commercial reprint of Stat. is part of United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN ).  Also included in USCCAN are notable committee reports and other significant legislative history. USCCAN (1941 – date) is on l3 and online on Westlaw (more comprehensive starting 1990 - date).

BILL (H.R. or S.)
Each printed version usually has some changes, allowing comparisons and illuminating choices made as the legislation developed. Varieties include: bill print, reported version, engrossed version/act version and the enrolled version.   For bills issued between 1874 - 1932, see a reference librarian.  To track changes in legislation, GovTrack will help.   xxx = Number of Congress

LoC American Memory web site	(House 1799-1873)  (Senate 1819-1873)
CIS fiche set (UES law library)	1933 – 1979
GPO fiche (UES law library)	1979 – date
Thomas	1989 - date
U.S. GPO (PDF) website	1993 – date
Lexis: LEGIS;BLTxxx	1989 – date
Westlaw (from Thomas): CONG-BILLTXTxxx	1995 – date

 

COMMITTEE PRINT
Committee prints can be anything a committee wants to print – usually a version of a bill or a study that relates to pending legislation, but sometimes an interesting book or report.

LexisNexis Congressional	1830 - present
Print (top two shelves, UES in law library)	various (mid 1940s – mid 1970s)
CIS fiche set (UES in law library)	1970 – date
Lexis & Westlaw	various (mid 1980s – date)
Committee web sites or U.S. GPO	various (begins late 1990s)

HEARINGS
Hearings come in several varieties—legislative and oversight are most common—and any hearing can be published or unpublished. Only hearings ordered published are "published," unpublished hearings are available in the CIS unpublished hearings collection.

CIS unpublished hearings fiche set (Mudd)	1789 – date
LexisNexis Congressional	1824 – date
CIS fiche set (UES in law library)	1970 – date
Print (top two shelves, UES in law library)	various (1940s –1970s)
Thomas, Committee web sites House or Senate, or U.S. GPO Access	various (begins late 1990s)
Lexis/Westlaw( unofficial transcripts from selected hearings)	(mid 1980s – date)  daily updates

          
COMMITTEE REPORT (H.Rpt. or S.Rpt)

American State Papers (L5 law library  and Online)	1789 – 1816
United States Serial Set (Mudd)	1817 – date
United States Serial Set (online)	1817 –(Until 1980 Readex, Until present LexisNexis Congressional)
LoC American Memory web site	1823 – 1873
USCCAN, selective coverage  (Print and Online via Westlaw)	1941 - date
CIS fiche set (UES in law library)	1970 – date
Thomas/U.S. GPO	1995 – date
LexisNexis	1990 – date
Westlaw: LH	(1948 -1949 USCCAN reprint) 1990 – date

FLOOR DEBATES (Cong. Rec.)
There are two Congressional Records — a daily edition and a permanent edition. The pagination is not the same and there is no cross-reference table. Each version contains the proceedings of Congress, separated by chamber. The daily edition has four sections: Senate, House, Extension of Remarks and Daily Digest. At the close of a congress, the dailies are compiled in to the permanent (hard-bound) edition. The permanent edition lacks the daily digests, but includes an index.

Fiche (Permanent Ed., UES law library) and Online via HeinOnline	1873 – date
LexisNexis Congressional (Permanent Ed.)	1873 – 1997
Thomas (Cong. Rec. Daily Ed.)	1989 - date
Westlaw & Lexis (Daily Ed.)	1985 – date
U.S. GPO online (Daily Ed.)	1994 – date

Predecessors to the Congressional Record are the  Annals of Congress  (1789 - 1824),  Register of debates (1824 - 1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833 – 1873). These are all available in the Library of Congress' web collection, A Century of Lawmaking.  See also HeinOnline.

MINUTES (House or Senate Journal, House Calendars, Senate Calendar of Business)
Not usually as helpful as the Congressional Record, the Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States contains the "minutes" of each chamber's session. It is the official, constitutionally required record of the business of Congress.

Fiche (UES law library)	1983 - date
U.S. GPO online	1981 - date

See also the Maclay's Journal of Senate Proceedings (1789-1791), since Senate sessions were closed to the public until 1795, his is one of the few accounts of Senate floor activity in the early Congresses.  It is available in the Library of Congress' web collection, A Century of Lawmaking.

SIGNING STATEMENTS (Public Papers of the Presidents & Weekly Compilation of Pres. Documents)
When the President makes a statement when he signs a bill into law, it is printed here.

Public papers in print and PDF on HeinOnline	1789 - date
USCCAN	1941 - date
Lexis	1979 - date
Weekly Comp. Online from GPO	1993 - date
Westlaw: WCPD	1995 - date

 

OTHER NOTEWORTHY DOCUMENTS

House and Senate Documents (H. or S. Doc.)
Special reports issued by the entire body, not a committee. Includes commemorative items and reference materials, e.g. an annotated U.S. Constitution and a pictorial directory.

Senate Executive Documents (S. Exec. Doc.)
Assigned a letter not a number, these are generally the text of treaties referred by the President. Ceased in 1981, replaced by Senate Treaty Documents.

Senate Treaty Documents (S. Treaty Doc.)
Numbered sequentially within a session. NB: Treaties don't "die" when a congress ends, they remain available for ratification by subsequent congresses.

Senate Executive Report (S. Exec. Rpt.)
Committee report on whether or not to ratify a treaty or approve a nomination.