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LEGISLATIVE HISTORY - FEDERAL

Legislative history is the process of following a bill through its life in Congress and analyzing the documents associated with that bill which are created during the process. Legislative history may be done on bills that are enacted into law and those that are not. The documents that are part of a legislative history are often consulted in the hope that the intent of Congress may be determined and thus aid in the interpretation of a law.

The main components of a legislative history usually include:

• Committee Reports
• Various versions of the bill and amendments made to them
• Remarks on the floor of the House and Senate chambers reported in the Congressional Record
• Committee Hearings

Other types of Congressional publications that are often included in Legislative history compilations are House and Senate Documents and Committee Prints. House and Senate Documents include special reports from executive agencies, committee activity reports, committee sponsored special studies not issued as Committee Prints, annual reports of certain patriotic groups, and memorial tributes. Committee Prints can contain anything relevant to the legislative and oversight functions of Congress. Examples of committee print content include research papers by committee staff, Congressional Research Service experts, or outside consultants; committee rules and calendars; compilations of laws; transcripts of markup sessions or other proceedings; and legislative descriptions and analyses. Both Documents and Committee Prints can be found using LexisNexis Congressional available through the MLIC homepage, Reference Tools, Electronic Subscription list. The MLIC has microfiche of these publications from 1969 to current. Some are available full-text on free internet sites such as GPO Access: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cprints/index.html and http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/cdocuments/index.html

Resources included in this pathfinder are those which the Mabee Legal Information Center holds in print, microform or electronic formats. McFarlin Library holds much of the Serial Set (Congressional reports, prints, other documents bound and issued for each Congressional Session) in print, as well as many other older Congressional documents in print.

Compiled Legislative Histories

Compiling legislative histories is a very labor-intensive activity. It can consume time and tedious effort. Occasionally, that effort may already have been done. The following are sources to check to see if a legislative history has previously been compiled for the legislation that is of interest to you.

• United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCAAN) has since 1941 been a source for selected reports for enacted legislation. Located in the 2nd Floor Reading Room shelves, 212A and 212B.
• Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories: A Bibliography of Government Documents, Periodical Articles, and Books. 1st Congress - 107th Congress. Lists sources that contain either the text or citations to legislative history documents. Located at the 2nd floor Reference Desk
  • Online version see HeinOnLine - U.S. Federal Legislative History Library
• Federal Legislative Histories: An Annotated Bibliography and Index to Officially Published Sources - Lists legislative histories compiled by Congress or Executive Agencies between 1796 and 1990. Located in the Reference Collection with the call number REF/KF/42.2/.R32/1994
  • Online version see HeinOnLine - U.S. Federal Legislative History Library
• Keyword searching of the online catalog using words from a specific act and "legislative history" will lead to some compiled legislative histories for individual acts. Example: the words patriot and legislative history will produce the record for:
  • USA Patriot Act: a legislative history of the Uniting and Strengthening of America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, Public Law no. 107-56 (2001) REF/KF/9430/.A316/U83/2002. LEXIS and WESTLAW both have databases of legislative history material. Legislative history information is available in full-text for laws on a variety of topics.
• Lexis/Nexis Congressional contains compiled legislative histories, 1969 to date. Access to Lexis/Nexis Congressional is available through the Electronic Subscriptions listed under Research Tools on the MLIC homepage.
• Union List of Legislative Histories provides a listing by Public Law number of legislative histories compiled by Washington, D.C. libraries in law firms, law schools, courts, or federal agencies. REF/KF/4.U55/2000

Bills

Congressional bills often have various versions. The following sources will provide access to the versions of bills.

• Microfiche: 96th Congress to date. Accompanied by a Paper Cumulative Finding Aid to locate specific bills by number. Located in Microfiche cabinet no.7 and drawers A-H.

• Internet
  • Library of Congress. A Century of Lawmaking, United States Congressional Serial Set. Bills and resolutions 6th - 42nd Congresses http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwhbsb.html
  • GPO Access, 1993 to date. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/bills/index.html
  • Thomas, 1989 to date. http://thomas.loc.gov/home/bills_res.html
  • Lexis/Nexis Congressional, 1989 to date. [Access this source through the list of electronic resources on the library's homepage, or http://www.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp]
  • Lexis - 101st Congress, 1989 to date, Location trail, Federal Legal - U.S./Archived Bill Text & Tracking Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K./U.S. Congress/Full Text of Bills - Historical
  • Westlaw - 104th Congress to date, located in database CONG-BILLTXT(#of Congress)

Committee Hearings

After bills are introduced in a Congress, they are assigned to an appropriate committee. If the bill is significant the committee will hold hearings to get views of interested parties as well as the opinions of experts in the focus area of the bill. Hearings are often less useful for determining intent because they are held to solicit information that may or may not be reflected in the language of the bill that comes out of committee. They are useful to reflect the political, economic, scientific, or social atmosphere that exists at the time the bill was introduced.

• LexisNexis Congressional Microfiche Collection, 1969-present
• LexisNexis Congressional online service - Index to Hearings covers 1789 to present. Text of hearings (selected transcripts or abstracts only) 1988 to present.
• Internet access
• GPO Access. 1995 to date, 104th Congress to date. (Selective) Source of published hearings. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/chearings/
• Lexis - Selected transcripts, 1988 to date. Location trail Federal Legal - U.S./Individual Legal News - FEDNEW.
• Westlaw - Selected transcripts, 1993 -1996, Full coverage of transcripts from 1/1996 to current. Located in USTESTIMONY database.

Committee websites often include transcripts of their hearings. Content may be transcripts submitted by witnesses to the Committee, not actual recorded hearing transcripts. Usually only available for hearings within the past 10 years but check the committee site as this varies.

Committee Reports

Committee Reports exist for bills which come out of committee with "do pass" recommendations. A committee report describes the purpose and scope of the bill, and explains the bill section by section as well as any amendments the committee has made to the original bill and may include the consensus of the committee on the intent of the bill and its application. Committee Reports are numbered with the Congress in which they are issued and then sequentially to identify the specific report. Committee Reports are usually thought to be the most persuasive legislative history source for interpretations of the bill's intent.

• United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCAAN) has since 1941 been a source for selected reports for enacted legislation. Located in the 2nd Floor Reading Room shelves 212A and 212B.
• Lexis/Nexis Congressional - Index access to reports from 1789 to present.

  The Mabee Legal Information Center (MLIC) has Committee Reports on microfiche from 1969 to present. Reports from 1789 to 1969 are available full text on Lexis/Nexis Congressional from the Serial Set Digital Collection. Reports full-text from 1990 to date.

• Lexis/Nexis - Reports 1990-date. Selected reports of 101st and 102nd Congresses, comprehensive from 103rd to date. Location trail Federal Legal - U.S./Legislative Histories & Materials - CMTRPT
• Westlaw - Selected Reports 1948-1989 as published in the USCCAAN. All Reports 1990 to date. Located in USCCAN-REP database.
• Government Internet sources
  • GPO Access, 1995-date http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/creports/
  • Thomas, 1995-date http://thomas.loc.gov/cp109/cp109query.html
  • Library of Congress. A Century of Lawmaking, United States Congressional Serial Set. Limited content, 23rd -64th Congresses, 1853-1917. http://memory.loc.gov/ammemamlaw/lwss.html

Conference Reports

Conference Reports result when there is disagreement on the final language of a bill. A Conference committee is appointed from both House and Senate to reach a compromise so that the bill will be enacted. The Conference Report summarizes the provisions of both bills and explains the compromises reached. These reports are found in the same sources as Committee Reports and many Conference Reports appear in full in the Congressional Record.

Debate - Congressional Record

The Congressional Record is published each legislative day of a Congress. This daily version includes information on daily activities of Congress, reports the floor debate from both the Senate and the House, and includes a section called Extension of Remarks in which members of Congress may place their written comments on constituents and other issues. The daily edition of the Congressional Record is compiled and bound at the end of each Congressional Session into a permanent edition of the Congressional Record.

• Congressional Record, 43rd Congress, 1887-date
• Daily Edition
  • Print, v. 141, 1995,104th Congress to date. Located in Gov. Docs. Collection at X 1.1
  • Lexis - Daily Edition, 1985 to date. Location trail Federal Legal - U.S./Legislative Histories & Materials
  • Westlaw - Daily Edition, 1985 to date. Located in CR database.
  • Internet Sources
    • GPO Access, 1994 to date http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/
    • Thomas, 1994 to date http://thomas.loc.gov/home/r109query.html
    • LexisNexis Congressional, 1985 to date, http://www.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp
• Permanent Edition
  • Print, 88th Congress to date, Gov. Docs. X 1.1 (Incomplete, some gaps in print holdings.)
  • Microfilm, 43rd Congress to 94th Congress, 1887-1976. Located in Microforms Collection, Cabinet 18, Drawers A-H
  • Microfiche, 95th Congress, 1977 to date, Located in Microforms Collection, Cabinet 19, Drawers C and D.
• HeinOnline, U.S. Congressional Documents Library includes the Permanent and Daily editions of the Congressional Record as well as the entire content of its predecessors.
• The following are publications that preceded the Congressional Record and include the activities and proceedings of Congress. These earlier publications may summarize debate instead of publishing verbatim transcripts as is done today.
  • Congressional Globe, 23rd - 42nd Congresses, 1833-1873. Microfiche: Cabinet 17, Drawer A; Internet: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwcg.html
  • Register of Debates, 18th Congress, 2nd Session - 25th Congress1st Session Microfiche: Cabinet 17, Drawer A. Internet: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwrd.html
  • Annals of Congress, 1st - 18th Congress, 1st Session, 1789-1824. Microfiche: Cabinet 17, Drawer A. Internet: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwac.html

Presidential Statements

When both houses of Congress agree on the language of a bill and vote to pass, the bill is sent to the President for his signature. As a bill proceeds through Congress, the president may issue statements requesting passage of particular language or proposing legislation on specific issues. Often after the passage of an important bill the President will issue a statement at the time of signing or vetoing legislation that expresses the Executive's view of how the legislation applies to the Presidency and its powers.

• Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents
  • Print: v. 10-13, 1974-1977, v. 31-36, 1995-2000
  • Internet:
    • HeinOnline, 1965- U.S. Presidential Library
    • GPO Access, 1993 to date. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/wcomp/
    • Lexis, 3/1979 to date, Location trail Federal Legal - U.S./Executive Branch Materials, PRESDC
    • Westlaw, 1/2000 to date, Located in WCPD database
• Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States
  • Print:
    • Papers of Truman, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush are located with the call number J/80/.A283 in the Law Library
    • Older Presidential papers are included in Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789-1897 with the call number J/81/.B96
  • Internet: 1991 to date. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/pubpapers/index.html
  • U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News. 1948 to date. Located in the 2nd floor Reading Room at shelves 212A and 212B
  • Lexis, 1979 to current, Location trail Federal Legal - U.S./Executive Branch Materials
  • Westlaw, 1984 to current, Located in PRES database
  • HeinOnLine U.S. Presidential Library

Sources of Guides or Explanations of Legislative History

• Federal Legislative History Research: Practitioner's Guide to Compiling the Documents and Sifting for Legislative Intent, by Richard J. McKinney and Ellen A. Sweet. Published by the Law Librarian's Society of Washington, D.C. Last Revised 1/2008 http://www.llsdc.org/Fed-Leg-Hist/
• How our Laws are Made. http://thomas.loc.gov/home/lawsmade.toc.html
• Enactment of a Law http://thomas.loc.gov/home/enactment/enactlawtoc.html
• A Research Guide to Congress: How to Make Congress Work for You KF/4950/.M25/1991
• U. of Michigan Documents Center, Legislative Histories http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/legishis.html
• ChicagoKent Law Library, Federal Legislative History (Tutorial) http://library.kentlaw.edu/tutorials/Leghist%20Tutorial/Intro.htm
• Boston College Law Library, Federal Legislative Histories http://www.bc.edu/schools/law/library/meta-elements/pdf/researchguides/legislativehistory.pdf
• Westlaw, Uncover Legislative Intent http://training.west.thomson.com/rc2/loginDisplay.asp??

Legislative History Pathfinder 4/08