Federal Legislative History Sources
See also powerpoint presentation: Free Federal Legislative History Sources on the Web or mediasite presentation: Federal Legislative History on the Web.
A. Compiled legislative histories - may be available for major legislation.
- Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories (Nancy P. Johnson, comp.) KF49 .B5. Also available on HeinOnline. Lists publications containing the full text of legislative history documents for most major laws.
- Union List of Legislative Histories (KF4 .U55). Lists compilations of legislative history documents and what libraries own them. Updated through 2003.
- U.S. Federal Legislative History Title Collection (HeinOnline) – collection of compiled legislative histories.
- Do a keyword search in Scholar and/or Ohiolink using the title of the Act and possibly include the words “legislative history.” Example – keyword search “copyright act legislative history”
- LexisNexis > Legal > Legislation and Politics - U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > Legislative Histories
Provides over 20 topical compiled legislative histories (eg, Bankruptcy Legislative Histories, Tax Legislative Histories, Water Quality Act of 1987 Legislative History). - Westlaw > U.S. Federal Materials > Legislative History
Provides about 20 topical compiled legislative histories (eg, Federal Immigration, Federal Taxation, Arnold & Porter Collection > Arnold & Porter Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002).
- Legislative Histories of Selected U.S. Laws on the Internet - encompasses almost all commercial (on Westlaw, Lexis and Heinonline) as well non-commercial (free) Federal legislative histories available on the Internet.
- CIS Legislative Histories list all the legislative history documents available for a public law number. An example of a CIS Legislative History: LexisNexis® 103 CIS Legis. Hist. P.L. 272 .
- In LexisNexis: pull up a Public Law, and click on the link to CIS LEGIS. HISTORY DOCUMENT. CIS legislative histories start with the 103rd Congress (1993- ).
- CIS Index, Abstracts, and Microfiche
- In Law Library (Base level Microforms area) KF49 .C62 (1970-2002).
- Most complete and detailed indexing and abstracting of Congressional publications. Includes Committee Hearings, Committee Prints, House and Senate Reports, House and Senate Documents, Senate Executive Documents and Reports, special publications, and Public Laws.
- Extensive indexes - In addition to subject/name index, can search by bill number, report number, document number, and more.
- For years before 1984, first look in the CIS Index to get citations ("accession numbers", eg, H522-2) to documents listed in the CIS Abstracts and provided in the full text microfiche collection. The CIS abstract lists the document and briefly summarizes its contents. The microfiche citation is the year and the accession number (eg, 1998 H522-2).
- For 1984 and after, legislative histories for all Public Laws are compiled in annual Legislative History volumes. For 1970-1983, look in the CIS Abstract volumes for legislative histories. See "CIS Legislative Histories" for more information.
- For Public Laws older than 1970
- CIS US Congressional Committee Hearings Index and Microfiche Library (1833-1969). Indexed by subjects, organizations and personal names, title, bill number, report number, and document number. Indexes cite to a publication's "accession number," and the publications are provided in the full text microfiche collection. Collection includes transcripts, oral and written statements, questions and discussions between committee members and witnesses, exhibits and submitted materials, as well as related reports, studies, and correspondence.
- CIS Index to Unpublished US Senate Committee Hearings(1823-1980) Indexed by subject and organization, personal name, title, and bill numbers. Many of the transcripts are from closed, executive session meetings.
- CIS Index to Unpublished U.S. House of Representatives Committee Hearings.(1833- 1968) Indexed by subject and organization, personal name, title, and bill number. Provides citation to full text on microfiche. [For detailed explanation of unpublished hearings, see National Archives' Resources for Administrative History: Congressional Hearings and Committee Prints.]
- CIS US Serial Set Index and Microfiche Library (1789-1969)
- Includes Congressional Conference reports, Committee reports, Journals, and other publications (eg, investigation records, directories, manuals, and histories), as well as Executive branch and nongovernmental publications (eg, annual reports, official communications, and periodical publications).
- Indexed by subject, report number, and document number, as well as names of individuals and organizations for private relief and related actions.
- Index volumes indicate "Serial Volume Number" (eg, 2107-3) and "Publication Series Number" (eg, H.rp. 500). Use Serial Volume Number and, if needed, Publication Series Number, to retrieve desired publications on microfiche.
See Congressional Information Service Legislative Resources guide for more information.
LexisNexis Congressional Universe, available via the Cleveland Public Library, also contains all of the following CIS products:
C. LexisNexis Congressional Universe - LexisNexis Congressional (in law library, but not on wireless- or via Cleveland Public Library remotely with library card) . Product description. It contains:
- Legislative histories for passed legislation 1969-present.
- CIS Index, US Congressional Committee Hearings Index, Unreported Hearings Index, Serial Set Index (Cleveland Public Only), Committee Prints Index.
- For more recent years, selected full text of house and senate Reports, hearings, house and senate documents.
- PDFs for Serial Set documents (Cleveland Public Only)
- PDFs of house and senate reports (1819-1969), and house and senate documents (1817-1969). (Cleveland Public only)
- Bills (1989-)
- Public Laws (1988-)
- Congressional Record (1985-)
- News articles from Washington Post (1977-); Roll Call (1989-), The Hill (1995-)
- Pick the "Research Tasks" Tab and select "Legislative History" for a handy template. However, all the listed resources may not be in your price plan.
- Legal > Legislation and Politics - U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > Legislative Histories. Includes over 20 topical compiled legislative histories.
- Legal > Federal Legal - U.S. > United States Code Service (USCS) Materials > USCS - Public Laws. (1988- ) Includes Statutes at Large cites and references to U.S. Code sections.
- Legal > Federal Legal - U.S. > Archived Bill Text & Tracking
- Legal > Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > Congressional Full Text Bills - Current Congress OR Full Text of Bills - Historical. Full texts of bills from 101st Congress to present.
- Legal> Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > Committee Hearing Transcripts > Congressional Hearings Summaries OR CQ Transcriptions. (105th Congress- ).
- Legal > Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > Committee Prints (1993- )
- Legal > Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > Congressional Record by Section (current Congress); Legal > Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > Congressional Record Historical (99th Congress- ).
- Legal > Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > Committee Reports. Selected coverage of the 101st and 102nd Congresses (1990-1992); full coverage of the 103rd Congress forward (1993- ).
- Legal > Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > House and Senate Docs. House and Senate documents are executive communications from the President of the United States to Congress that cover a variety of issues. (1995- )
- Legal > Federal Legal - U.S. > Executive Branch Materials > Public Papers of the President (March 24,1979 - )
- LexisNexis Legislative Impact - go to Federal Statutes, Regulations, etc. Category and you will see in the list, Legislative and Regulatory Impact. For Pending Bills - Tells what US Code sections will be affected. For Passed Public Laws - Tells what Code sections the public law affected, what modifications were made to the public law by subsequent legislation.
- Compiled Legislative Histories and Legislative Documents
U.S. Federal Materials > Legislative History
Provides several topical compiled legislative histories databases (eg, Federal Immigration, Federal Taxation, Arnold & Porter Collection > Arnold & Porter Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002), as well as databases with Congressional materials and testimony (eg, Federal Taxation - Joint Committee on Taxation (JCS) Prints and US Congressional Testimony).
D. LexisNexis
- U.S. Public Laws
U.S. Federal Materials > Federal Statutes > U.S. Public Laws - Current OR United States Public Laws 1973-2006. When you pull up a public law, there are links to legislative history documents available on Westlaw in the left hand column. These appear to start with the 98th Congress (1983). - United States Statutes at Large
U.S. Federal Materials > Federal Statutes > United States Statutes at Large 1789-1972 - Congressional Bills
U.S. Federal Materials > Bill Tracking to gain access to databases containing Congressional Bills from the 104th Congress (1995-96) to the present (eg, Congressional Bills - 104th Congress to Current and Congressional Bills - 109th Congress). - Committee Hearings
U.S. Federal Materials > U.S. Congressional Testimony
Selective coverage 1993-1996; full coverage from the 103rd Congress from 1996 to the present - Committee Prints
Westlaw does not have a database for Committee prints - USCCAN
U.S. Federal Materials > U.S. Code Congressional & Administrative News > U.S. Code Congressional & Administrative News
Public Laws 1973- ; selected Reports 1948-1989; all Reports 1990- ; Executive Orders 1936- ; Presidential Proclamations 1984- ; Signing Statements 1986- ; Presidential Messages 2000- ; and other materials. - Congressional Record
U.S. Federal Materials > Legislative History > Congressional Record (1985- ). - Presidential Statements and Documents
U.S. Federal Materials > Other Administrative & Executive Materials > Daily Presidential Documents
Press conferences, speeches, and formal announcements for 1993 to present; includes some Signing Statements.
F. Thomas
- Legislative Web site maintained by Library of Congress.
- Public Laws from 93rd Congress (1973- ) onward. [The public laws section indicates what years correspond to what Congress.]
- Bill text from 101st Congress (1989- ) onward.
- US Congressional Committee Reports from 104th Congress (1995- ) onward.
- Congressional Record from 101st Congress (1989- ) onward.
- Thomas Bill Summary and Status lists legislative history documents for a piece of legislation, including: bills in the same Congressional session, relevant sections of the Congressional Record, committee and conference reports. Listed documents are linked to full text on the Web, when available, roughly from 1989 onward. Bill summary and status information is available back to 1973.
- Links to other resources and historical documents, such as A Century of Lawmaking For A New Nation: US Congressional Documents and Debates 1774-1875.
- Public Laws (1995- )**
- Bills (1993- )**
- House & Senate Reports (1995- )**
- Conference Reports (current & a few archived)
- Congressional Record (1994- )**
- History of Bills (1983- )
- Committee Hearings (1995- )**
- Committee Prints (1997- ) **
- Congressional Documents (1994-)**
- Weekly/Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents (1993-)**
G. GPO Access - Legislative and FDsys
FDsys will replace GPO Access in mid-2009. Some GPO Access collections have been migrated to FDsys, although they still remain up to date on GPO Access. The collections which have migrated are marked with **.
See also powerpoint presentation: Free Federal Legislative History Sources on the Web or mediasite presentation: Federal Legislative History on the Web.
- U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives Web sites - their committee pages may provide access to committee hearings and documents.
- Library of Congress Digitization Project - Hearings on the topics of the Census, Freedom of Information and Privacy and Immigration have been scanned in as searchable pdfs.
- Congressional Research Service Reports – several sources.
- U.S. Congressional Documents Online Collection from Rutgers University contains selected hearings.
- GPO Access Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (1993-Jan 2009) and Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents (Jan. 2009-current).
- Library of Congress American Memory. A Century of Lawmaking For A New Nation: US Congressional Documents and Debates 1774-1875.
- GovTrack.us - tracks federal legislation
- To find pending bills on a particular topic, try: United States Senate: Active Legislation
- USCCAN (1942-)
- CIS Index, Abstracts, and Microfiche (1970-2002)
- CIS US Congressional Committee Hearings Index and Microfiche Library (1833-1969), as well as Unpublished US Senate Committee Hearings Index and Unpublished US House of Representative Committee Hearings Index.
- CIS United States Serial Set Index and Microfiche Library (1789-1969)
- LexisNexis Congressional Universe (available via the Cleveland Public Library).
- Library of Congress. American Memory. A Century of Lawmaking For A New Nation: US Congressional Documents and Debates 1774-1875.
I. USCCAN United States Code Congressional and Administrative News
Law Library (Reference & 2nd floor) KF48 .U5(1942- ) and on Westlaw (1948- ). Contains Public Laws as well as selected Committee Reports, Presidential Proclamations, Executive Orders, and Presidential Signing Statements. Does not include bills which were not passed.
J. Heinonline: Congressional Record Vols. 1-59 (1873-1920), 124-149 pt.20 (1978-2003). Debates of Congress collection includes Annals of the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), Register of Debates in Congress (1825-1837), Congressional Globe (1833-1873), American State Papers (1789-1838), and Journals of the Continental Congress (1774-1789). Heinonline also contains Statutes at Large, presidential documents and compiled legislative histories.
U.S. Code - Copies of the official U.S.Code that is published by the government every six years. 1925 through 2006 editions are available.
K. Finding Older Materials: Before a certain date, you may not be able to get the legislative history document electronically. Older items can be found using:
L.Louis Database
The Louis Database offers integrated searching of Congressional Reports, Congressional Record, Congressional Hearings, Federal Register, Presidential Documents, GAO Reports and Bills & Resolutions. The database is in its Beta phase, and at this writing contains only documents from 2007 onward.
M. Congressional Index
- Commerce Clearing House looseleaf publication (1937- ).
- Indexes all public general bills by subject and sponsor.
- Provides digests/abstracts of each bill.
- Multiple finding aides, including status table of actions taken on bills (eg, hearings) and list of pending reorganization plans, treaties, and nominations.
- Does not have actual text of bills, debates, reports, or laws.
- Law Library has 1957/58- . Reference & 2nd floor KF49 .C6.
N. Congressional Record
- US Government Printing Office publication (43rd Congress- ; 1873- ).
- Only print source of full-text of Congressional floor debates. However, like official US Code, print publication very slow to come out.
- Page numbers of individual issues not same as page numbers in permanent bound volumes.
- "History of Bills and Resolutions" published in fortnightly index. Includes bill digest/abstract and sponsor(s), as well as committee(s) to which referred and other legislative actions; also specifies Congressional Record page at which action reported. Does not reference hearings.
- At end of each Congressional session, "History of Bills and Resolutions completely cumulated in index volume of Congressional Record's permanent bound set.
- 1994 onward available via GPO Access. Law Library has 1873- (2nd floor KF35 .U57 and base level Microforms).
- For videos of Congressional Proceedings, matched with the Congressional Record, see C-SPAN Congressional Chronicle