Cleveland-Marshall College of Law

Types of Federal Legislative History Documents

 

 

Bills

  • How Bills Are Cited: H or S. Bill Number, Congressional Number 1st or 2nd Session (Year)
    Example: H.R. 1758, 103rd Congress 2nd Session (1993)
  • A bill consists of changes, additions or deletions to one or more sections of the U.S Code.
  • The language of the final bill as passed, and prior versions of that bill, may indicate legislative intent. This is because language may have been inserted, deleted, or changed in various versions of that bill.
  • Bills introduced but not passed do not carry over to the next Congress. Such bills must be re-introduced as a new bill. Therefore, besides looking at prior versions of that bill in that Congress, look at prior versions of that bill and/or similar bills in previous Congresses.

Bill Text Is Available From:
(1) GPO Access - Searchable full texts of bills (103rd Congress-, 1993- )
(2) Thomas - Searchable full texts of bills (101st Congress- , 1989- ); Summaries and Status Reports (93rd Congress- , 1973- )
(3) LexisNexis > Legal > Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > Congressional Full Text Bills - Current Congress OR Full Text of Bills – Historical for full texts of bills from the 101st Congress forward (1989 – present)
(4) Westlaw > 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 - 19th Congress).
(5) Microforms: House Bills (100th Congress- ); Microforms Senate Bills (108th Congress- ) (96th Congress- , 1979- ); Microforms Indexes Final Cumulative Finding Aid House & Senate Bills KF49 .F5 F55
(6) LexisNexis Congressional (on campus - or via Cleveland Public Library) (1989-)
(7) Congressional Record - GPO Access (searchable full text; vol. 140- , 1994- ); Law Library (2nd floor) KF35 .U57 (1873-current ); Law Library (base level) Microforms (vol.1-, 1873- ). Print edition of Congressional Record includes indexes by topic and bill number. Find bill text on the day the bill was introduced.

 

Finding Relevant Bills

 

 

Committee Hearings

  • Published committee hearings (not all are published) contain transcripts of the testimony, exhibits and, occasionally, a reprint of the proposed bill. 
  • Testimony of a senator or representative sponsoring the legislation is more persuasive than that of a representative of a biased special interest group.  

Committee Hearings Are Available From:

(1)GPO Access – full text transcripts of selected hearings from the 104th Congress forward (1995 – present) 
( 2) LexisNexis - from the Legal tab, select Legislation & Politics , then U.S. Congress , then Committee Hearing Transcripts , then Congressional Hearings Summaries or CQ Transcriptions for transcripts covering the 105th Congress forward (1995 - present).
(3) Westlaw – full texts of hearings from the 103rd Congress forward (1993 – present) are available in the U.S. Testimony database (database ID USTESTIMONY )
(4) Paper Indexes and full text of hearings on Microform:

(a)CIS/Index , (Print), KF 49 .C62 , BASE level, Microform Area, includes citations to microfiche which contain the full texts of congressional hearings since 1970. 
(b) CIS U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings Index, 1833-1969 ( KF 40 .C56, BASE level, Microform Area);
(c) CIS Unpublished U.S. Senate Committee Hearings Index, 1823-1980 ( KF 40 .C57, BASE level, Microform Area) Full text on fiche.
(d) CIS Unpublished U.S. House of Representatives Committee Hearings Index , 1833-1968 (KF 40 .C54BASE level, Microform Area). Full text on fiche.


(5) Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications ( GP 3.8/8: , 2nd Floor, Govt. Documents Area Range 325B); or, for more recent (1994-present) documents, the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications on the Web, which links to the text of the documents. (6)Congressional Committees and Subcommittees pages or Law Librarians' Society page lead to hearings.
(7) U.S. Congressional Documents Online Collection from Rutgers University contains selected hearings.
(8) Scholar (http://scholar.csuohio.edu/), the Law Library’s Online Catalog, may link to some electronically available recent hearings, and/or may list print copies of hearings if owned by the Law or University Library. Some print titles may be available via OhioLink. (9) LexisNexis Congressional (on campus - or via Cleveland Public Library)- contains US Congressional Committee Hearings Index and the unreported hearings index; full text of hearings for more recent years.

 

Committee Prints

  • Committee prints are research reports on proposed legislation that are provided to a committee considering a bill. The prints provide background information, conclusions and recommendations.  They generally contain a section by section analysis.
  • Prints are usually prepared by committee staff, the Congressional Research Service , or outside consultants.
  • Prints are rarely issued and those that are issued can be difficult to locate.

Committee Prints Are Available From:

(1) GPO Access includes a limited number of Committee prints from the 104th Congress forward (1997 – present)
(2) LexisNexis carries selected prints from the 103rd Congress forward (1993 – present).  Select the Legal tab, then choose Federal Legal – U.S. , then Legislative Histories & Materials, then Committee Prints.
(3) Westlaw does not have a database for prints
(4) CIS/Index , covering 1970-present, KF 49 .C62 , BASE level, Microform Area. The index points to the microform containing the full text of the committee print.
(5) Congressional Committees and Subcommittees pages or Law Librarians' Society page lead to committee prints
(6) Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications ( GP 3.8/8: , 2nd Floor, Govt. Documents Area Range 325B); or, for more recent (1994-present) documents, the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications on the Web.
(7) CRS Reports on the web:

(8) Scholar , the Law Library’s Online Catalog.
(9) LexisNexis Congressional (on campus - or via Cleveland Public Library) - Committee Prints Index covers 1830-1969; CIS Index 1970-; Committee prints selected full text, 1993-2004.

 

 

 

House and Senate Reports

  • If the committee votes to send the bill out of committee for consideration by the whole House or Senate, a report of the committee is written. 
  • The report typically recommends that Congress pass the bill. The reports contain findings, background facts, the committee's legislative intent and comparisons of current and proposed law text. Most reports include a lengthy section-by-section analysis of the legislation. Those disagreeing with the findings of the committee may issue a minority report. 
  • These reports are given the most weight (aside from Conference Committee reports) since they are issued by the group of legislators that knows the most about the bill, and also because they are usually more recent in time. 
  • The reports are cited as, for example, House Report No. 108-342, with the first number being the session of Congress and the second number a unique identifier.
  • The term "Committee Reports" includes House and Senate Reports, as well as Conference Committee Reports.

House and Senate Reports Are Available From:

(1) U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News USCCAN, (KF 48.W45, 1st Floor Reference Area, Ranges 203A-204A) – selectively reprints committee reports relating to major pieces of legislation. (1942-)
(2)Thomas – 104th Congress forward (1995 – present)
(3)GPO Access- 104th Congress forward(1995 – present)
(4) LexisNexis – Selected coverage of the 101st and 102nd Congresses (1990 – 1992); full coverage of the 103 rd Congress forward (1993 – present). Legal > Legislation & Politics-U.S.&U.K .> US Congress > Committee Reports
(5) Westlaw – USCCAN database (ID= USCCAN-REP ) From 1948-1989 contains committee reports as reprinted in U.S.C.C.A.N.. From January 1990, the database contains all congressional committee reports, including reports on bills that did not become law.
(6) CIS Microfiche Library in the Law Library's Microform Area, BASE Level from 1970-Feb. 2004 in microfiche cabinets H2-P6).  KF 49.C62.
(7) CIS United States Serial Set Index and Microfiche Library (1789-1969) Z1223.Z9 C65. Contains House and Senate Reports and Documents. Volumes held by the Law Library are on the 2nd Level in the Government Documents Area.
(8) LexisNexis Congressional (on campus - or via Cleveland Public Library)- Contains the Serial Set Index and documents. Access via the Cleveland Public Library website, with a public library card

 

 

 

 

Congressional Debates

  • The Congressional Record is a more complete version of House and Senate proceedings than videorecordings. The live proceedings may have a truncated reading of a bill or other item, while the Congressional Record has the full text.
  • Members can gramatically revise and extend their remarks in the Congressional Record. In issues of the Congressional Record since 1978, the revisions and extensions of the actual floor testimony are noted by black bullets at the beginning and ending of the revision (Senate testimony) or by a change in typeface (House testimony). 
  • The Daily edition comes out the following day, and is eventually cumulated, edited and rearranged into the Permanent edition. Page numbers in the daily edition are different than the permanent edition. See the Harvard Law School's Library pdf statement about the two editions.
  • History of Bills and Resolutions is published in a fortnightly index and cumulated into an index for that Congressional session.
  • For further explanation about the Congressional Record, see About the Congressional Record (Library of Congress); About the Congressional Record (Thomas).

For videos of Congressional Proceedings, matched with the Congressional Record, see C-SPAN Congressional Chronicle

Congressional Record Is Available From:

(1) Print: Congressional Record, Permanent Edition. (1873-1998) - ( KF35.U57, Law Stacks, 2nd Floor, Ranges 300A-301B).  Each session has a topical index and a bill number index. Permanent edition text is somewhat edited, revised and rearranged from the Daily Edition (1998-current).
(2) Thomas - 1989-present. Also has index to the Congressional Record.
(3) GPO Access - 1994-present
(4) Lexis

        • Current Congress: Legal > Legislation& Politics-U.S.&U.K. > U.S. Congress > Congressional Record by Section
        • 1985-Most recent prior Congress: Legal > Legislation& Politics-U.S.&U.K .> U.S. Congress > Congressional Record Historical

(5) Westlaw -1985-current. Directory>US Federal Materials>Legislative History>Congressional Record (Database Indentifier =CR)

(6) Heinonline Congressional Documents Library

    • Congressional Record (1873-1880, 1971-2003) --Annals of the Congress of the United States (1789-1824) -- Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837) -- Congressional Globe (1833-1873)

(7) LexisNexis Congressional (on campus - or via Cleveland Public Library)- Congressional Record Daily Edition, 1985-present.

 

 

 

Conference Committee Reports

When bills from the House and Senate are passed that are not identical, a Conference Committee must take place to come up with a compromise version of the bill. The Conference Committee sends the reconciled bill back to the House and Senate along with a report.  The report explains why the Conference came up with their product.  A Conference Committee Report goes far to explain legislative intent for two reasons.  First, it's a report about the last version of the bill and second, it's authored by the group of legislators that dealt with it just before the President signs or vetoes it.

Conference Committee Reports Are Available From:

(1) Thomas – full texts of conference committee reports from the 104th Congress forward (1995 – present)
(2) GPO Access - Current Congress and a few archived.
(3) LexisNexis - Carries conference committee reports from 1990 forward.  From the Legal tab, choose Federal Legal, U.S. , then Legislative Histories and Materials , then Committee Reports
(4) Westlaw - USCCAN database (ID= USCCAN-REP ) From 1948-1989 contains selected committee reports as reprinted in U.S.C.C.A.N.. From January 1990, the database contains all committee reports, including reports on bills that did not become law.
(5) U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News ("USCCAN"), (KF 48.W45, 1st Floor, Reference Area, Ranges 203A-204A) reprints selected conference committee reports. 1942-
(6) CIS/Index (1970-2002), KF 49.C62, Index Shelf, near the Casual Reading Glass Wall, BASE level, MicroformArea - indexes conference committee reports.  The full texts of reports can then be found in microfiche format (also on the BASE Level).
(7) CIS United States Serial Set Index and Microfiche Library (1789-1969) Z1223.Z9 C65. Contains Committee Reports and Documents. Volumes held by the Law Library are on the 2nd Level in the Government Documents Area.
(8) LexisNexis Congressional (on campus - or via Cleveland Public Library) - Contains the Serial Set Index and documents.
(9) The Congressional Record (KF 35 .U57, Law Stacks, 2nd Floor, Ranges 300A-301B), contains some conference committee reports. 

 

 

Presidential Statements

See Presidential Signing Statements for more sources

The bill is either signed or vetoed.  If its signed, it is termed "enacted" and is assigned a Public Law number.   If it is vetoed, the Congress can choose whether to override by a two thirds majority in both chambers.  In either case, often the President issues a statement.  Sometimes the statement gives the Presidential reasons for the action and/or the President's opinion of the bill's meaning.

Presidential Statements Are Available From:

(1) GPO Access – the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (1993 – present).
(2) Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents , 1965-1981( J 80 .A284, Law Stacks, Base Level and microfiche drawer HHH1).  Note:  this item is no longer available in print format.
(3) Public Papers of the President: Available from this law library (J80 .A283; 1929-2001), as well as GPO Access (1992-2004) and LexisNexis (1979- ).
(4) LexisNexis - ( Legal > Federal Legal - U.S. > Executive Branch Materials > Public Papers of the President) ( March 24,1979 - Current)
(5) Westlaw - PRES-DAILY (1993 - Present) Some signing statements included in Westlaw Daily Presidential Documents database (1993- ).
(6) Title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Annual compilation of Presidential documents. CFR available from this library (KF70 .A3), as well as from GPO Access (1996- ), LexisNexis (1981- ), and Westlaw (1984- ).
(7) Congressional Record (KF 35 .U57, Law Stacks, 2nd Floor, Ranges 300A-301B).
(8) U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN) (KF 48 .W45, 1st Floor, Reference Area, Ranges 203A-204A) 1942-; also in Westlaw 1948- .  
(9) Indexed in Presidential Executive Orders & Proclamations, KF 70 .A55 1986, Index Shelf, near the Casual Reading Glass Wall, BASE level, Microform Area - a print index covering 1789-1983.
(10) Heinonline's U.S. Presidential Library
(11) Executive Orders

 

 

LER, SA February 2008


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