FEDERAL LEGISLATIVE HISTORY MATERIALS

For information about Pennsylvania legislative history research, see "Pennsylvania Materials and Legislative History."

Why conduct legislative history research?

Legislative history documents can provide insight into the intent of the legislators who wrote or argued for or against the passage of a bill that has become law. They can also provide information on the status of a bill that is currently pending in Congress or one that was introduced but never became law.

What materials comprise a legislative history?

Any or all of the following types of documents are considered legislative history materials:

• Bills (all versions, plus companion bills)
• Committee Hearings
• Committee Reports
• Debates
• Other Congressional Documents (e.g. Committee Prints)
• Presidential messages

Which documents are most important in researching legislative history?

In order of importance, the most significant documents are:

• Slip laws
• Committee Reports (especially conference committee)
• Bills (all versions)
• Debates (especially sponsor or remarks)
• Committee Hearings
• Committee Prints (factual background material indicating legislative concerns, prepared for committee use)
• House and Senate Documents
• Reports of executive branch agencies discussing problems to be remedied

Does a bill need to have been made law in order to find legislative history materials on it?

No. Most legislative history finding tools include references to legislative history on both bills that became law and those that failed but generated some discussion.

How do I find out if there are legislative history materials for my act or bill?

The two main ways to determine if legislative history exists for the bill or act you are researching is either to:

a) determine the complete legislative history of your bill or act using indexes and finding tools available in Biddle Law Library, or

b) find a compiled legislative history for your law.

What if I'd just like to find a single piece of legislative history, like a hearing?

If you are looking for one specific hearing, report, bill, etc., you should still use the databases and indexes mentioned below and follow instructions for obtaining the full texts of documents.

How do I compile a legislative history?

You can determine which tools described below to use based on their availability to you and the age of the legislation or proposed legislation you are researching.

1970-present: LexisNexis CIS products

LexisNexis' Congressional is accessible through the library's home page at http://0-web.lexis-nexis.com.lola.law.upenn.edu/congcomp, or directly at http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp. It contains the indexing and abstracting of the print CIS/Index to Publications of the United States (see below) from 1970 to the present, as well as abstracts of hearings, reports, prints, and documents indexed in the Legislative Histories.

Full-text contents include:

• all bills from starting from 1989
• most Congressional testimony starting from 1988
• most Congressional committee reports starting from 1990
• 75 percent of House and Senate documents starting from 1995
• the full text of the CongressionalRecord (debates) starting from 1985.

For materials not available in full-text online, use abstract numbers to obtain the full text of hearings, reports and House and Sentate Documents from the CIS/Microfiche library (Fiche Fed 3), consult the Congressional Record for floor debates, or see a reference Librarian for help finding the microfiche copy of a bill.

This set contains all the indexing and abstracting of LexisNexis Congressional and has an accompanying microfiche collection of the full text of documents. Each annual CIS/Index published since 1984 includes three types of volumes: Index, Abstracts and Legislative Histories. Prior to 1984, a condensed version of the Legislative Histories volume was published in the back of the annual Abstracts volume.

If you don't have a public law number:

The Index volumes are keyed to abstract numbers (e.g. 94 H202-2) in the Abstract volumes, which provide synopses of every document indexed. If you do not have a public law number for the legislation you are researching, but do have other information, consult the Index volume for the appropriate year.

There are several indexes within the Index volume. The main one is a subject/names index, but the supplemental indexes in the back of the volume provide access by document title, bill number, report number, document number, Senate hearing number, Senate print number, and Superintendent of Documents number. Each of these indexes refers you to abstracts in the Abstracts volumes. Read the abstracts to determine whether or not you'd like to see the full text of any of the documents indexed.

If you have the public law number:

The Legislative Histories volumes published since 1984 contain annotated lists of legislative history materials for bills that became public laws. If the act was passed after 1983 and you know the public law number, consult the appropriate annual Legislative Histories volume, then obtain the full text of documents that interest you following the procedure below.

If the act was passed between 1970 and 1984, consult the Legislative History Citations section in the back of the Abstracts volume for the appropriate year. This section lists legislative history documents for every public law, along with their corresponding CIS abstract numbers. Read the abstracts to determine whether or not you'd like to see the full text of any of the documents listed.

Obtaining the full text of documents:

If an abstract interests you, record the year of the CIS volume used and the abstract number of the desired document. Use this information to obtain the full text of hearings, reports and House and Senate documents from the CIS/Microfiche Library (Fiche Fed 3).

Bills and floor debates, though indexed in the CIS /Index, are not included in the CIS/ Microfiche Library. If you are looking for a floor debate cited in a CIS volume, consult the Congressional Record. See a Reference Librarian for help finding the microfiche copy of a bill mentioned in CIS.

Other Sources

Official website of the United States Congress. Has full-text legislative materials, including bill texts, 1989-, the Congressional Record, 1989-, and committee reports, 1995-. Also has bill status and summaries, 1973-.

Contains bill texts from 1993-, the Congressional Record, 1994-, selected hearings, 1997-, House and Senate documents, 1995-, and History of Bills and Resolutions Index.

Monthly pamphlet with full text of laws and selected committee reports. Cumulates annually. Also available in Westlaw's "LH" (Legislative History) database.

How do I find Compiled Legislative Histories?

Commercial publishers, including law firms, sometimes compile all the legislative history documents for one law into bound volumes or contract with Lexis or Westlaw to have them placed online. Usually only major legislation is commercially compiled, and legislative histories for bills that do not become law are rarely compiled.

To find a compiled legislative history, do a keyword search on LOLA using key words from the name of the act, or search the card catalog using the name of the act as a subject. You may also perform a Form/Genre search on LOLA, by using "Legislative Histories" as your search term. For Penn Law Students, Faculty and Staff only: To find legislative histories online, consult the Lexis and Westlaw database directories at the Reference Desk.

The following two books list the titles of published legislative histories of bills that became law:

Federal Legislative Histories : An Annotated Bibliography and Index to Officially Published Sources, compiled by Bernard D. Reams, Jr. (Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1994). CALL #REF KF42.2 1994.

Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories : A Bibliography of Government Documents, Periodical Articles, and Books, 1st Congress-108th Congress, Nancy P. Johnson, (Littleton, Colo.: Fred B. Rothman & Co., 2007). CALL # REF KF42.2 1979. Also Available on Hein Online's U.S. Legislative History Library.

Still Can't Find What You Need?

There are many other valuable tools for finding legislative history materials which are too numerous to mention here. If you haven't found what you are looking for using the sources described in this guide, please consult a Reference Librarian for assistance.