Federal Legislative History Research

Legislative history research refers to efforts to track the progress of a bill through the legislative process and to the examination of documents created through that process. The purpose of conducting such research is to ascertain the legislative intent, that is the purpose for the legislation as intended by Congress. In the words of Morris Cohen, Legal Research in a Nutshell, 6th ed. (1996), at 160:

"The ambiguities so common in the language of statutes require lawyers and scholars to locate legislative documents from which they can learn the intended purpose of an act or the meaning of particular statutory language."

The processes that comprise legislative history are, therefore, of two distinct types: determining the meaning or intent of an enacted law, and ascertaining the status of a pending bill. The specific components of a legislative history consist of the bill and its successive amendments, remarks by the bill's sponsors, floor discussion and debate, committee hearings, committee reports and committee prints.

These documents can be researched at the Interior Library and will involve the use of a combination of print, microform, Internet resources, and other electronic databases. These sources are discussed and compared below.
 

Locating Compiled Legislative Histories

Three print publications offer bibliographies or lists of compiled legislative histories:

Locating Legislative Histories from Indexes and Compilations

Several multi-volume library sources provide legislative history documents and/or access points to specific documents. The sets published by the Congressional Information Service (CIS) are more comprehensive than the West Group's United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN).

Nevertheless, research in the USCCAN takes less time, involves no research in microforms or other voluminous sets of printed materials, and can provide selected hearings and reports and appropriate citations to discussion in the Congressional Record. Use of the CIS tools can take time and will require the use of microforms and voluminous sets of legislative hearings, prints and reports in order to yield a definitive set of documents to illustrate legislative intent.

CIS U.S. Congressional Committee Prints Index: From the Earliest Publications through 1969. Washington, D.C.: CIS, c1980.
REF Z1223 .Z7 C65 1975

CIS Serial Set Index. Washington, D.C.: CIS, c1975-c1997.
REF Z1223 .Z7 C65 1975
Provides access to congressional documents in print set and microfiche set and includes Index and Carto-bibliography of maps, 1789-1969.

United States Code Congressional and Administrative News. St. Paul, Minn.: West Pub Co., 1944-
 

ProQuest Congressional Collections

The Interior Library has access to digitized collections offered by ProQuest. They cover congressional hearings that date from 1817 onward and offer digitized copies of Congressional Research Service (and earlier Legislative Reference Service) reports from 1916 to date, as well as congressional Committee Prints from 1817 onward.

Committee prints include items such as topical monographic studies; investigative field reports; analyses of bills, including comparisons with existing law; staff memoranda and reports; reports submitted to the committee by Federal agencies; directories, bibliographies, and other reference materials; statistical compilations; complete or partial texts of committee hearings; and preliminary drafts of reports and bills.

In all, the ProQuest Congressional Collections include:

• Legislative histories, 1969 to the present
• Bills and laws, 1987 to the present
• Committee prints & miscellaneous publications, 1817 to the present
• Congressional Record Bound Edition and predecessors, 1873-1999
• Congressional Record Daily Edition, 1985 to the present
• CRS Reports, 1916 to the present
• Hearings, 1817 to the present
• House & Senate Documents, 1817 to the present
• House & Senate Reports, 1817 to the present
• U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1789-2003
• U.S. Congressional Serial Set maps, 1789-1969

U.S. Congressional Serial Set

The U.S. Congressional Serial Set, commonly referred to as the Serial Set, contains the House and Senate Documents and the House and Senate Reports bound by session of Congress. It began publication with the 15th Congress, 1st Session (1817). Documents before 1817 may be found in the American State Papers. In general, it includes: committee reports related to bills and other matters, presidential communications to Congress, treaty materials, certain executive department publications, and certain non-governmental publications.

During much of the 19th century, especially in the pre-Civil War era, the Serial Set included materials originating not only from the U.S. Congress but also key Executive Department publications that were published only or primarily in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set.

The U.S. Congressional Serial Set is now available in a digital version, including maps and plates.

Digitized from the original print volumes in partnerships with leading academic institutions and government organizations, the set features high-resolution full-color digital images, fully searchable OCR-generated ASCII text and full bibliographic metadata for every publication. It is cross-searchable with American State Papers, 1789-1838, which contains every legislative and executive document of the 1st through 14th Congresses.
 

Freely Available Web Sites

• U.S. House of Representatives
• U.S. Senate
• Congress.gov
• GPO's gov.info: Browse Collections
• Records of Congress at the National Archives
• Congressional Record Index
  98th Congress (1983) to the present, through GPO's gov.info
• History of Bills
  98th Congress (1983) to the present, through GPO's gov.info

Tracking a Pending Bill

Congress.gov provides the full text of bills from the 103rd Congress (1993) to the present, and summaries from the 93rd Congress (1973) to the present. Searches can be conducted either by keyword or bill number; it also provides the option of searching by the status of legislation, subject-policy area, chamber, committee, sponsor, or party. If an account is created, then searches can be saved for later research. Congress.gov is updated the morning after a session adjourns.

GPO's gov.info website provides the full text of bills from 1993 to the present. It is possible to search by bill number, or to browse a list of bills and resolutions. It is also possible to search by date, committee, or author. gov.info includes the Statutes at Large, and sections of the United States Code, which are available in PDF. The site is updated daily.

Also, check the The U.S. House and Senate websites.

Quick Guide to Legislative Histories

The following charts describe the best sources for research regarding specific Congressional sessions and for specific steps in the legislative process.

Legislative Research Tools Available in the Library

Other Guides to Compiling Federal Legislative Histories

Federal Legislative History Research: a Practitioner's Guide to Compiling the Documents and Sifting for Legislative Intent by Richard J. McKinney and Ellen A. Sweet. Published by the Law Librarians' Society of Washington. D.C. Last revised in May 2006.

Finding or Compiling Federal Legislative Histories Electronically
Presented by Richard J. McKinney, Assistant Law Librarian, Federal Reserve Board for the AALL Congressional Research Symposium, April 26, 2013, Phoenix, Arizona
 

Updated February 2023