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Last Updated 9/2007. Direct feedback on this page to lawlib@umn.edu.

Introduction

Legislative history is the record of a bill's enactment into law. It includes some or all of the following: original and amended texts of the bill, committee reports and prints, hearings, debates, records of votes and other actions and documents. Some of these sources may have been prepared before the bill was introduced, or in regard to an earlier or companion bill.

Determining the intent of the legislature in passing legislation may assist in interpreting the meaning of unclear or ambiguous terms. Undefined terms may be explained in earlier versions of the bill or in accompanying documents. Care must be taken that reliance is not placed on the remarks or testimony of one individual or on information that was not before the whole body when it was discussing the bill. Legislative history often holds the key to resolving disputes with the government or between parties to litigation.

Types of Information Available

  1. Before introduction

    Consideration of a subject may begin before introduction of a specific bill. That consideration may even begin in an earlier session of Congress or in regard to an earlier bill. Such consideration may take the form of hearings, floor debates, committee prints, or committee reports. These early sources may be overlooked if research is limited to references to a specific bill. A Presidential message may accompany proposed legislation sent to Congress for consideration.

  2. Bills and amendments

    The bill as introduced, and any subsequent amendments, may offer indications of the intent of Congress. Changes in wording may signify attempts to clarify the legislation.

  3. After introduction

    After introduction, bills are referred to committees which may hold hearings and make amendments to the bill. After the committee finishes its deliberation, it reports the bill to the floor accompanied by a committee report. Debates are held, and the bill may be amended. After passage in the first house, it is sent to the other house where the same steps take place. If the bill is passed in different forms by the two houses, it is referred to a joint committee which may issue a committee report when it reports the bill back to both houses for further consideration.

  4. After passage

    After both houses pass the bill in the same form, it is sent to the President to sign or veto. At this time, the President may issue a Presidential message.

Tracking Current Legislation

  1. LexisNexis Congressional (http://www.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/cong.cgi) is an on-line database that provides congressional information. Its indexes go back to 1789, but coverage of full-text documents varies. LexisNexis Congressional is available at LUMINA terminals and remotely to U of M students, staff and faculty. It includes bill-tracking reports to assist in following legislation.

  2. Thomas (http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas2.html), run by the Library of Congress, also provides congressional information. Thomas includes bill status information for current and older legislation back to 1973.

  3. LexisNexis Bill Tracking Current Congress (GENFED;BLTRCK). Bill tracking for earlier sessions of Congress back to the 101st session (Legal > Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > Bill Tracking - Historical).

  4. Westlaw ( US-BILLTRK) for current legislation.

Researching Legislative History of Enacted Legislation

  1. Compiled Histories

    Check these sources first to see if someone has already done your legislative history research work for you.

    1. HeinOnline's Legislative History Library
      This library includes an online version of the Johnson, Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories work (below) and also a "U.S. Federal Legislative History Title Collection" that provides, "full-text legislative histories on some of the most important and historically significant legislation of our time."

    2. Johnson, Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories (Law Library Reference Office KF42.2 1979). Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories lists books and articles that compile either the legislative documents or citations to the documents.

    3. Westlaw and Lexis have commercially-prepared legislative histories on some well-known laws (e.g., ERISA, ADA).

    4. Reams, Federal Legislative Histories (Law Library Reference Office KF 42.2 1994), is an annotated bibliography and index to published sources of legislative histories. These legislative histories are available on microfiche and some are also available in hard copy. Search MNCAT by the title of the legislative history of interest for details, e.g. call number.

  2. Text of Bills

    1. Public laws, as passed by Congress, are printed in Statutes at Large (KF50 .U6). Volumes 1 - 18 (1789-1879) of the Statutes at Large are available on the web at the Library of Congresses' American Memory Project, A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation. The public law is the final, enacted version of the bill.  HeinOnline has has public laws online in its U.S. Statutes at Large Library starting with vol. of of the Statute at Large (1789).   Westlaw has public laws back to 1973 in its US-PL-OLD database; LexisNexis goes back to 100th Congress, 2nd session, 1988 in its ( GENFED;PUBLAW) library and file.

    2. Bills & Resolutions of the House of Representatives and the Senate (13th - 47th Congresses, 1813-1873) on the web at: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwhbsb.html.
      Coverage of bills and resolutions is selective for the 13th-17th Congresses and "largely complete" for the 18th - 47th Congresses. Part of the Library of Congresses' American Memory Project, A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation.

    3. U.S. House of Representatives and Senate Bills (73rd - 106thCongresses, 1934-2000)
      Location: Microform Collection, Cabinets 27H-28F. (Law Library Microform Collection Y1.4). The Government Publications Library located in Wilson Library, has bills from the 101st - 106th congresses (1989-2000) on microform, call no. Mfiche Y1.4/:1 - Y 1.4/9:.

    4. Westlaw (Current Congress) CONG-BILLTXT. Earlier sessions of Congress back to 104th, 1995: add the number of the congress to the end of the database identifier e.g. CONG-BILLTXT106, CONG-BILLTXT105, etc.

    5. LexisNexis (Current Congress) GENFED;BLTEXT. Earlier sessions of Congress back to the 101st back to 101st, 1989, (Legal > Legislation & Politics U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > Full Text of Bills - Historical).

    6. LexisNexis Congressional: http://www.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/cong.cgi (Off-campus use restricted)
      Contains House and Senate bills and resolutions from the 101st Congress (1989) to current.

    7. Thomas (http://thomas.loc.gov).
      Contains bill text from the 101st Congress (1989) through the current Congress.

    8. GPO Access - Congress Bills (http://www.gpoaccess.gov/bills/index.html)
      Contains bills for the 103rd Congress (1993) to current.

  3. Congressional Committee Reports

    1. United States Code, Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN) ( Law Library Primary KF 48 .W45).
      USCCAN contains excerpts of selected committee reports, and citations to documents that are available in other sources. Coverage began with the 77th Congress. There are usually several volumes per session. Laws passed during the session are published by their Statutes at Large citation. For each public law, the USC citation and a list of House and Senate reports is given, as well as citations to the Congressional Record and Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents. The volumes for each session end with copies of Presidential Proclamations, Executive Orders, tables, and an index. Starting with 1948, congressional committee reports printed in USCCAN are contained in the LH database on Westlaw. From 1990, the LH database includes all congressional committee reports. LexisNexis has selected committee reports from 1990-1992, and all reports from 1993 in its (LEGIS;CMTRPT) library and file.

    2. Thomas at: http://thomas.loc.gov has the text of congressional committee reports beginning in 1995 (104th Congress).

  4. Congressional Information Service, Inc.

    CIS publishes a system of indexes, abstracts and microfiche copies of legislative history documents beginning with the first Congress. The microfiche include all legislative history not published in the Congressional Record. The print index and abstract volumes are located on the shelves in the Microform Room and the microfiche are located in the cabinets in the same room.

    The index volumes contain lists by subject, name (sponsors, witnesses, and committee and subcommittee chairs), title of the publication, and the number of the bill, report or document. Since 1983, there is a separate volume of Legislative Histories that lists all documents and hearings for laws enacted during that year. Prior to 1983, the legislative history lists are included in the annual Abstracts volumes.

    To use CIS/Index (Mfiche US- Y12:976), search the index or Legislative Histories volumes to find the accession numbers for the documents you are interested in. Before locating the document on microfiche, read the abstract to see if it is what you need.

    Committee prints (Mfiche Y13/1:) and the Serial Set (Mfiche US- Y1.1/2:)(pre-1970), and hearings (Mfiche US- Y14/1:) are contained and indexed in separate sets. All the indexes are now contained on a CD-ROM set, Congressional Masterfile, available in the Room 146. They are also available on LexisNexis (CODES;CISLH) library and file.

    CIS indexing and abstracting of congressional publications and the CIS Legislative Histories are also searchable through LexisNexis Congressional http://www.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/cong.cgi.

  5. The Congressional Record US Documents X

    The Congressional Record contains transcripts of floor debates and proceedings in both houses of Congress, and the text of some bills. There are two editions of the Record-- daily and permanent. The daily edition is issued in paperbacks which are eventually cumulated into bound volumes. Pagination in the two is not the same. The Record publishes its own indexes. The fortnightly index gives a complete list of actions since introduction on every bill on which action was taken during that two-week period. At the end of the annual index is a History of Bills and Resolutions table. We receive the Record in paper format, and keep the Daily Edition until we receive the bound Permanent Edition (several years later). They are shelved with the U.S. Documents on second floor under the letter X.

    The Congressional Record is also available from the following web resources:

  6. Congressional Hearings

    These are available in the CIS microfiche set described above. Also, selected congressional hearings are now available on Westlaw back to July 1995 USTESTIMONY: selected, January 1993-present, and CONGTMY: July 19, 1995-present). LexisNexis has hearings in its CNGTST file, (Legal > Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony) starting from July 28, 1993. Hearings from 1988 to the present are available on LexisNexis Congressional at: http://www.lib.umn.edu/cgi-bin/cong.cgi.

  7. Other Documents

    Committee prints and other congressional documents pertinent to legislative history are available in the CIS microfiche set, described above.

  8. Additional Guides to Legislative History 

    For other legislative history guides, see United States Laws and Legislation Guide at http://govpubs.lib.umn.edu/guides/leg.phtml and Government Information at http://www.law.umn.edu/library/tools/eresources/gdocs/maingov.html.

Links verified 4/14/2008

Direct feedback on this page to lawlib@umn.edu

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