LibGuides: Federal Legislative History: Introduction

What is a Legislative History? How Do I Get Started?

A legislative history is an examination of the documents created during the process by which a bill becomes law, and is sometimes used by courts to find legislative intent if a statute is vague or ambiguous.

The best way to begin is to see if someone has already compiled a legislative history by bringing together all of the documents or has at least listed and cited to the relevant documents. For more detail, see the Finding Compiled Histories section of this guide.

If there is no existing compiled history, you can start from scratch and find the documents on your own. For more detail, see the Finding Congressional Documents section of this guide.

Quick Links to Key Web Sites

These are among the best web sites for finding Congressional documents and related legislative history information.

(Note that for some, access is restricted to the USF community.)

Congress.gov
Free legislative information and documents (including bills, Public Laws, and committee reports) from the Library of Congress.
GovInfo - Government Publishing Office
Includes bills, reports, selected hearings, Committee Prints, the Congressional Record and more. Dates vary; generally mid-1990s to present.

Legislative Insight - ProQuest This link opens in a new window
Legislative Insight's sophisticated search of compiled federal legislative history documents quickly retrieves the most relevant documents. Includes access to: Public Law text; all versions of enacted & related bills; Congressional Record excerpts; committee hearings; and committee reports. Also includes Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports, committee prints, and Presidential signing statements. See the Quick Start Guide for more. Coverage begins with 1789
ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Congressional reports, hearings, committee prints, and documents, plus Congressional Research Service reports. Covers both enacted laws and non-enacted legislation. (For the USF Community.)

GovTrak
for tracking legislation, votes, and campaign contributions

United States Federal Legislative History Library - HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Compiled histories of major legislation, plus Nancy Johnson's Sources of Compiled Legislative History, which organizes links and citations to legislative histories by Congress/date and by popular name. [For the USF Community.]

More Advice on Doing Legislative Histories

These sites have lots of good tips and advice on doing federal legislative histories.

Federal Legislative Histories
a guide from USF's Gleeson Library
Federal Legislative History
a guide from the University of Washington's Gallagher Law Library
How to Compile a Federal Legislative History
from the Hastings Law Library
Legislative History Research: A Basic Guide
A helpful look at: the legislative process; and the key documents and how to find them. From the Congressional Research Service. [15 pages; PDF]
Legislative History Research Tutorial
from the Georgetown law library
Legislative History Research
also from the Georgetown law library
Federal Legislative History Research: A Practitioner's Guide
Full title: "Federal Legislative History Research: A Practitioner's Guide to Compiling the Documents and Sifting for Legislative Intent." From the Law Librarians Society of Washington D.C. (LLSDC).