Legislative History Research Guide — Georgetown Law

8/13/2019 Legislative History Research Guide Georgetown Law

1/9


www.law.georgetown.edu/library/research/guides/legislative_history.cfm 1/9

Law Library

Legislative History Research Guide

Table of Contents

Introduction Legislative Documents Bills Hearings Committee Reports (House, Senate, Conference)Congressional Debates (Congressional Record) Presidential Statements Appropriations Other Congressional Documents Tools for Finding Legislative Documents Compiled Legislative HistoriesProQuest CONGRESSIONAL, LEXIS & CIS INDEX (CIS Legislative Histories) WESTLAWTHOMAS Current Awareness Free Web Databases :This guide collects major sources for conducting legislative history research.

Introduction

Legislative history is a term that refers to the documents that are produced by Congress as a bill is

introduced, studied and debated. These legislative documents are often used by attorneys and courts in an

attempt to determine Congressional intent or to clarify vague or ambiguous statutory language. All

legislative documents are only persuasive legal authority. The legislative process that produces these

documents can be quite complex. For details of the legislative process, read How Our Laws Are Made , by

Charles W. Johnson, Parliamentarian of the House of Representatives.

This guide will first discuss the types of documents that come out of the legislative process and their use,

and will then set out the methods of locating legislative documents for enacted and p ending legislation. The

Libr ary has a comprehensive mic rofiche coll ection of legislative documents dating ba ck to 1789 and finding

aids both in print and on the web. Recent legislative documents are readily available on THOMAS,

ProQuest Congressional (formerly LexisNexis Congressional), Lexis, and Westlaw.

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has also prepared a guide on Legislative History which is

avai lable here . For additional assistance with legislative research, stop by the Reference De sk in the

Will iams Reading Room.

Legislative Documents

Committee Reports are usually considered the most important legislative documents and contain more

analysis than the other documents. Bills and Congressional Debates also may be relevant. The other

legislative materials provide little information that would help you to determine legislative intent, although
http://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/http://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/http://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/http://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/staff/ps/reference/index.cfmhttp://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41865.pdfhttp://thomas.loc.gov/home/lawsmade.toc.htmlhttp://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/


2/9



they often provide valuable background and factual information on the issue being addressed by the

legislation.

If you are unsure about which Congress or year your law was passed, you may find it helpful to use the

table of Years of Congress Conversion Table .

Bills

For purposes of legislative history research, comparing the various versions of a bill as it moved throughout

the legislative process may help in determining the intended meaning of the law.

Introduction of a bill into Congress is the first step of the formal legislative process. After a bill is

introduced, it is assigned a bill number, printed and referred to a committee. Bills are frequently amended

throughout the legislative process and may be printed several times before they are finally passed.

Comparing the various versions of a bill as it moved throughout the legislative process may help in

determining the intended meaning of the law. Arguments regarding the meaning of a statutory section may be drawn based on the inclusion, deletion or modification of language in the text of the bill. Note, too, that

the bill number is one of the keys to tracing legislative history.

Here are some of the first places to check for bills:

ELECTRONIC

THOMAS (free web) From 101st Congress (1989) to present

FDsys.gov (free web) From 103rd Congress (1993) to present

ProQuest Congressional (formerly LexisNexis Congressional) From 101st Congress (1989) to present

For a more comprehensive listing of other electronic, print and microform sources of bills, view our

legislative history chart.

Hearings

For purposes of legislative history research, hearings focus on the views of the parties testifying before

Congress, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the committee or Congress.

House and Senate committees hear testimony on proposed legislation in order to determine the need for new

legislation in a particular area and to hear the views of various persons or organizations interested in the

legislation. Hearings can provide a wealth of information for background research into the issue Congress is

addressing. Hearings are held for almost all substantive legislation and transcripts of most hearings
http://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/research/guides/legislative_history_chart.cfmhttp://0-search.proquest.com.gull.georgetown.edu/congressional/index/ip?accountid=36339http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=BILLShttp://thomas.loc.gov/home/bills_res.htmlhttp://www.libraries.iub.edu/index.php?pageId=3373


3/9



(including exhibits provided by those testifying) are published. For interpreting enacted legislation, hearings

are less useful than other legislative documents because they focus on the views of the parties testifying

rather than the views of the committee or Congress.

Hearings are published individually, and some of the first places to check include:

ELECTRONIC

FDsys.gov (free web) Selected hearings from 104th Congress (1995) to present, organized bycommittee.

ProQuest Congressional(formerly LexisNexisCongressional)

Full text digital hearings from 1824 to present. Select the "Hearings" buttononly, and restrict by selecting the appropriate year or Congress at the

bottom of the page.

For a more comprehensive listing of other electronic, print and microform sources of hearings, click here.

Committee Reports (House, Senate, Conference)

For purposes of legislative history research, committee reports are the most important source for determining

legislative intent.

Congressional committee reports in general, and conference reports in particular, are the most important

source of legislative history. Reports are issued for almost every bill that becomes a law, and there is usually

a report from each of the House and Senate committees that considered the legislation. A report will

accompany the bill when it is sent to the full chamber for debate and voting.

Reports usually reprint the text of the bill, describe its purposes, and give reasons for the committee's

recommendations on the bill. Often, committee reports include the legislative history of the bill, the purposes

of the bill, and what the committee regards as the need for new legislation. There is often a "section-by-

section" analysis of the bill that is very helpful if your research is concentrated on just one section or

sections.

If a conference committee was appointed to draft a compromise bill acceptable to both the House and

Senate (this occurs when the House and Senate versions of the bill are different), a conference report will be

issued. Conference reports are particularly important because they come at the end of the legislative

process and report on the text of the compromise bill.

Congressional committee reports are published in the United States Congressional Serial Set , and some of

the first places to check for a committee report include:
http://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/research/guides/legislative_history_chart.cfmhttp://0-web.lexis-nexis.com.gull.georgetown.edu/congcomp/form/cong/s_pubadvanced.html?_m=4a039d109b562613924dd6adbf0fcb30&wchp=dGLzVlz-zSkSA&_md5=2e968f9d14941b1d95a3b7dae02f485ehttp://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=CHRG


4/9


5/9



Congress, Register of Debates and The Congressional Globe are :

ELECTRONIC

FDsys.gov (free web) Daily Edition, 1994 to present.

Bound editions, 1999-2001

HeinOnline Bound Editions of Congressional Record , 1873 to 2006. Also includes

Annals of Congress, Register of Debates & Congressional Globe.

Daily Edition of Congressional Record , 101st Congress (1990) to

present.

ProQuest Congressional(formerly LexisNexisCongressional)

All Bound Editions , 1789-1997. Includes Annals of Congress, Register

of Debates & Congressional Globe.

Daily Edition , 1985 to present. From 99th Congress (1985) to present.

For a more comprehensive listing of other electronic, print and microform sources of congressional debates,

click here.

Presidential Statements

When the President signs a bill into law, he may issue a statement explaining why he is approving the

legislation. These statements were traditionally brief and generally did not contain substantive analysis of

the legislation. However, in recent administrations they have been used more vigorously and have become a

subject of controversy. There is disagreement about their role in and importance to legislative history. See

our research guide on Presidential Signing Statements for more sources and information.

Appropriations

The Constitution provides for Congress to appropriate money to be spent by the Federal Government, so

when the White House issues the Budget of the United States in February of each year, it can be confusing.

For a detailed explanation of the legislature's role in the federal budget process, see the following:

CongressLine: The Budget , published on LLRX.com

For a discussion of the role of Congress in the appropriation process, versus the authorization process, see:

CongressLine: Authorization and Appropriation , published on LLRX.com
http://www.llrx.com/congress/authorization.htmhttp://www.llrx.com/congress/thebudget.htmhttp://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectionGPO.action?collectionCode=BUDGEThttp://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/research/guides/presidentialsigningstatements.cfmhttp://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/research/guides/legislative_history_chart.cfmhttp://0-web.lexis-nexis.com.gull.georgetown.edu/congcomp/form/cong/s_reckeyword.html?_m=3249291f9e07c8be98fb5e6c3314f96d&wchp=dGLbVzb-zSkSA&_md5=f0c5f415c16ab28cb9735266e1a49cf9http://gull.georgetown.edu/record=e100588~S0http://0-web.lexis-nexis.com.gull.georgetown.edu/congcomp/form/cong/s_legkeyword.html?_m=abc51987317c37f5eb8aad1b222b5b4c&wchp=dGLbVlz-zSkSA&_md5=6355ecfc479487d2e240548e329bb331http://gull.georgetown.edu/record=b487962http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/home.action


6/9


7/9



and the words "legislative history" (include the quotation marks). This will retrieve the itemswe have in our collection that have your search terms.Ebrary electronic books database. Use the Advanced Search to find the words "legislativehistory" in the text or subject. Use the second search field to look for your topic.

9. Legislative History in Articles. Use the Legal Periodicals & Books and the LegalTrac databases toidentify articles that discuss a particular legislative history.

Search these databases together in Westlaw from the Directory . Enter both database names

separated by a comma (ilp,lri) in the "Search These Databases" box.Search these databases together in Lexis from Secondary Legal > Annotations & Indexes .Select the boxes next to "Legal Resources Index" &" Index to Legal Periodicals" and click the"Combine Sources" button.Search the databases separately from our web site .

ProQuest CONGRESSIONAL, LEXIS & CIS INDEX (CIS LegislativeHistories)

1. ProQuest Congressional (formerly LexisNexis Congressional ) has long been considered the besttool for comprehensive legislative history information because it is built around the CIS LegislativeHistories..

Laws enacted from 1969 to the present have compiled legislative histories available. Eachhistory includes all documents related to the law, arranged by document type (committeereports, hearings, debates, etc.). Documents are included from all relevant Congresses, not justthe Congress in which the law was passed. If the documents are not available in full text, theninformation is included to help locate them in print and/or microfiche.Laws enacted prior to 1969 do not have compiled histories (there are some exceptions), butyou may search by number for "congressional publications related to a particular bill or law"

(choose that option in the drop-down box) from the 16th Congress (1819). You may also do a basic or advanced search.

2. Lexis has CIS Legislative Histories (from 1970) and CIS Historical Index (1789-1980), however there are no guided searches, and the coverage isn't as broad.

3. CIS Index is the print version of ProQuest Congressional.There are Legislative History volumes for all laws enacted between 1970 and 2008. LikeProQuest Congressional, all of the documents for each law are listed by document type. Inaddition to the Legislative History volumes, CIS indexes all House and Senate reports,hearings, prints, and documents, including materials relating to legislation that was not enacted.Searching is by subject, name, committee, public law number, bill number, or documentnumber. Full text is not available in CIS Index.For laws enacted before 1970, use the CIS Index for 1789-1969. CIS also has publishedindexes for the Serial Set (indexing committee reports), Hearings, Unpublished House andSenate Hearings, and Committee Prints. There are other indexes that aid in researching older laws. This chart provides links to this information.
http://www.library.illinois.edu/doc/researchtools/guides/usfederal/historicaldocs.htmlhttp://gull.georgetown.edu/record=b166666http://gull.georgetown.edu/search~S0?/tcis%20index/tcis+index/1,21,25,B/exact&FF=tcis+index+annual&1,2,http://www.lexis.com/research/xlink?source=230625https://www.lexis.com/research/form/bool?_m=f4461f818590b80c942617042d350ae1&_src=144150.3003243&_cat=3003243&wchp=dGLbVlz-zSkAW&_md5=d429325564e1b6dfd9e1f4e7131b1a6dhttp://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp/form/cong/s_pubadvanced.html?_m=7d8ce22cf8f5c34f5f07cbc0ce17a78d&wchp=dGLbVzW-zSkSA&_md5=e0b6eb9d6fa2f27b9b19cc16ece2dfa7http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp/form/cong/s_pubbasic.html?_m=7d8ce22cf8f5c34f5f07cbc0ce17a78d&wchp=dGLbVzW-zSkSA&_md5=e0b6eb9d6fa2f27b9b19cc16ece2dfa7http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp/form/cong/s_pubnumber.html?_m=7d8ce22cf8f5c34f5f07cbc0ce17a78d&wchp=dGLbVzW-zSkSA&_md5=e0b6eb9d6fa2f27b9b19cc16ece2dfa7http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp/form/cong/s_legkeyword.html?_m=c42f91798f2d75123fc79339446b375e&wchp=dGLbVlb-zSkSA&_md5=d21fdbfb1ba63262dcefd42f3bda8fbehttp://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp/form/cong/s_legkeyword.html?_m=c42f91798f2d75123fc79339446b375e&wchp=dGLbVlb-zSkSA&_md5=d21fdbfb1ba63262dcefd42f3bda8fbehttp://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/research/guides/articles.cfmhttps://www.lexis.com/research/sel/interm?_m=d7fd9562499ec435a208add5040f4a54&_cat=3002023&wchp=dGLbVlz-zSkAW&_md5=33c3d422a4da6c3cffecb65c3ea940bahttp://web2.westlaw.com/directory/default.wl?fn=_top&rs=WLW7.04&rp=/directory/default.wl&mt=Westlaw&vr=2.0&sv=Splithttp://0-site.ebrary.com.gull.georgetown.edu/lib/georgetown


8/9



WESTLAW

1. GAO Federal Legislative Histories (FED-LH): This database in Westlaw makes availablelegislative histories for most U.S. Public Laws enacted from 1915 to 1995, as originally compiled bythe U.S. Government Accountability Office. This set of valuable legislative histories was fairlyrecently acquired by Westlaw and has a rolling release over four years, beginning in November 2007.

2. Arnold & Porter Legislative History Collection: This set of databases in Westlaw contains

legislative histories for approximately three dozen major laws as compiled by the law firm of Arnold& Porter. Each legislative history is a separate database in Westlaw, available at: U.S. FederalMaterials > Legislative History > Arnold & Porter Collection - Legislative Histories .

THOMAS

THOMAS is the legislative documents database from the Library of Congress, and it is particularly useful if

you seek recent materials. You can search or browse to the "Bill Summary & Status" for each bill or law.

Click on "Text of Legislation" to see the full text of all versions of the bill," and on "All Congressional

Actions" to see its chronological history, with links to full text of the documents produced (no hearings).Dates of coverage for different types of legislative documents varies. Check the coverage page in

THOMAS for available dates for each type of document.

Current Awareness

Use the following sources to find commentary on information on specific bills and laws.

Free Web

Roll Call

Online version of the Capitol Hill newspaper, containing news and analysis of legislation.

CBS News Politics: Congress

Congress.org , "America's Town Square." service of Capitol Advantage and Knowlegis, LLC; private,

non-partisan companies that specialize in facilitating civic participation.

MSNBC.com Politics / Capitol Hill

National Journal . Weekly newspaper on politics and government.

OpenCongress , a free, open-source, not-for-profit, and non-partisan project of the Participatory Projects

Foundation and the Sunlight Foundation "brings together official government data with news and blog

coverage to give you the real story behind each bill" in the name of government transparency and
http://www.opencongress.org/http://nationaljournal.com/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21672985/http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/ap/congress/main501707.shtmlhttp://www.rollcall.com/http://thomas.loc.gov/home/abt_thom.htmlhttp://thomas.loc.gov/http://web2.westlaw.com/directory/default.wl?fn=_top&rs=WLW9.08&rp=/directory/default.wl&ifm=NotSet&mt=Westlaw&vr=2.0&sv=Splithttp://web2.westlaw.com/directory/default.wl?fn=_top&rs=WLW9.08&rp=/directory/default.wl&ifm=NotSet&mt=Westlaw&vr=2.0&sv=Splithttp://web2.westlaw.com/search/default.wl?rs=WLW9.08&ifm=NotSet&sv=Split&vr=2.0&mt=Westlaw&fn=_top&rp=/search/default.wl&db=fed-lh


9/9


www law georgetown edu/library/research/guides/legislative history cfm 9/9

encouragement of civic engagement. Began with the 109th Congress.

Post Politics , The Washington Post

U.S. Congress , The New York Times

Yahoo U.S. Congress News

Politico.com

News publication covering Congress and political compaigns, pending legislation, and lobbying efforts.

Databases :

CongressDaily . Nonpartisan daily electronic newsletter from the National Journal. Covers the people,

process and the behind-the-scenes events concerning Congress.

CQ Researcher . Publishes 12,000-word reports covering the most current and controversial issues of the

day with complete summaries, insight into all sides of the issues, bibliographies and more on a weekly basis.

Includes all CQ Researcher reports published since 1991.

CQ Weekly . Provides nonpartisan news and analysis on the United States Congress. The service includes

access to the full text of all articles published since 1983.

Hotline . The National Journal's daily briefing on politics. Combines original, bipartisan reporting with

coverage from over 2,500 media sources. The Hotline provides a comprehensive picture of the political

landscape, from the United States to local governments. Coverage includes TV ads, polls and other up-to-

the-minute information.

Updated 10/2012 (MK)

Georgetown University Law Library. These guides may be used for educational purposes, as long as proper credit is given. These guides may not be sold. Requests to republish or adapt a guide should be

directed to the Head of Reference . Proper credit includes the statement: Written by, or adapted from,

Georgetown Law Library (current as of .....).
http://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/about/aeh97.cfmhttp://0-www.nationaljournal.com.gull.georgetown.edu/member/hotlinehttp://www.law.georgetown.edu/connect/cq_weekly.cfmhttp://www.law.georgetown.edu/connect/cq_researcher.cfmhttp://www.law.georgetown.edu/connect/congress_daily.cfmhttp://www.politico.com/http://news.yahoo.com/i/1278;_ylt=AhZ4WsMwxOqYv2TOTydg53qyFz4Dhttp://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/congress/index.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/politics/congress/index.html