US Legislative Histories

What is a Legislative History and How is it Used?

A legislative history is the documentation produced by Congress on the background and events leading up to the enactment of a law. Legislative history is used to determine the intent of the legislators in passing a particular statute. When a question arises concerning the applicability or interpretation of a statute, a legislative history can be compiled or consulted to better understand the reasons for the enactment of that statute.

Legislative histories may be compiled by commercial publishers or, sometimes, by Congress itself for important legislation or in a particular subject area. For instance, the House Committee on Education and Labor compiled a legislative history of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Many times you will need to compile the legislative history of an act yourself. To determine if a legislative history already exists be sure to search Innopac and VIRGO.

You may also want to consult the following books to determine if a legislative history already exists:
Federal legislative histories : an annotated bibliography (Ref BiblA .R2883f)
Sources of compiled legislative histories : a bibliography of government documents, periodical articles, and books : 1st Congress - 94th Congress (Ref Libs .A505 14)
Union list of legislative histories : 47th Congress, 1881-97th Congress, 1982
(Ref BiblA .L416u 1985)

What Documents Make up a Federal Legislative History?

A legislative history includes documentation from all the steps in the law-making process. Different documents have varying degrees of weight in showing congressional intent.

Bills and amendments. As introduced, reported on, and acted upon by either or both houses, a bill provides information on the original intent and language of its sponsor as well as evidence of deliberate exclusions and inclusions in the bill. Bills are numbered consecutively for the two sessions of each Congress.

Hearings. These are transcripts of the testimony of witnesses before House and Senate Committees. Hearings can be used to illustrate that certain issues and considerations were made known to Congress through the hearing process. Hearings are an early step in the legislative process. Hearings are not held for all bills. Neither are all hearings published. For those which are published, there can often be a lengthy delay before publication. Some information from hearings is available electronically, but this is usually only the pre-submitted statements, not the verbal questions and answers from the hearing.

Committee Prints. Prepared for the use of a given committee, committee prints can be research studies, compilations of materials or statutes, legislative histories, background information, or working drafts of a bill. Committee prints are not automatically published or distributed.

Committee Reports. The committee's communication to Congress explains the purpose of the bill and contains the committee's explanations of and recommendations on the bill. Reports may be issued by House, Senate, and Conference Committees, and are numbered consecutively for each Congress and for each house.

Debates. These include all activities which occur on the floor of the two houses of Congress. While individual comments during debates are not proof of congressional intent, statements by the bill's sponsor or chairman of the committee reporting the bill, especially those with the stated intention of clarifying or explaining the bill, can have significant weight.

Presidential Messages. Delivered to Congress, these explain the reasons for suggesting, signing, or vetoing legislation. While only indirect evidence of congressional intent, they often provide helpful background information about the proposed legislation.

What Steps Do I Take in Compiling a Federal Legislative History?

1. If a law has been enacted, check to see if a legislative history has already been compiled.
The books listed on the first page can help in establishing if a legislative history already exists.

2. If no law has been enacted, first locate the bill number.

3. Determine what significant actions have been taken on the bill.

4. Identify citations to:
* committee reports (House, Senate, and Conference)
* hearings held on the bill in the considering Congress, or on the same topic in previous Congresses
* congressional floor action on the bill including debates, floor amendments, and votes
* presidential messages relating to the bill/act

5. Locate the documents themselves.

What Are the Major Finding Tools?

Online Catalog - VIRGO
Check to see is a compiled legislative history exists and is owned by the Law Library or Alderman.

U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN) - 1941 to date
Reference shelves outside Documents Office
Both the monthly advance sheets and the bound volumes contain a legislative history table which lists for each public law: date approved, Statutes at Large citation, bill and report numbers, committees that recommended the bill, and dates of consideration and passage in the House and Senate. USCCAN contains the texts of all Public Laws and selected Committee Reports.

CCH Congressional Index - 1947/48, 1957/58 to date
Reference Shelves outside of Documents Office
This looseleaf service, supplemented weekly when Congress is in session, is a good source for finding the current status of bills. Bills are indexed by bill number, author, and subject. References are given to reports, hearings, Public Law number, and voting records.

Congressional Universe - http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp/
Law Library Home Page -> Legal Research -> Fed Law & Government -> Laws & Legislative Resources -> Congressional Universe
Indexes and abstracts Congressional publications back to 1970. Congressional Universe (and the other CIS products) contain Legislative Histories which pull together citations to various reports, documents, hearings, Congressional debates, etc. on bills. Particularly nice is that fact that these Legislative Histories span Congresses, referencing reports & documents on similar legislation over several years.
Congressional Universe includes full texts of bills, laws, reports, documents and Congressional testimony back to about 1988 (coverage varies). Material can be searched in a variety of ways - bill number, P.L. number, subject, witness name or affiliation, report or document number, and Congressional committee.

CIS Index - Reference Shelves outside of Documents Office
A monthly publication, the CIS Index also has two cumulative annual volumes -- one an index, the other a compilation of abstracts of the documents. Starting in 1984 a third annual volume was added indexing legislative histories. Documents can be located by bill number, Public Law number, report number, subject, title, or author. Abstracts are listed by committee.

Congressional Indexes, 1789-1969 - http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp/
Law Library Home Page -> Legal Research -> Fed Law & Government -> Laws & Legislative Resources -> Congressional Universe
This set indexes Congressional materials, except Congressional Record, back to 1789. It does not index these older materials to the same depth as CIS Index and Congressional Universe do the newer materials, but it’s really the only index to older Congressional hearings, reports, documents, and prints.

CIS/US Serial Set Index (1789-1969) - included on Congressional Indexes, 1789-1969 (see above)
Reference Shelves outside of Documents Office
The U.S. Serial Set, compiled under direction of the Government Printing Office, is an on-going collection of congressional publications including House and Senate reports & documents. The Serial Set Index provides access to these reports by subject, keyword, and number. Hearings are not included in the Serial Set.

C Q Weekly Report & CQ Almanac - http://library.cqpress.com/
Web - CQ Weekly back to 1983 is available
Law Library Home Page -> Legal Research -> Fed Law & Govt. -> Congress -> CQ Weekly
Law Library Periodical Stacks under call # P .C6559 and P .C656 respectively.
CQ contains summaries of Congressional (and other federal government) activities, status of major legislation, lists of recently-passed public laws, and analyses of important legislative issues. Particularly useful for tracking complex legislation that involves numerous amendments or researching the political background of legislation.

Congressional Record Index -- "History of Bills and Resolutions" section
Documents Stacks (LJ .C75) & Microform Room
This status table appears in the bi-weekly index issues of the daily Congressional Record and is cumulated for the entire session in the bound annual index volume. The arrangement is by bill number, with the title and action noted, and a reference to the Congressional Record page on which the record of the action can be found. A bill number will appear in the bi-weekly index only if the bill has been acted upon during those two weeks; if listed, however, all previous actions for that session will be recorded.

Thomas - http://thomas.loc.gov/
Contains searchable bill summaries & status information back to 1975. Full texts of bills back to 1989. Searchable by keyword, subject, sponsor, bill number, etc.
GPO Access - http://www.gpoaccess.gov/legislative.html
Bill status system back to 1993 from the Government Printing Office. Keyword & bill number searchable. Has votes on bills.

Lexis & Westlaw
Lexis Academic Universe - a less comprehensive version of Lexis
Both include databases useful in compiling legislative histories. In the following tables Lexis and Westlaw may be used in most of the steps. Some Lexis & Westlaw files are listed separately below. Check online or in printed lists for other available files.

How Do I Compile a Federal Legislative History?
To compile a legislative history you must obtain cites to the documents that make up the legislative history and gather these documents. Listed here are the steps you go through to obtain the needed cites, and the suggested sources to find that information in a variety of circumstances.

Check to see if a legislative history has already been compiled
If you have	you can use
Topic of bill	USCCAN VIRGO
Public Law Number, Statutes at Large cite or Popular Name	USCCAN books listed on first page of handout
Public Law Number (for legislation passed 1984 +)	CIS Index Legislative Histories volumes Congressional Universe
Public Law Number (for legislation passed from 1970 to 1983)	CIS Annual Abstracts volume - “Leg. Hist.” section Congressional Universe

To locate a bill number
If you have	you can use
Subject information only on a bill - whether or not it was enacted	CCH Congressional Index - subject index Thomas - 1975- (summaries of bills only) Congressional Universe - 1970-present Congressional Indexes, 1789-1969 GPO Access - 1993- Lexis - LEGIS - BLT, BTX files for congress, 1989- Westlaw - BILLTRK, BILLTRK-OLD - 1990- Billcast - Westlaw & Lexis - summaries of bills, 1985-
Subject or sponsor information	Congressional Record Index Congressional Universe Lexis - LEGIS - BLT, BTX files for congress, 1989- Westlaw - BILLTRK, BILLTRK-OLD, 1990-
Cite to enacted legislation	Statutes at Large or slip law Westlaw & Lexis versions of above

To determine what significant actions have been taken on a bill
If you want	you can use
Committee actions and floor voting	Thomas CCH Congressional Index - status section Congressional Universe Lexis - various files within LEGIS library - VOTARC, CNGVOT
Activities on the floor of Congress	Congressional Record Index - History of Bills GPO Access Westlaw - CR - 1985- Lexis - LEGIS - RECORD - 1985-

To locate citations to committee reports
If you want	you can use
Committee report numbers	Thomas - 1975- CCH Congressional Index - status section CIS Index, US Serial Set Index , Congressional Indexes, 1789-1969 Congressional Universe - 1970- Congressional Record Index GPO Access, USCCAN

To find hearings held on the bill or held in previous Congresses on the same topic
If you have	you can use
Subject information, witnesses, or bill number from 1970 to date	CIS Index Congressional Universe
Subject information, witnesses, or bill number from 1833-1969	Congressional Indexes, 1789-1969

For citations to Congressional debates
If you have	you can use
bill number or name of congressperson	Congressional Record Index GPO Access (1983 to date) Lexis, Westlaw (1985 to date) USCCAN

For Presidential messages
If you have	you can use
Bill number	Congressional Record Index
Date Public Law number Subject	Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents GPO Access, 1993-
Subject or date	Public Papers of the President GPO Access, 1993-

Where are the Legislative History Documents in UVA Law Library?

The UVA Law Library has most of the legislative history documents for federal legislation enacted from 1970's to date. Some of these materials are in paper, others are in micro-format. Lexis and Westlaw have developed Legislative databases covering bills, committee reports, some Congressional hearings, the Congressional Record, and Presidential messages. GPO Access and Congressional Universe also contain both indexing and full texts of many legislative history documents.

	UVA Law Library Holdings - see Research Guide 17 for more information
Bills	1957-1964 - microprint 1965-microfiche GPO Access, 1993-
Hearings	1947- present - CIS microfiche 1970- present paper - Y 4s Alderman - 1833- present - mix of paper and fiche GPO Access, 1997-
Committee Prints	1948 - present - CIS fiche 1978 - present - paper GPO Access, 1997-
Committee Reports	1925-1969 - Serial Set microfiche 1970 - CIS microfiche 1977- present - Serial Set in paper - Y 1.1/2: Most recent reports - Y 1.1/5 and Y 1.1/8 - paper Full texts online, 1990 - present - GPO Access, Lexis, Westlaw, Congressional Universe Alderman 1818-1923 - fiche; 1924 - present - Serial Set - paper
Congressional Debates	Congressional Record - 1971- present - paper - LJ CR - 1985 - present - Lexis, Westlaw, GPO Access Congressional Record - 1873-1970 - microfiche Congressional Globe - 1833-1873 - microfiche Register of Debates - 1824-1837 - microfiche Annals of Congress - 1789-1824 - microfiche
Presidential Messages	Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (PD AE 2.109) and in the Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States (PD AE 2.114). Presidential messages are sometimes printed as House or Senate Documents. GPO Access, 1993-