Legislative histories for some bills and statutes have already been compiled. If you are researching legislative history that is already compiled, then your job is that much easier. However, compiled legislative histories are the exception, not the rule.
You can begin compiling your own legislative history using any of the following: statute citation, Bill Number, Public Law Number, Statutes at Large citation, and Popular Name. A quick place to start is at GOVINFO.
Public Laws: Most laws passed by Congress are public laws. Public laws citations include the abbreviation, Pub.L., the Congress number (e.g. 107), and the number of the law in the order it was enacted in that Congress (For example: Pub.L. 107-006 would be the sixth law enacted during the 107th Congress).
If you have access to the USC, USCA, or the USCS you can locate the Public Law Number in the history note after the text of the code section or by utilizing the Popular Name Table of the Code. The Congressional Record's History of Bills and Resolutions section for legislation has bills enacted after 1983. After 1941, you can use the Law Library of Congress's Congress.gov page. For enacted legislation after 1937, you can utilize the Bills and Joint Resolutions enacted table from USCCAN.
| H.R. | House Bill |
| S. | Senate Bill |
A bill is a legislative proposal before Congress. Bills from each house are assigned a number in the order in which they are introduced, starting at the beginning of each Congress (first and second sessions). Public bills pertain to matters that affect the general public or classes of citizens, while private bills pertain to individual matters that affect individuals and organizations, such as claims against the Government.
Years association with Congress number conversion chart available at senate.gov.
Bill numbers can be located from a variety of sources depending on the information you currently have available. After 1901, you can use a Public Law Number or Statutes at Large citation to look in the United States Statutes at Large for the Bill number or in the US Code Congressional and Administrative News Legislative History table for legislation after 1941. A Public Law number can also be used on GOVINFO to locate enacted legislation from 1974 to the current year.
If you only have the topic or subject matter of the bill you can locate the bill number by searching for the subject in one of these resources: Congress.gov, Govinfo, or ProQuest Congressional.
You can use the Bill Number to find a Public Law Number and vice versa. In this way, you can use one piece of information to gain access to other research methods and resources
If you have a Public Law Number you can use it to locate a Bill Number. For legislation enacted after 1901 you can use the United States Statutes at Large. After 1941, you can also use the USCCAN legislative history Information. For enacted laws after 1970 you can also use the CIS Legislative History resources.
The Public Law Number is a very useful starting point. With the Public Law Number you can:
Locate the Text of the Public Law - You can use the Public Law Number to locate the text of a Public Law using the United States Statutes at Large or USCCAN. Remember, the Statutes at Large are available in Print or Online at HeinOnline and Westlaw, while USCCAN is also available in print or online at Westlaw.
If you have a Public Law Number, you can use the USCCAN to tie it to the relevant Bill Number, or any applicable United States Code section, Statutes at Large Citation, Signing Statements, Presidential Proclamations, Executive Orders, Popular Names, etc.
Locate Compiled Legislative Histories - Many of the popular and important laws to be passed have had some form of legislative history already compiled. This will provide varying degrees of assistance to a current researcher. With the Public Law Number, you can find (A) Online Compiled Legislative Histories - by looking at (1) HeinOnline, (2) Westlaw, (3) ProQuest Congressional, (4) Congress.gov, and (5) Lexis Advance - or (B) Print Compiled Legislative Histories - by looking at (1) USCCAN, and (2) Nancy P. Johnson's Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories (located in the Reference Wing and on HeinOnline).
If you don't have the Public Law Number, you can usually find it by looking in:
USC/USCA/USCS - look in the credits of the relevant published law if you have that information.
Typically, you will start your research with only the current statute in hand. The current statute may be in the USC, USCA, or USCS. In any of these three resources, there will be a citation to the law's Public Law Number.
Now, with the Public Law Number you have a variety of research tracks depending on what you want to know. You can use the Public Law Number to access USCCAN (print or online at Westlaw) to find the appropriate Public Law Volume then the Legislative History Volume. From here, you can find many Senate and House Committee Reports, Signing Statements, Executive Orders, Presidential Proclamations, Federal Regulations, etc. Additionally, you can proceed to the Congressional Record. You can also use the Public Law Number to find further information such as the Number of the Congress, the Bill Number, Date of the Bill, and more from Westlaw, and Lexis Advance.
With the Public Law Number you can find much useful information, either directly or through discovering new research paths.
With the Bill Number You Can:
Congressional bills are important because changes in the language may show legislative intent. The text of Congressional bills may be found through Congress.gov (1974-present), GOVINFO (1993-present), ProQuest Congressional (1989-present), Westlaw, and Lexis Advance. Additionally, the Library of Congress' American Memory Project contains the text of House bills from the 6th Congress (1799) through the 42nd Congress (1873) and the text of Senate bills from the 16th Congress (1819) to the 42nd Congress (1873).
If you have a Bill Number, you can use it to locate Hearings, Debates, and Presidential Statements. Citations to Hearings and sometimes the text of the Hearings are available in ProQuest Congressional.
Find the Public Law Number- You can use either (1) the Bill Number + Year of the Bill or (2) the Bill Number + the Number of Congress (e.g., 112th Congress), to find the Public Law Number in the CIS Index of Legislative Histories; Index of Bill Numbers.
Find Congressional Debates Citations - Using the Congressional Record you can look in the History of Bills and Resolutions table in each volume to, using the Bill Number, find the relevant page number for the Congressional Record (1873 to Current). For anything prior to 1873 you will have to look in the Congressional Globe (1833 - 1873), Register of Debates in Congress (1824 - 1833), or The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824).
If the only information you have is the Popular Name of the law, the easiest route may be to refer to the Popular Names Table in the USC, USCA, or USCS. Using the Popular Names Table, you can locate the Statute Section, which will lead you to the Public Law Number and Statutes at Large citation.
