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. Make sure to check and see if you are so lucky! However, compiled legislative histories are the exception, not the rule.
This page will highlight resources for finding compiled legislative histories.
By using the Public Law Number, you may be able to locate an already compiled legislative history. Compiled Legislative histories are available both in print and online. When assessing which resource to use, the date of the public law is going to be important.
1941-Present: A legislative history can be found by using USCCAN. USCCAN, officially the "United States Code Congressional and Administrative News," provides, among other things, a list of Public Laws listed in Chronological Order. USCCAN can be accessed via book form and online via Westlaw Next.
1970-1983: The legislative histories section of the CIS Annual Abstracts.
1984-Present: The CIS Legislative histories volumes. The CIS Legislative Histories provide references for each Public Law to related Bills, Reports, Hearings, Debates, Presidential Documents, and more.
1970's-Present you can search ProQuest Congressional.
Additionally, you can locate compiled legislative histories for major legislation in Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories.
You may be able to locate an already compiled legislative history. Compiled Legislative histories are available both in print and online. When assessing which resource to use the date of the Bill number is going to be important. If you have both the Year or Congress and the bill number, you can obtain compiled legislative histories after 1993 at GOVINFO. Compiled Legislative Histories after 1970 are available at ProQuest Congressional.
On Westlaw, select "Statutes Court Rules" from the All Content tab. On the right, there is a column labeled "Tools & Resources." Select "Legislative History." Within that section, you can select "US GAO Federal Legislative Histories" for compiled legislative histories for most public laws enacted between 1921 and 1995, according to Westlaw.
After logging on to Lexis Advance, select "Sources." Then select "Legislative Histories" under "Statutes and Legislation." There are several compiled legislative histories available.
Johnson, Nancy P., Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories: A Bibliography of Government Documents, Periodicals and Books, (Littleton: AALL, 2000) Call Number KF 42.2 (Reference Area) (updated through 108th Congress, 2007). Also accessible electronically through HeinOnline's U.S. Federal Legislative History Library. This publication tells you if a compiled legislative history has been created; gives you the title, author, and other citation information to help you locate it in your library; and indicates what documents the compiled legislative history contains and whether they are full-text or summaries.
Reams, Bernard D. Jr., ed, Federal Legislative Histories: An Annotated Bibiliography and Index to Officially Published Sources, (1994) Call Number KF 42.2 (Reference Area). The scope of this work is limited to legislative histories compiled only by government agencies for laws from the 4th Congress (1796)-101st Congress (1990). Legislative histories are listed chronologically and each is assigned a record number. The work's five indexes provide access to the records by author, popular name, public law number, bill number, and Statutes at Large citation. Extensive bibliographic information is provided for each entry. A table in the front explains the abbreviations used.
Johnson, Nancy P., Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories: A Bibliography of Government Documents, Periodicals and Books, (Littleton: AALL, 2000) Call Number KF 42.2 (Reference Area) (updated through 108th Congress, 2007). Also accessible electronically through HeinOnline's U.S. Federal Legislative History Library. This publication tells you if a compiled legislative history has been created; gives you the title, author, and other citation information to help you locate it in your library; and indicates what documents the compiled legislative history contains and whether they are full-text or summaries.
Reams, Bernard D. Jr., ed, Federal Legislative Histories: An Annotated Bibiliography and Index to Officially Published Sources, (1994) Call Number KF 42.2 (Reference Area). The scope of this work is limited to legislative histories compiled only by government agencies for laws from the 4th Congress (1796)-101st Congress (1990). Legislative histories are listed chronologically and each is assigned a record number. The work's five indexes provide access to the records by author, popular name, public law number, bill number, and Statutes at Large citation. Extensive bibliographic information is provided for each entry. A table in the front explains the abbreviations used.
