Federal Legislative Histories

A federal legislative history is an analysis of the various Congressional documents that are generated in connection with the enactment of a law. Legislative histories are usually prepared to better understand why Congress passed a particular piece of legislation or to clarify the meaning or intent of a statutory provision that is not apparent on its face. The documents that make up a legislative history can also be useful sources of topical information that is not readily available elsewhere.

This guide will explain the basics of compiling a modern federal legislative history. Users seeking more in-depth information or with special research needs may want to consult a reference librarian or a more detailed guide such as “Federal Legislative History Research: A Practitioner’s Guide to Compiling the Documents and Sifting for Legislative Intent” by Richard McKinney and Ellen Sweet.

Existing Legislative Histories: When doing legislative history research, the first thing you should do is to see if there is already an existing legislative history. These legislative histories vary in quality, but should provide you with an overview of the legislation and an idea of what legislative history materials are available with respect to your law. Click here for more information on finding existing legislative histories.

USSCAN: If all you are seeking is the text of the law, a broad understanding of Congress' intent in passing such legislation, and a few key components of the legislative history, then you should start with U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News ("USCCAN"). The more recent volumes of USCCAN are divided into two sections: "Laws" and "Legislative History," each of which is organized sequentially by public law number. The "Laws" section reprints the text of each public law as it appears in Statutes at Large and, if applicable, notes in the margins where the language has been codified in the U.S. Code. Following the text of each public law, USCCAN lists the more important elements of the law's legislative history, such as committee reports, the dates the law was considered and passed in each house of Congress, and any presidential statements regarding the law. You can then consult the "Legislative History" section where at least one committee report and the presidential signing statement, if available, pertaining to the law is generally reprinted. USCCAN is not an exhaustive source of legislative history, but it can be a quick and easy way to find some of the basics.

• Print: D'Angelo Law Library, 2nd Floor Reading Room, XXKF48.W45
• Westlaw: USCCAN database (from 2000 in full text)

LexisNexis Congressional: More comprehensive legislative history information can be found through LexisNexis Congressional beginning with the 91st Congress (1970). The legislative histories found on LexisNexis Congressional were prepared by Congressional Information Service, Inc. ("CIS"), and contain a variety of information about a law's enactment, including a short summary of the statute, citations to the enacted and any related bills, the dates of any floor debates with references to the Congressional Record, and the titles and dates of any reports, hearings, prints, and presidential statements relating to the law. In addition, the CIS legislative histories on LexisNexis Congressional link to the full text of the enacted public law, bills connected to the legislation, relevant pages in the Congressional Record, and summaries or the full text of related committee reports and hearings. For pre-1970 legislation, LexisNexis Congressional can be searched by bill number to find relevant congressional material. To find the enacted bill number, consult the Statutes at Large or HeinOnline's Legislative Reference Checklist: The Key to Legislative Histories from 1789-1903.

Creating Your Own Legislative History: If you are interested in doing a more in-depth legislative history, you may want to locate each of the following types of documents, which are listed in order of importance:

1. Committee Reports: House and Senate committees issue these reports, outlining their deliberations and recommendations for a particular bill.

2. Floor Debates: report all activities that occur on the floor of either house.  Debates are published in the Congressional Record.

3. Committee Hearings: record of a hearing on a bill held by a committee or subcommittee.  The record may include witnesses’ testimonies and materials submitted by interested parties or added by committee members.  Not all hearings are published.

4. Bills: text of the bill itself. There are many versions of a bill: an introduced version, a reported version, an engrossed version, an act version, and an enrolled version.

5. Committee Prints: reports or studies prepared by committee staff, consultants, or others, about issues related to a particular bill.

6. House & Senate Documents: miscellaneous materials related to a particular issue typically presented to Congress, rather than documents originally authored by Congress.

7. Presidential Documents: statements made when the President signs or vetoes a bill, stating his or her rationale for the action taken.