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Federal Legislative History

Legislative Histories Prior to 1970

Finding Aids

1. Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories
4REF, 4RES - KF 42.2 1979

This is a checklist of legislative histories that have been compiled for enacted laws which are published in government documents, periodical articles, and books. It indicates whether the source provides citations only or reprints the documents that make up the legislative history. Not all Public Laws are included. It begins with the 1st Congress and is updated periodically. To find a legislative history you need either the Public Law number or popular name of the law.

2. U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News
4FED - 1942-Present
3DOCS - 1988-Present

U.S.C.C.A.N. publishes the texts of all Public Laws enacted in a particular session of Congress. The legislative history volumes reprint selected Committee Reports, (House, Senate, and Conference) for each of the laws. 1941 - 1947 volumes contain congressional comments which describe the contents of important reports. Both the biweekly 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.

3. CCH Congressional Index
3REF - KF49 .C65 (88th-107th Congress)

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. Publication began with the 75th Congress (1937).

4. CIS/Index and Abstracts
These print volumes are located in the CIS microform section.

CIS abstracts and indexes most congressional publications (except the Congressional Record) issued since 1970. CIS is published monthly and cumulated annually in two parts: a subject index, and abstracts of the indexed publications. The legislative history documents can be located by bill number, Public Law number, report number, subject, title, author or witness name. Multi-year cumulative indexes have been issued, covering 1970-74, 1975-78, 1979-82, and 1983-86, 1987-1990, 1991-1994. Starting in 1984 an annual Legislative Histories volume was added. Arranged by Public Law number, this volume indexes and abstracts all documents relevant to a public law even if the documents are from Congresses prior to the enactment of the law.

5. CQ Week (1980-1994, some months missing)
5AZ - JK1 .C15

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. This is particularly useful for tracking complex legislation that involves numerous amendments or researching the political background of legislation.

6. Congressional Record Index "History of Bills and Resolutions" section
3DOCS - X 1.1/A:

This status table appears in the biweekly index issue of the Congressional Record, and is cumulated for the entire session in the bound set in the annual index volume. It is arranged 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.

7. Congressional Record, Daily Digest of the ... Congress
(1873- )
3DOCS - X 1.1/A:

This digest provides a daily summary of actions taken on bills with page references to the Congressional Record. As its title implies, it is a section of the daily issue of the Congressional Record. A separate cumulative volume, published at the end of each session, provides both subject access and a table, "History of Bills Enacted into Public Law" (arranged by Public Law number). This "history" table gives the title, bill number, dates introduced and reported, hearings, report numbers, and Congressional Record citations.

8. US Serial Set Index (1981-)
3DOCS - Y 1.1/2:

The U.S. Serial Set, compiled under direction of the Government Printing Office, is an ongoing collection of congressional publications including House and Senate committee reports and documents. The Serial Set Index provides access by subject, keyword, and number. Hearings and the Congressional Record are not included in the Serial Set.

9. CIS/US Congressional Committee Hearings Index
5AZ - KF40 .C56 1981

This index provides access to published U.S. Congressional committee hearings (House and Senate) from the 23rd - 91st Congresses by subject, organization, personal name, title, and bill number.

10. Digest of Public General Bills and Resolutions
3DOCS - LC 14.6:

Published by the Library of Congress during each session, with a final cumulative issue, the Digest is a good source for fairly extensive summaries of public bills and resolutions, and also gives the status of proposed legislation. Entries are indexed by bill or resolution number, by sponsor, subject, title and companion bill number. It does not give references to debates or hearings. B.C.'s holdings begin with the 94th Congress, 1st Session (1975) and end with the 101st Congress, 2nd Session (1990). The Digest ceased publication in 1990.

11. Monthly Catalog of United States Publications (MOCAT)
3REF - GP 3.8/8
4TECH - GP 3.8/7:/CD-ROM

The monthly catalog lists all publications that were published by the federal government. The MOCAT is organized by federal agency and includes a keyword index. The library has the most recent five years of this publication.

12. Union List of Legislative Histories
4REF - KF4.U55 2000

13. Thomas: Legislative Information on the Net
http://thomas.loc.gov

Thomas makes available a wide range of federal legislative information starting in 1989 (101st Congress). Of interest in compiling legislative histories are the Legislation, Congressional Record and Committee Information databases. Most databases within Thomas cover 1989 - current year.

The Legislation database includes a "Public Laws by Law Number" section which provides summary and status records for bills which became law. Coverage begins in 1973 (93rd Congress). A Congress is searchable by Public Law number or by word/phrase, subject, or bill number. For Public Laws enacted since 1989, the "Bill Text" section provides the full text of all versions of bills (including those which were not enacted). This section also provides links to Congressional Record pages. The "Bill Text" section is searchable by word/phrase or bill number.

The Committee Information database contains a "Committee Reports" section which provides full text of most House and Senate committee reports (including conference reports) issued since 1995 (104th Congress). This database is searchable by word/phrase, report number, bill number, and committee.

The Congressional Record database contains the "Congressional Record Text" section and the "Congressional Record Index" section. The full text of the daily Congressional Record is available from 1989 to the current issue. It is searchable by word/phrase, member name, date, or date range. The Congressional Record Index is available from 1994 (103rd Congress, 2d Session). It is searchable by index terms (topics) and bill numbers or browsable by index terms arranged in alphabetical ranges.

14. GPO Access
http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/index.html

This Web site provides access to a number of full text document databases essential to legislative history research. Each database is searchable by phrase (include " " around a phrase) or by use of the Boolean operators adj, and, or. Sample searches are provided.

The databases are:
Congressional Bills (1993 to date)
Congressional Documents (House, Senate and Treaty documents - 1995 to date)
Congressional Record (1994 to date)
Congressional Record Index (1983 to date)
Congressional Reports (1995 to date)
History of Bills and Resolutions (1983 to date)
Public Laws (1995 to date)

Although Committee Prints and Committee Hearings databases are available at this site they are limited in coverage.

What finding tools should I use for compiling a legislative history for legislation enacted prior to 1970?

*Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories
4REF, 4RES - KF 42.2 1979
*U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News
4FED - 1942-Present
3DOCS - 1988-Present
*CCH Congressional Index
3REF - KF49 .C65
*Congressional Record
3DOCS - X 1.1/A
*CIS/Historical Index
www.Lexis.com

How Do I Compile a Federal Legislative History?

To compile a legislative history you must first obtain citations to the documents that comprise a legislative history, then locate and read the documents. Listed here are steps to follow and finding tools to use.