Compiling Legislative Histories - Legislative History - Federal and State - LibGuides at University of Pennsylvania Law School

Compiling a Legislative History

If a precompiled legislative history does not exist, determine what Congressional documents are relevant to your research goal, gather, read and analyze them.

ProQuest Congressional, Legislative Insight, HeinOnline, and Westlaw gather documents related to a law for you.

For laws as of 1993, however, the free government databases, like govinfo.gov and Congress.gov, also provide excellent access and bill tracking capability.

Guides to Compiling Legislative Histories

Richard J. McKinney & Ellen A. Sweet, Federal Legislative History Research: A Practitioner's Guide to Compiling the Documents and Sifting for Legislative Intent, LLSDC Legislative Sourcebook (2001, last updated 2019).
Online guide to the legislative process, compiled legislative histories, document sources available from the Law Librarians of Washington D.C. website.
Julia Taylor, Legislative History Research : A Guide to Resources for Congressional Staff (2013).
This 11-page guide from Congressional Research Services provides a brief overview of the legislative process, documents, and guide to legislative history research,
Library of Congress, Compiling a Federal Legislative History: A Beginner's Guide
The Library of Congress guide names the key pieces of legislation that researchers should look for and provides links to where these documents can be found in free government databases and explanations of how to use them.

Locating Documents

With a citation to a law, locate the full-text of all legislative documents affiliated with it.

This table shows the documents most commonly sought during legislative history research and various sources where they can be found.

Type of Document & Example Citations	Sources / Publisher
Bills (S. 2550, 82nd Cong.) Resolutions (H. Res. 2550, 82nd Cong.)	Congress.gov (Summaries/Status back to 1973; full-text back to 1994); govinfo.gov ProQuest Congressional (1969-70) ProQuest Legislative Insight (1901-1970)
Committee Hearings (Removal of Criminal and Illegal Aliens, Subcom. on Immigration and Claims, House Committee on Judiciary (Sept. 5, 1996))	govinfo.gov (from select hearings from 1957-present) HeinOnline (U.S. Congressional Documents) ProQuest Congressional: eversions of CIS Annual Index; Serial Set ProQuest Legislative Insight Committee websites (usually current or recent Congresses only) CIS Annual, print (1970-2000)
Committee Prints (Staff of H. Comm. on the Judiciary, 95th Cong., Impact of S. 1437 Upon Present Federal Criminal Laws (Comm. Print 1978)	govinfo.gov (back to 1995) HeinOnline (U.S. Congressional Documents) ProQuest Congressional ("Miscellaneous Publications" to 1789) ProQuest Legislative Insight
Committee Report (S. Rep. No. 104-249)	Congress.gov (back to 1994) govinfo.gov (back to 1995) ProQuest Congressional (eversions of CIS Annual Index; Serial Set back to 1969-70) ProQuest Legislative Insight (1901-1970) CIS Annual, (print).
Debates (113 Cong. Rec. H915 (daily ed. Feb. 2, 1967))	Congressional Record, available in Congressional Record, available: ProQuest Congressional (back to 1985) HeinOnline (U.S. Congressional Documents) govinfo.gov (back to 1994) Congress.gov (back to 1995) Westlaw (back to 1985) house.gov; senate.gov (live coverage)
Presidential Signing Statements	Congressional Record govinfo.gov (Presidential Documents back to 1993) U.S.C.C.A.N. (Westlaw: Messages & Signing Statements back to 1986) ProQuest Congressional (Presidential Materials back to 1789) ProQuest Legislative Insight (1901-1970)
CRS Reports	CRS (back to 2018) HeinOnline (U.S. Congressional Documents) ProQuest Congressional (1969-70) ProQuest Legislative Insight (1901-1970)
Congressional Documents (H. Doc. No. 104-68)	govinfo.gov (Congressional Documents back to 1995) HeinOnline (U.S. Congressional Documents) ProQuest Congressional (1969-70) ProQuest Legislative Insight (1901-1970)

Free Databases

Govinfo.gov
The Government Publishing Office (GPO) online site for access to digital versions of Congressional Record, committee hearings (from 1994); Congressional bills; Committee Prints, Reports; Congressional Documents; and more. Search by committee or document category.
Congress.gov
Search for bills by name or number; find bill summaries and votes; track action on bills ("Action" tab); provides some full-text access to hearings, reports, and the Congressional Record.
U.S. Senate
Current lists of committees and membership; calendar of hearings, some available for live-streaming; pending legislation. Check internet.org for earlier years' committee pages.
U.S. House
Current lists of committees and membership, floor proceedings, live-streams of committee meetings, daily calendars.
Congressional Research Services Reports
Part of the Congress.gov website, this link provides a way to search for CRS reports by subject matter or index.
Legislative Explorer
A data visualization project showing the law-making process over the course of a legislative session, showing committee action, voting patterns, and bill passage. Click on "United States" to start.

Print Sources of Legislative Documents

When documents are not available electronically, look at Biddle's catalog for print versions. Search for individual reports or hearings by name to locate a copy in Biddle's holdings.

Commerce Clearing House (CCH) Congressional Index. To locate the legislative history of a particular bill, consult the status tables in these volumes, which are organized by chamber and bill number. Coverage begins in 1939. This is an especially useful resource for researching bills that were not passed into law.

Congressional Information Services (CIS) Annual. Indexes and abstracts for documents published by Congress. It is useful for locating documents published in the Serial Set and is also available electronically through ProQuest Congressional.
- CIS Microfiche collection is useful for locating full-text legislative documents. Using either ProQuest Congressional or the print volumes of the CIS Abstracts, locate the abstract for the legislative document you would like to see. A CIS accession number is attached to each individual document. You can use this accession number to locate the corresponding fiche in Biddle's collection to view the full text.

United States Congressional Serial Set "The Serial Set". The Serial Set contains full-text House and Senate Reports, documents, presidential documents, among other congressional publications. The Serial Set has been incorporated into ProQuest Congressional.
- C.I.S. U.S. Serial Set Index. Consult the Serial Set Index for research on legislation passed before the publication of the CIS Index Annual.
- U.S. Serial Set Catalog. Once you have located what documents you are interested in viewing through the indexes, you can navigate the Serial Set volumes by consulting the U.S. Serial Set Catalog. This is available electronically as the Schedule of Serial Set Volumes.

United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN). The legislative history volumes in USCCAN provide dates of passage and consideration, citations to committee and conference reports, and presidential signing statements affiliated with a passed law. Full text for some documents are provided. The legislative history tables in USCCAN are also a valuable resource for quickly identifying the House and Senate report citations and dates of passage. Citations provided may not be comprehensive and that other reports and materials might exist for the law you are researching. Also available on Westlaw [USCCAN].

Statutes at Large, also available on Lexis, Westlaw, HeinOnline, and govinfo.gov. Find selected legislative history after the text of the law. This list of legislative history documents is not comprehensive.