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United States-Federal Legislative Histories

What Are Federal Legislative Histories?

• Federal legislative histories are collections of documents prepared in the process of passing laws in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.
• Terms can be confusing. Go to the useful C-SPAN glossary for definitions of terms.
• Start with secondary resources (treatises, law review articles, bar journals, and legal newspaper reports) to educate yourself on the issues. For a quick, basic overview of federal lawmaking, see Ben´s Guide, hosted by the United States Government Printing Office (GPO).
• More detailed descriptions of federal lawmaking are on Thomas, the Library of Congress legislative information page, providing in-depth descriptions of both House and Senate lawmaking procedures.
• March 4, 1789: This pathfinder applies to our current federal congressional system that began operating on March 4, 1789.

How Are Federal Legislative Histories Used?

• Legislative histories are used primarily to determine "legislative intent" behind the plain language of a statute. Arguments regarding legislative intent occur in litigation and in the drafting of subsequent laws.

Documents in a Federal Legislative History

• Bills
• Committee Hearings
• Committee Prints
• Committee Reports
• Floor Debates
• Presidential Messages

Previously Compiled Legislative Histories

• Statutes at Large
• CU LAWPAC
• Federal Legislative Histories: An Annotated Bibliography and Index to Officially Published Sources, by Bernard D. Reams
• Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories, by Nancy Johnson
• Union list of legislative histories: 47th Congress, 1881--89th Congress, 1966
• Legislative Reference Checklist: The Key to Legislative Histories from 1789-1903, by Eugene Nabors.
• U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN)
• LexisNexis Congressional
• Lawschool.LexisNexis (CU Law Faculty and Students Only)  (Use "Federal Legal U.S." link, followed by "Legislative Histories & Materials" link to reach over two dozen relevant databases.)
• Lawschool.Westlaw (CU Law Faculty and Students Only)  (Use "U.S. Federal Materials" link, then go to Arnold and Porter Legislative Histories database.)

Indices and Publications for Compiling Your Own Legislative History

• CCH Congressional Index
• Congressional Indexes, 1789-1969
• LexisNexis Congressional
• CIS Index (1970 to date)
• CIS/US Serial Set Index (1789-1969)
• Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report & CQ Almanac
• Congressional Record Index (see section on "History of Bills and Resolutions")
• GPO Access
• Lawschool.LexisNexis   (CU Law Faculty and Students Only) (Use "Federal Legal-U.S." link, followed by "Legislative Histories & Materials" link to reach over two dozen relevant databases.)
• Lawschool.Westlaw  (CU Law Faculty and Students Only)  (Under "U.S. Federal Materials" click "Legislative History" for over a dozen additional databases.)
• Thomas--Library of Congress
• United States House of Representatives Webpage
• United States Senate Webpage
• USCCAN (United States code Congressional and Administrative News)
• C-SPAN Glossary

Compiling Your Own Federal Legislative History

• Getting the Bill Number
• Tracking the Activity Taken by the Committee
• Finding Committee Report Numbers
• Were Committee Hearings Held?
• Finding Citations to Congressional Debates
• Finding Final Voting Information
• Finding Presidential Messages