Compiling a Legislative History

A legislative history refers to citations and text of documents of Congress and the President that pertain to a bill or law. Histories are compiled to try to discover the "legislative intent" of a bill. LexisNexis Congressional annually compiles information for legislative histories that cover from 1970 to the present.

Important pieces of information for compiling a legislative history include:

· Public law number with date of approval
· US Statutes at Large citation
· Congress and session numbers
· Bill numbers
· Committees considering the bills
· Committee report numbers
· Dates of consideration and passage in the House and Senate
· Congressional Record citations for debates
· Date of approval by President

    The URL's for all of the databases mentioned are found at the end of this document.

Bills

Full text versions of bills may be found in:

	LexisNexis Congressional	1989-date; Updated daily
	GPO Access	1995-date
	Thomas	1989-date

Indexes to bill numbers:

Transcripts of testimonies and investigations may be found in:

Christopher Center microfiche

Locate specific hearings by using VU's online catalog, Galileo. Search by title of the hearing, subject or keyword.

Indexes & abstracts:

	LexisNexis Congressional	1970-date
	Index to Congressional Committee Hearings Prior to January 3, 1935. With Supplement	GovDocs KF 40 .H3
	Index to Congressional Committee Hearings 1935-	GovDocs. KF 40 .H3 Supp

Committee Reports.

Contain text of the bill, explanation of contents and purposes, committee's recommendations and reasons for its actions. A report is issued only if the bill is recommended for passage. Conference Committee Reports usually contain the text of compromise bills.

	LexisNexis Congressional	1990-date
	U.S. Serial Set	Christopher Center GovDocs microfiche. Older volumes are bound

The Congressional Record is also a source for finding Conference Committee Reports. Full text of the Congressional Record may be found in:

	LexisNexis Congressional	1985-date
	GPO Access	1995-date
	Thomas	1989-date
	Christopher Center	1982-date in microfiche (second level, GovDocs microfiche, room 251)
		1945-1982 bound (first level, GovDocs Area)
		1873-1937 microfilm (second level, room 251)

For the predecessor of the Congressional Record, use:

	Congressional Globe	1833-1873 microfilm (second level, room 251)
	Register of Debates	1824-1837 microfilm (second level, room 251)
	Annals of Congress	1789-1824 microbook (second level, room 251) or via Library of Congress: A Century of Lawmaking Internet site

Congressional Debates.

Statements of legislators about a bill may be made from the floor of Congress or may be "planted" in the Congressional Record. For full text of the Congressional Record, see the entry above.

Slip Laws.

First official publication of bill after it becomes a law. They contain the U.S. Statutes at Large page numbers and U.S. Code citations and a guide to the legislative history.

LexisNexis Congressional

1988-date; Within 10 days of passage of law

United States Statutes at Large.

Annual bound volumes containing slip laws enacted during each session of Congress. The statutes are arranged by the date they are enacted.

	U.S. Statutes at Large	1966-date GovDocs AE 2.111
	LexisNexis Congressional	1988-date
	Thomas	1973-date

United States Code.

Consolidation of the laws in force, arranged by subject.

U.S. Code. Current edition plus supplements.

Reference KF 62 1994 .A2.

Also available from GPO Access, Thomas and LexisNexis Congressional.

Other Documents of Interest

Reporting Presidential Statements on Bills:

	Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents.	GovDocs AE 2.109 (Also GPO Access)
	Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States	J 80 .A283 (Also GPO Access)

Sources for Background Information:

Internet Resources:

Databases: