Legislative History Research:
A Tutorial by the Georgetown Law Library
Part I: Introduction to Federal Legislative History
Copyright 2011 Georgetown University Law Library
In Part I of the Legislative History Tutorial, you will learn . . .
What a Legislative History is.
What a Legislative History is used for.
What you can expect to find when looking for the legislative history of a particular law.
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What is a Legislative History?
Legislative History is a term used both for
 the background and events leading to the enactment of a statute,
 and for the documents that are produced in the process.
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What is the purpose of Legislative History research?
Federal Legislative Histories are used to aid in determining the intent of the Congress
(legislative intent) at the time a statute was planned and enacted or amended.
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Legislative Intent
Courts look to legislative intent when a statute's meaning is ambiguous on its face.
U.S. v. Missouri Pac. R. Co., 278 U.S. 269, 278 (1929).
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Can Be Controversial!
Not all judges support the use of legislative intent, however. Some believe they should
base opinions only on the plain language of the enacted statute, rather than what it
appears the legislature intended to enact.
Other judges acknowledge that looking to legislative intent can help correct drafting
errors, avoid absurd results, explain the specialized meanings of terms or assist the
court in choosing among reasonable interpretations of a provision.
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What can I expect to find when I'm looking for the legislative history of a particular
law?
The Legislative History of a law includes the following items . . .
 The text of the Bill in all of its versions
 Transcripts of Hearings that were conducted by the Congressional Committees
responsible for the Bill.
 Committee Reports that were written about the Bill.
 Transcripts of the Debates or discussions that occurred on the floor of Congress.
 The Public Law, which is the law as it was voted on by Congress and signed by the
President.
In the next section of this tutorial, we will look more closely at each of these legislative
documents.
This concludes Part I of Legislative History Research: A Tutorial by the Georgetown
Law Library.
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Legislative History Research:
A Tutorial by the Georgetown Law Library
Part II: The Legislative Process and the Documents It Produces
Copyright 2011 Georgetown University Law Library.
In order to understand Legislative History, you need first to know the steps of the Federal
Legislative process.
Documents are produced during each step. These documents make up the Legislative
History of the law.
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Step 1: A Bill is Introduced
A Bill is introduced to the full House or full Senate.
The introduction of the Bill by its sponsor is printed in the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a transcript of the proceedings on the floor of Congress.
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Step 2: The Bill Number
After its introduction, the Bill is assigned a number by which it is identified throughout the
legislative process.
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Step 3: The Committee Phase--Hearings
The Bill is next assigned to one or more committees.
The committee often conducts Hearings to hear the views of various persons or
organizations interested in the legislation.
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Step 3: The Committee Phase--Hearings
Hearings transcripts are published individually and referred to by title.
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Step 3: The Committee Phase--Reports
After conducting its Hearings and doing other work on the Bill, the Committee issues a
Report.
The Committee Report is the most important of all documents in a legislative history
because it is written to explain the proposed bill and its intended effects by the legislators
who worked most closely with it.
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The Committee Report reprints the Bill with any changes it has made.
It also describes the Bill's purposes, and give reasons for the committee's
recommendations on the Bill . . .
and often includes the legislative history of the Bill, and what the committee regards as
the need for new legislation.
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The Committee Report almost always includes a section-by-section analysis of the Bill
that is very helpful if your research is concentrated on just one section or sections of the
law.
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The Committee Report is referred to by number, which begins with the number of the
Congress in which the report was written.
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Committee Reports are published in the United States Congressional Serial Set.
They are arranged by Congress, Congressional session and chamber. Each House
Reports or Senate Reports volume shows the range of report numbers on its spine.
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Step 4: Debates and Discussion
The Committee Report, with the amended Bill, is sent to the full House or full Senate.
The Bill is discussed, debated, and voted upon by the full chamber.
The discussions, debates and votes are recorded in the Congressional Record.
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Step 5: Agreement by Both Sides of Congress
Once one side of Congress votes to approve the Bill, it is sent to the other side. Identical
Bills must be passed by a majority vote in the House and the Senate.
If the Bills are not identical, a Conference Committee is formed to work out the
differences. The Committee has members from both the House and the Senate.
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The Conference Committee will write a report called a Conference Report, and present
it, with the amended Bill, to both chambers.
The Conference Report is the single most important document for legislative history
purposes. It represents a work at the end of the legislative process, and reflects the
views of both sides of Congress.
Conference Reports are Committee Reports. They almost always have a House of
Representatives number, and are also published in the U.S. Serial Set.
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Step 6: Public Law
Once the Bill is passed by both Houses, it is sent to the President for signature, and it
becomes a Public Law.
A Public Law is identified by number, which begins with the number of the Congress in
which it was passed. It is also cited to the United States Statutes at Large where all
Public Laws are published.
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Step 7: The United States Code
Finally, if the Public Law is of a general and permanent nature, it becomes a part of the
United States Code.
The Code is arranged by subject, so the provisions in the Public Law may be codified in
several different titles.
This concludes Part II of Legislative History Research: A Tutorial by the Georgetown
Law Library.
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Legislative History Research: A Tutorial by the Georgetown Law Library
Part III: How to Get Started with Legislative History Research
Copyright 2011 Georgetown University Law Library
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Let’s get started with an actual problem. Let’s find the legislative history of the law that covers colleges
that prevent ROTC access or military recruiting on campus.
We will follow these steps to find the law and the documents that were produced as the law was
enacted.
1. Find the appropriate U.S. Code section.
2. Find the Public Law number.
3. Use the Public Law number to find the documents produced.
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1. Find the appropriate section of the U.S. Code.
Using the U.S. Code’s index (available in print or in electronic form) is one way to find the law.
The index directs us to Title 10 of the U.S. Code. We’ll look at Section 983.
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The Code section includes the text . . .
. . . as well as a brief “legislative history.”
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2. Find the Public Law Number.
In the legislative history section at the end of the text of the statute, you will find the
numbers and dates of the Public Laws that created and amended the statute.
This section of the Code originated with Public Law
104-106 which was signed into law on February 10, 1996. The particular provision is
found in div. A, title V, § 541(a) of the Public Law.
It was amended in 1999 by Public Law 106-65.
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2. Find the Public Law Number.
If you know the name of the law you are researching, an alternative method to finding the Public Law
number is to use the Popular Name Table that is available in every version of the U.S. Code, including
online versions.
The Popular Name Table will give you citations to the Public Law Number, and the U.S. Code section(s)
where you can find the law.
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2. Find the Public Law Number.
By using the Popular Name Table, you have found Public Law number 104-106 and are now ready to
use it to find the documents that make up the Legislative History of the law!
Note that sometimes (like above) the Popular Name Table gives you citations for more than one Public
Law. The top one is usually the one you seek, but you should review them all to be sure.
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Legislative History Research:
A Tutorial by the Georgetown Law Library
Part V: Research Tools -ProQuest Congressional
Copyright 2011 Georgetown University Law Library
Unless otherwise instructed, use the arrows at the bottom of the screen to navigate through the tutorial.
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In Part IV of the Legislative History Tutorial, you learned how to find the legislative history documents
using the Public Law itself and the THOMAS database
In Part V, we are going to use the ProQuest Congressional database to find legislative history
documents.
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ProQuest Congressional has compiled legislative histories for all laws from the 91st Congress (1969)
through the present, and for some laws before then. It is the electronic compilation of the CIS Index set
which is still in print and can be useful when access to ProQuest Congressional is unavailable.
In a compiled legislative history, all of the documents associated with a law are listed or reprinted. Let’s
find the compiled legislative history for Senate Bill 1124 (104th Congress) using ProQuest
Congressional.
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The ProQuest Congressional database is available to Georgetown students from our home page, under
Databases>Frequently Used. Click on ProQuest Congressional to proceed.
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The main page of ProQuest Congressional is useful for finding individual documents, however to search
for a comprehensive list of the documents about one law, click Legislative Histories, Bills & Laws on
the left sidebar.
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Click the Get a Document tab to find the legislative history by document number.
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We will search for the legislative history of Senate Bill 1124 in the 104th Congress.
Select the radio button labeled Enacted Bill Number to choose the 104th Congress.
.
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Click the H.R. drop down menu to choose S. for a Senate bill.
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Select the S. for a Senate bill.
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Here’s where you’ll enter the bill number. In this case it’s 1124.
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Click on the Search box to run the search.
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Senate Bill 1124 became Public Law 104-106.
Click Legislative History of P.L. 104-106.
Click Legislative History of P.L. 104-106.
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The beginning of the Bill’s record includes links to the text of the Bill, along with some general
information.
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Click 104 S. 1124 to link to the different versions of the Bill.
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The Enrolled version of the Bill is the version passed by both the House and Senate and sent to the
President for signature.
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In ProQuest Congressional, all documents of the same type are arranged together.
Use the scroll bar to scroll down to the lists of documents.
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All Congressional Record Debates that occurred while S. 1124 was being considered are listed here.
Direct links to the Congressional Record are provided.
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Committee Reports and Conference Reports are listed together.
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Unlike THOMAS, ProQuest Congressional lists and links to the full PDF of Hearings Transcripts.
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As a reminder, ProQuest Congressional has compiled legislative histories for all laws from the 91st
Congress (1969) through the present, and for some laws before then. It is the electronic compilation of
the CIS Index set which can be found in the Williams Reading Room.
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This concludes Part V of Legislative History Research:
A Tutorial by the Georgetown Law Library
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Legislative History Research:
A Tutorial by the Georgetown Law Library
Part VI: Guide to Finding Individual Documents
Copyright 2011 Georgetown University Law Library
We have learned
 what a legislative history is
 what a legislative history is used for
 how to get started on legislative history research by finding a Public Law number and/or Bill Number
 how to find a list of the documents that make up the legislative history of a bill or law
Our last lesson will teach you how to find individual Congressional documents.
Documents listed, but not linked to, can be found in print, digitally and in microform.
Every day, more documents are available electronically. Using this tutorial, or our research guide
available at http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/guides/legislative_history.cfm will ensure that you will find the
best sources.
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Committee Reports & Conference Reports are available from:
THOMAS, http://thomas.loc.gov
Committee Reports link
Full text available
1995 - current
ProQuest Congressional
Keyword Search
Full text available
1789-1969 and 1990-current
ProQuest Congressional
Search by Number
Full text available
1789-1969 and 1990-current
Lexis
Legal > Federal Legal - U.S. > Legislative Histories & Materials > Committee Reports
Full text available
1990-current
Westlaw
Legislative History (LH) database
Full text available
1990-current
FDsys
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/creports/search.html
Full text available
1995 – current
Microform
1789-2004
Williams Media Center
Cabinet A:1-4
Print
U.S. Congressional Serial Set
Williams 5th floor
KF29.U5
1981-present
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Committee Hearings are available from:
ProQuest Congressional
Search by Number
Full text available
1789-1969 and 1990-current
FDsys
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/chearings/search.html
Full text available
1995 - current (House)
1997 - current (Senate)
ProQuest Congressional
Keyword Search
Full text available
1975-current
Westlaw
(USTESTIMONY) database
Full text available (selected hearings)
1996-current
Lexis
Legal > Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > Committee Hearing Transcripts > CQ Transcriptions
Full text available (selected hearings)
1995-current
FDsys
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/chearings/index.html
Search or browse for selected hearings
Full text available 1995 - current
Rutgers School of Law
http://lawlibrary.rutgers.edu/gdoc/search.shtml
Full Text of Selected Hearings, 1970s - 1998
Print
Many hearings are available in our library.
Use GULLiver to search by keyword, title or author.
http://gull.georgetown.edu/search/X
Microform
Complete Collection of Published Hearings, 1789-current.
Unpublished Hearings, 1823-1980
Williams Media Center
Cabinets A:4-8
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Congressional Debates (The Congressional Record) are available from:
Daily Edition
ProQuest Congressional
Congressional Record Keyword Search
Full text available
1985 – current
Daily Edition
ProQuest Congressional
Search by page number or date
Full text available
1985 - current
Daily Edition
THOMAS, http://thomas.loc.gov
Congressional Record link
Full text available
1989 - current
Daily Edition
Lexis
Federal Legal - U.S. > Legislative Histories & Materials > Congressional Record, All Congresses Combined
Full text available
1985-current
Daily Edition
Westlaw
(CR) database
Full text available
1985 – current
Bound Edition
FDsys
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecordbound/index.html
Full text available
2000 only
Bound Edition
(Daily Edition for recent dates)
Paper
Williams Library, 4th floor, Call Number KF35 .A26
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1873 - current
Bound Edition
Microform
Williams Library Media Center
1873 - current
Cabinets B:16-17
Historical Volumes Online
Library of Congress
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwcr.html
Search or browse for selected hearings
Full text available 1789 – 1909
Bills are available from:
FDsys
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/bills/index.html
Full text available 1993-current
THOMAS, http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/
Advanced Bill Summary and Status Search is the best.
Search by Word/Phrase or Bill Number.
Full text available 1989 - current
ProQuest Congressional
Keyword Search
Full text available 1989 - current
ProQuest Congressional
Search by Bill Number
Full text available 1989 - current
Lexis
Current Congress
Federal Legal - U.S. > Legislative Histories & Materials > Congressional Full Text Bills - Current Congress
Lexis
Previous Congresses
Federal Legal - U.S. > Archived Bill Text & Tracking
Full text 1989 - current
Microform
Williams Media Center
1933 - current
Cabinet A:9
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Westlaw
All Databases > U.S. Federal Materials > Bill Tracking
and by individual database
Full text available 1994 – current
Library of Congress
Historical Bills Online
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwhbsb.html
Full text available - 1799 through 1873 (12th Congress not available)
Public Laws (U.S. Statutes at Large) are available from:
ProQuest Congressional
Search by Public Law Number
Full text available 1988 - current
ProQuest Congressional
Keyword Search
Full text available 1988 - current
Westlaw
US-PL database
Full text available for current Congress
Westlaw
US-PL-OLD database
Full text available 1973 - previous Congress
Westlaw
US-STATLRG database
Full text available 1789 - 1972
THOMAS
http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d109/d109laws.html
US-STATLRG database
Full text available 1989 - current
Lexis
Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. > U.S. Congress > USCS - Public Laws
Full text available 1988 - current
Library of Congress
Historical Online
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsl.html
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Full text available 1789 - 1875
Paper
Williams 4th floor and Reading Room, Call Number KF50 .U5
1789 - current
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