The Law Library



Federal Legislative History Research

by Tina S. Ching and Bob Menanteaux

Introduction

The compilation of congressional working papers resulting from the legislative activity surrounding the adoption or rejection of a law defines a legislative history. Such projects can involve either continuous or specific compilation. The former refers to the type of legislative history that is continuously assembled for corporate clients or special interest groups who want to influence legislators or rally the public to support specific initiatives. Specific compilation denotes a research projects whose purpose is to establish the intent of a statute or the meaning of a particular statutory construction in support of litigation.

The sources used to compile a legislative history are the textural byproducts of the legislative process. At a minimum that includes House and Senate reports, committee hearings and perhaps transcripts of Congressional debates. A more complete view may require the addition of House or Senate prints or documents, commission reports, or presidential statements. Important legislative materials may have been produced in prior Congresses when the bill was initially considered and these could play an important role as well. The time required to complete this type of project will depend on your employer's expectations; the level of comprehensiveness required; and, the legislative time frame.

The federal legislative history questions asked most often by summer associates shape this guide. It covers federal materials, both print and online, from 1789 through current.

Many law libraries also produce research guides on federal legislative history that are available for free, online and will point out materials that are specifically available in their library.

For Washington legislative history questions, please consult our Washington Legislative History Research Guide.

Legislative Process

Law professors, employers and others may assume that all law students are intimately familiar with the intricacies of the legislative process. Although most of us know the basics, it can actually get quite complicated depending on the legislative legerdemain used by our Congressional representatives. Johnson's book entitled How Our Laws Are Made, describes the process in excruciating detail. Federal Legislative History Research: A Practitioners Guide to Compiling the Documents and Sifting for Legislative Intent, authored by members of the Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, D.C., is one of the best online guides on the subject. Understand that legislative documents are the products of an organizational process rooted in politics. Consequently, the credibility of different Congressional publications can vary depending on whether they objectively report on the deliberative process rather than reflect the biased opinions of interested parties.

Beginning your Legislative History Research

Unless you are involved in a continuous compilation project, most often you will be assigned to obtain Congressional working papers that will cast some light on the legislative intent behind the use of a particular phrase, sentence or section of a statute. Begin your research by first identifying which Congress actually added the language in question. Most often, statutes have been amended a number of times so it's important that you correctly identify the appropriate act. The annotated federal statutory sets (United States Code Service and United States Code Annotated) make this relatively easy with the references that are provided after most sections. These references can usually be found after the text of the statute in parenthesis and also after the Historical and Statutory Notes section. The USCS is also available on LexisNexis. The USCA is also available through Westlaw.

Navigating Legislative Materials: Keeping it Simple

The next step depends on how much work your employer expects. That's why it's incumbent on you to maintain an open line of communication with your project supervisor. You don't want to waste time by either going much farther than expected or searching for materials that may not add qualitatively to your response. House and Senate reports and conference reports can often answer most questions. It is here that you will find the section-by-section analysis most researchers seek. Their primacy as sources of legislative intent has been acknowledged by the U.S. Supreme Court in both Zuber v. Allen, 396 U.S. 168, 186, 90 S. Ct. 314,324, 24 L. Ed. 2d 345, 356 (1969) and Dewsnup v. Timm, 502 U.S. 410, 409, 112 S. Ct. 773, 779, 116 L. Ed. 903, 912 (1992).

Since 1941, the United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN) has reprinted the salient reports and conference reports for many (but not all) of the public laws passed. The United States Code Annotated will often provide a reference to this set. Beginning in 1975, USCCAN added star pagination which allows you to cite to the document as if you were reading the original. Be aware, however, that some of the documents are edited. USCCAN is also available on Westlaw (See scope note for coverage.  Most documents only available in full text back to 2000).

Navigating Legislative Materials: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

If the reports or conference reports don't answer your question, or, if you are being asked to conduct more comprehensive research into a statute, then you'll need to expand your efforts. Although you may be able to do some full text searching or Google your way to a result, you can save a substantial amount of time by locating the citations to the relevant documents first. Most importantly, you will want to discover if someone has already compiled this information for you. You have a few choices.

CIS Index

Beginning with acts passed since 1970, one of your best bets would be to use the information you'll find in CIS Index, published by the Congressional Information Service Here you will discover a comprehensive statement of the legislative history with complete citations that will help you locate the documentation you need in many academic law and large public libraries. This service not only provides complete descriptive information for legislative documents, but also summarizes them so you can get a better idea if a publication has the information you need. The description also covers supplementary material submitted to a committee and includes a précis of witness testimony for Congressional hearings.

LexisNexis Congressional

Law students may have access to the equivalent LexisNexis Congressional product at their law libraries. Online database limited to SU Law students only. Contains some full text as including the following: full text of bills starting in 1989, public laws starting in 1988, committee reports starting in 1990, House and Senate documents starting in 1995, Congressional Record starting in 1985, Federal Register starting in 1980, National Journal starting in 1977 and other government information.

Compiled Legislative Histories

Before you decide to do the work of compiling a legislative history yourself, check Nancy Johnson's Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories: A Bibliography of Government Documents, Periodical Articles, and Books (also available through Hein Online) or Bernard Reams' Federal Legislative Histories: An Annotated Bibliography and Index to Officially Published Sources. Hein Online also has a Legislative History Library that contains legislative histories for significant federal legislation.

Compiling a Legislative History

You could also follow up on the citation to your law in the Statutes at Large. At the end of the statute you will find references to committee reports, conference reports, Presidential statements, the Congressional Record and other materials. Lexis and Westlaw also have additional compiled legislative histories available on their respective systems. However, before you proceed to use these databases through your work subscription, make sure you have authorization to use them as they can be very expensive. The directories on either system will help you locate them. Because online resources cover only a small portion of all documents considering the scope of our country's legislative activity since its founding, it may be necessary to locate materials in print.  If the materials are not available at the SU law library, a reference librarian can help you locate a library that has the document.

United States Statutes at Large

Bill text

Committee Hearings

  • Seattle University Law Library : (1970 - current) (Search the library catalog for availability of documents).
  • GPO Access : 104th Congress (1995 - current).
  • Additional documents may also be available on individual committee web sites. Committee homepages can be identified using GPO Access.
  • LexisNexis : 103rd Congress (1993 - current).
  • Westlaw 103rd Congress (1993 - current) (USTESTIMONY).

House and Senate Reports

  • Seattle University Law Library (1970 - current) (Search the library catalog for availability of documents).
  • THOMAS : 104th Congress (1995 - current).
  • GPO Access : 104th Congress (1995 - current).
  • LexisNexis : (1990 - current)(Selected coverage from 101st-102nd Congresses).
  • Westlaw : 80th Congress (1947 - current) (USCCAN-REP).

House and Senate Committee Prints

  • Seattle University Law Library (1970 - current) (Search the library catalog for availability of documents).
  • GPO Access : 105th Congress (1997 - current).
  • LexisNexis : (1994 - 2003) (No longer updated).

House and Senate Documents

  • Seattle University Law Library (1970 - current) (Search the library catalog for availability of documents).
  • GPO Access : 104th Congress (1995 - current).
  • LexisNexis : 104th Congress (1995 - current).

Congressional Record

Public Laws

Presidential Statements

Congressional Research Service Reports

  • The Congressional Research Service researches issues for members of congress and produce reports and studies.  For information on obtaining these reports, see the University of Washington Gallagher Law Library’s guide on Congressional Research Service Reports.
  • Seattle University Law Library (1964 - current) (Search the library catalog for availability of documents).

A Few Final Tips

Even if the law you are researching was passed before 1970, your main goal should remain the same, namely, to discover whether anyone has compiled the citations to the documentation you need (or assembled the relevant documents into a set that's available). Compiling a legislative history can be labor intensive and complicated, especially for older, complex laws. You'll want to check with a reference librarian to make sure your work is complete. Law reviews and loose-leaf services can occasionally be tapped for citations and/or documentation for specific pieces of legislation. Contact a reference librarian if you have any questions.

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