LibGuides: Law 792-PP: Advanced Legal Research: Legislative History

The legislative process

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

Legislative history research is done by examining the documentation of the legislative process.

In order to understand the documents, let's look at the profess

Bill Introduction

Bills are introduced by a member of the legislature. There are two forms of original bills to be aware of:

• Bill

Most common form. A bill is a proposed law.

• Companion bill

Occasionally a legislator from each chamber will agree to introduce the same bill in their respective chambers at the same time. This is intended to speed up the legislative process.

Referral

All bills are referred to a committee for study and debate, based on the topic of the bill.. Often the bill will be referred from the committee to a sub-committee.

Committee work

Committees are where the real work on most bills takes place, and therefore the documentation of committee work is especially important for legislative history research. There are three kinds of committee documents to be aware of:

• Hearings and debates

The committee will hold public sessions to consider a bill. At the public sessions the committee may call and examine witnesses to discuss the bill (Hearings), and will often argue about the bill (Debates). These sessions are recorded and transcripts are published.

• Report

When the committee approves a bill, it will prepare a report to accompany the bill back to the floor of the chamber. This report explains the rationale for the committees approval, and is often a rich source of legislative history.

Other bill forms

In the committee bills can be amended, merged with other bills, and killed. Tracing your original bill can be complicated by this process.

• Committee prints

Sometimes a committee will investigate a topic to explore whether legislation is advisable. The report of the investigations, which is not attached to a bill, is called a committee print.

Voted out of committee

When a bill is approved by the committee it is sent back to the floor for consideration by the entire chamber. On the floor it will be debated and then voted on.

Floor Debate

Each bill will be brought up for debate by the entire chamber. In the debate the bill's sponsors and supporters will give their arguments and rationales for the bill, while opponents will argue against it.

• Debate transcript

Floor proceedings are transcribed, and can be used to examine the arguments in the debate.

• Floor amendment

A bill can be amended while being debated on the floor. In such a case, the only legislative history of the amendment will be what is said about it during the debate.

Second Chamber

If a bill is passed by the original chamber it is sent to the other chamber for consideration. In the other chamber it goes through the same consideration process: It is dent to committee for consideration, if it passes the committee it is sent back to floor of the chamber for debate. The documentation of this process is identical to that in the first chamber.

If the bill is approved by both chambers it has passed the legislature and is sent to th executive.

Conference committee

Not uncommonly, a bill is further amended in the second chamber, resulting in the second chamber passing a bill that is different than the bill passed by the first chamber. In this case the two chambers must rectify the differences between the two bills. This is done by a conference committee.

A conference committee contains members from each chamber. The meet to arrange a compromise form of the two passed bills.

• Conference report

When the conference committee has agreed on a final form of the bill they send it back to both chambers along with a conference report that explains the compromises and their rationale.

Executive action

Once the bill has been passed by both chamber it is sent to the executive; the president in the federal government, or the governor in the states. The executive can either approve the bill by signing it, or reject the bill by vetoing it. If signed the bill becomes law. If the executive vetoes the bill it goes back to the legislature where it can be voted on again in each chamber. If the vetoed bill passes both chamber by a super majority the veto is overridden, and the bill becomes law. If not, the bill is dead.

The executive's rationale for signing or vetoing a bill can be important for legislative history research. This rationale can be found in a statement made by the executive at the time of taking action on the bill.

• Veto statement

When the executive vetoes a bill, he or she will often issue a veto statement explaining the rationale for rejecting the bill.

• Signing statement

Similarly, when the executive signs a bill, a signing statement may be issued explaining why the bill was approved.

Illinois legislative history recources

IU State Legislative History Guide
A LibGuide with information on legislative history research in all 50 states

Legislative history recources

Legislative Documents Research Guide

Prepared by Clare Willis, JD

This research guide is written to help you find federal legislative documents, House and Senate bills and resolutions, Congressional debates, and enacted public laws.

Once you determine what kind of legislative document you are looking for, you should look to see what source has that kind of document. Part one of this guide is arranged by type of document.

After you find the source that contains the right kind of document, look at the coverage, provided on the tables below. Most of the sources discussed herein are arranged by Congress, not by date. For example, GPO Access has public laws from the 104th Congress (1995-1996) to the present Congress, the 111th Congress (2009-2010).

You may also have to choose between sources based on whether the source provides a PDF version of your document. The tables below provide information about the available documents types in each source. Some of the sources do not consistently offer a PDF version of every type of document. Therefore, you may have to check more than one source to find a PDF.

Part Two of this guide provides more information about each source.

Part One: Available Documents and Coverage

Bills and Resolutions

For a bill to become a law, it must first be introduced in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. In practice, most bills begin as similar proposals in both houses.

Congress.gov	https://www.congress.gov/legislation?q=%7B%22congress%22%3A%22114%22%7D	HTML (with link to PDF from GPO)	101st Congress to present
Congressional Universe	Access from at link at: http://www.law.uiuc.edu/library/ (requires UIUC net i.d. and password)	HTML	100th Congress to present
American Memory	House bills and resolutions: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwhblink.html Senate bills and resolutions: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsblink.html Senate joint resolutions: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsrlink.html	GIFF or TIFF image some PDF’s	House 6th Congress to 42nd Congress; Senate 16th Congress to 42nd Congress; Senate joint resolutions 18th to 42nd
Microfiche	Law Library Microform Room	microfiche	73rd to 106th Congress

Bill Status and Tracking

Bill Summaries and Bill statuses provide information about bills, rather than the text of the bills themselves. This information can include: sponsor(s); cosponsor(s); official, short and popular titles, floor/executive actions, Congressional Record page references, summary of the bill’s language, committee information, amendment information, and subjects.

Source	Access	Document format	Coverage (by Congress, unless noted)
GPO Access	http://www.gpoaccess.gov/hob/index.html “History of Bills” section in Congressional Record index	Text	98^th to date
Congress.gov	https://www.congress.gov/	HTML	93^rd to date
Congressional Universe	Access from at link at: http://www.law.uiuc.edu/library/ (requires UIUC net i.d. and password)	HTML	101^st to date

Reports and Documents

When a bill is referred out of a Congressional committee to the entire floor of the chamber, the committee will submit a report of their findings. These reports, especially those of conference committees reconciling language from House and Senate versions of bills are considered the very best evidence of legislative intent. Reports and documents do not, however, necessarily deal with a particular piece of legislation before Congress.

The historical source for reports and documents is the U.S. Serial Set and its predecessor the American State Papers.

Source	Access	Document format	Coverage (by Congress, unless noted)
GPO Access	http://www.gpoaccess.gov/confrpts/index.html	PDF	104^th to date
Congress.gov	https://www.congress.gov/congressional-reports	Link to PDF from GPO Access	104^th to date
Congressional Universe	Access from at link at: http://www.law.uiuc.edu/library/ (requires UIUC net i.d. and password)	HTML	101^st to date (reports) 1995-present (documents)
American Memory	American State Papers http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsp.html Serial Set http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwss.html	GIFF or TIFF image some PDF’s	23^rd to 64^th Congress
Print	Serial Set and slip reports (Law Library: lower level, Main Library, Rare Books) USCCAN (Law Library: main level)	Print	(earlier are less complete than later) Selected: 77^th to date
Fiche	American State Papers, Serial Set, reports	Fiche	1^st to 60^th Congress 96^th to date
Readex	Access from “Serial Set” link at: http://www.law.uiuc.edu/library/researchdb.asp (requires UIUC net i.d. and password) American State Papers, Serial Set	PDF or JPEG	15^th to 96^th Congres

Committee Prints

Congressional committee prints are publications issued by congressional committees on topics related to their legislative or research activities. Some basic varieties of committee prints include: draft reports and bills, directories, statistical materials, investigative reports, historical reports, situational studies, confidential staff reports, hearings, and legislative analyses.

Source	Access	Document format	Coverage (by Congress, unless noted)
GPO Access	http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cprints/index.html	Text and some PDF	105th to date, House Ways and Means Committee 104^th to date
Congressional Universe	Access from at link at: http://www.law.uiuc.edu/library/ (requires UIUC net i.d. and password)	HTML	103^rd to date
Fiche	Law Library Microform Room	Fiche	1830 to date

Debates: Congressional Record

The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. At the back of each daily issue is the “Daily Digest,” which summarizes the day's floor and committee activities.

Prior to 1873, debates were recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873).

Source	Access	Document format	Coverage (by Congress, unless noted)
GPO Access	http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/index.html	PDF	1994 to present
Congress.gov	http://thomas.loc.gov/home/r111query.html	HTML	101st Congress to present
American Memory	Congressional Record: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwcrlink.html Congressional Globe: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwcglink.html Register of Debates: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwrdlink.html Annals of Congress: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwaclink.html	GIFF or TIFF images	Congressional Record, Congressional Globe, Register of Debates, Annals of Congress (see description of Congressional Record, above); 1st Congress to 43rd Congress
Print	X1.1	print	Bound CR ed. to 1988 (law and docs) daily CR ed. 1993 to date
Fiche	Law Library Microform Room	microfiche	Bound CR ed.1833-2002 daily CR ed. 1980-1992
Hein Online	Access from at link at: http://www.law.uiuc.edu/library/ (requires UIUC net i.d. and password)	PDF	Bound CR Vols. 1-150 pt. 12 (1873-2004) daily CR ed. Vols. 140-155 No. 158 (1994-2009)

Public Laws

Public laws affect society as a whole. Most laws passed by Congress are public laws.

This category of legislative documents represents statutes after they have been signed into law, but before they have been codified into the United States Code. After the President signs a bill into law, the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) assigns it a law number, legal statutory citation, and prepares the law for publication as a “slip law.”

At the end of each session of Congress, the OFR compiles the slip laws into bound volumes called the Statutes at Large. Then the laws are known as “session laws.” The Statutes at Large present laws in the exact order that they have been enacted.

Source	Access	Document format	Coverage (by Congress, unless noted)
GPO Access	http://www.gpoaccess.gov/plaws/index.html	text and PDF	104th Congress to present
Congress.gov: slip laws	https://www.congress.gov/legislation?q=%7B%22congress%22%3A%22114%22%2C%22bill-status%22%3A%22law%22%7D	(link to text and PDF from GPO)	93rd Congress to present
Congressional Universe	Access from at link at: http://www.law.uiuc.edu/library/ (requires UIUC net i.d. and password)	PDF	slip laws: 100th Congress to present Statutes at Large: 57th Congress to present
American Memory	http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsllink.html	GIFF or TIFF image	Statutes at Large volumes 1-18 (1789-1875)
Print	KF 50	print	Statutes at Large volume 1-date
Hein Online	Access from at link at: http://www.law.uiuc.edu/library/ (requires UIUC net i.d. and password)	PDF	Statutes at Large volumes 1-120 (1789-2006)

Part Two: Guide to Sources

Look here to learn more about the sources discussed above. Many of the sources overlap in their coverage of documents and Congresses, thus, it may be helpful to know what makes each source unique. Find information below about accessing the source, a brief description of the source, and some highlights of the source.

American Memory: A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation

A free, online service of the Library of Congress: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lawhome.html

American Memory provides access to the records and acts of Congress from the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention through the 43rd Congress, 1774-1875. This is a good place to look for 18th and 19th century legislative documents as well as primary source documents from the Continental Congress and Constitutional Convention.

Highlight: Access to the earliest records of debates on the floor of Congress.

Congressional Universe:

An online subscription product from LexisNexis which is accessible, using a UIUC net i.d. and password, from the Law Library’s website: http://www.law.uiuc.edu/library

Congressional Universe provides access to congressional publications, legislative histories, bills, and information about members of Congress and their committees. This is a good place to search for legislative documents from the last two decades. Coverage overlaps with GPO Access in many places, but Congressional Universe is easier to search. However, not all of the documents are in PDF.

Congressional Universe is also a good source for already-compiled legislative histories.

Highlights: Search for legislative histories by bill number, public law number or citation to the Statutes at Large.

FDSys:

A free, online service of the U.S. Government Printing Office: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

FDSys, formerly GPO Access, provides free, up-to-date online electronic access to a variety of information produced by the federal government, including legislative documents. It provides the official version of all publications. Coverage goes back about two decades.

Highlights: PDF versions of the most recent bills. GPO’s Congressional Record database (record of Congressional debates) is updated daily, except when a late adjournment delays production of the issue.

Hein Online:

An online subscription product from Hein, which is accessible, using a UIUC net i.d. and password, from the Law Library’s website: http://www.law.uiuc.edu/library

Hein Online provides access to the broadest range of Congresses including public laws from 1789 to the present and the Congressional debates from 1789 to 2003. This sets it apart from American Memory, which focuses on the first century of U.S. History, and GPO Access, Congressional Universe, and THOMAS, which all focus on the last couple of decades.

Highlights: PDF version of the Congressional Record Daily, as well as the Congressional Record and the publications which preceded it (The Annals of Congress, the Register of Debates in Congress, and the Congressional Globe), thereby providing full-text PDF coverage of Congressional debates from the 1st Congress to 2009.

Congress.gov

A free service of the Library of Congress: http://www.congress.gov/

Congress.gov provides up-to-date access to many legislative documents, often with links to a PDF version. Also provides record of other legislative activity apart from law making, including presidential nominations, treaties, and roll call votes.

Congress.gov also provides helpful summaries of the legislative process for children and adults.

Highlights: Bill summary and status information by Public Law number. Allows you to search for and retrieve a summary of all of the action taken on a bill that became a public law.

Print/Microforms

The Law Library has an extensive collection of hard copies of legislative documents. Many, including committee, prints, hearings and bills are available in microfiche. You can find the microfiche in file cabinets in the lower level of the Law Library. There is a shelf-list provided just inside the door.

The Law Library has a microform reader that will allow you to scan your microfiche to PDF. Instructions for how to use the microform reader are provided next to the machine.

The Law Library also has volumes of legislative documents in print. Some documents are classified using Library of Congress Classification (LCC). A guide to reading LCC call numbers is available here: http://geography.about.com/library/congress/blhowto.htm

Other legislative documents are classified using the Superintendent of Documents classification system. For more information on how to read those numbers, visit this site:

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fdlp/pubs/explain.html

Highlights: The Law Library has every volume of the United States Statutes at Large from volume one to the present.