By Linda Bove, Reference Librarian Rutgers-Camden School of Law Library

"Legislative History" is a term used to describe the set of documents produced in the process of a bill becoming law. A legislative history is usually compiled in order to discern the legislative intent behind a law. There are four basic components in a legislative history: Bills, Committee Reports, Congressional Debates, and Committee Hearings. Each will be discussed in detail below.

BILLS

The first step in the process of a law being enacted is the introduction in the legislature of a bill, or a joint resolution. If a bill is introduced in the Hourse of Representatives, it is assigned an H.R. or H.J.Res. number. If it is introduced in the Senate, it is assigned an S. number. This same number accompanies the bill until it is enacted, or until the end of the congress during which it was introduced. Bills are available on microfiche.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

After a bill has been introduced, it is assigned to a congressional committee for consideration and a decision as to whether it should be recommended for passage. If the committee decides to recommend passage of the bill, it prepares a report in which it sets forth its reasons for supporting the bill. This is the Committee Report. After the bill has been approved in the house where it was introduced, it goes to the other house and through the same process. Therefore, for any bill, there are at least two Committee Reports.

If the two houses cannot agree on the language to be used in the bill, a conference committee is formed and a report is issued which reconciles the differences.

Committee reports are first published in slip form and then in the bound volumes of the Serial Set. Edited versions of selected reports also appear in the U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News.

CONGRESSIONAL DEBATES

Bills may be debated on the Senate or House floor after committee reports have been produced. These debates appear in the Congressional Record.

COMMITTEE HEARINGS

Congressional hearings serve as a forum during which individuals who are not legislators testify concerning the merits of a particular bill. These people are usually experts in the subject matter of the legislation. The transcripts of congressional hearings are available in paper and on mocrifiche.

TOOLS FOR LOCATING LEGISLATIVE MATERIALS

Bills, committee reports, Congressional debates and Congressional hearings are indexed in sevberal places. Indexes for each type of document are listed below. Check the Library's computerized catalog for locations. The indexes contain user guides, and librarians are available if you need more help.

Bills

  • CCH Congressional Index
  • Index / CIS Annual
  • Congressional Record - History of Bills
  • Digest of Public General Bills and Resolutions

Committee Reports

  • CIS Index / CIS Annual
  • Congressional Record - History of Bills

Congressional Hearings

  • CCH Congressional Index
  • Index / CIS Annual
  • U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings Index
  • Cumulative Index of Congressional Committee Hearings
  • Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications

LEGISLATIVE HISTORIES ON WESTLAW© AND LEXIS©

Both Westlaw© and Lexis© have databases containing the text of federal legislative history documents as well as various finding tools. Reference documentation for each vendor should be consulted to determine what is available online.

LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB

The most reliable sources for legislative information on the Internet are the Government Printing Office and the Library of Congress. They both have searchable full text databases of current and recent (back to 1994-1995) legislative information.

GPO: The Government Printing Office main search page is located at:

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aaces002.html

This site allows simultaneous searching of over 70 government databases, including executive as well as Congressional materials.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS:

The Library of Congress legislative information site, called Thomas, is located at: http://thomas.loc.gov/. This site does not have as wide a scope of information as the GPO, but has the full text of recent legislative materials, and an easy to use menu interface.

ADDITIONAL READING

Congressional Directory- Joint Committee on Printing

Contains biographical information on members of Congress, terms of service and committee assignments. Lists committees and their staffs. Also includes information about the executive, Judicial and Legislative branches of the government.

M.L. Cohen & R.C. Berring, How to Find the Law, Ninth Ed. West Pub.

J.M. Jacobstein & R.M. Mersky,Legal Research Illustrated, 5th Ed., 1990, Foundation Press.

C.G. Wren & J.R. Wren, The Legal Research Manual: A Game Plan for Legal Research and Analysis, 2nd Ed., 1986, A-R Editions.

Rev. JPJ 3/97.