Legislative History of Federal Statutes

Researching the Legislative History of a Federal Statute

Compiled Legislative Histories

United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN)
Ref KF 48 (Reference, 2nd floor)

USCCAN is a two volume set for each session of Congress. Holdings at MSU Libraries begin at 1970.   This  resource includes text of the public law in one volume and the legislative history in the other. The legislative history volume includes House or Senate Reports and conference reports. The Table of Legislative Histories lists public laws with citations to committee reports, the Congressional Record and dates of consideration and passage.

CIS Index to Publications of the United States Congress
KF 49. C62 (Government Documents/Microforms/Current Journals, 2nd floor)

Beginning with 1970, the CIS Index abstracts and indexes Congressional reports and hearings. Provides direct access by committee name and indexing exists by bill number and subject. Legislative Histories are arranged by Public Law number and are in separate volumes beginning with 1984.

Lexis-Nexis Congressional

Available electronically.
**For remote access, you must be affiliated with Mississippi State University.**

          Lexis-Nexis Congressional provides online access to legislative histories from 1969 to the present. Searching is by keyword or document number.

Bills and Resolutions

A bill provides information on the original intent of the sponsor and should be compared with later versions of the bill or the final statute.  The bill number indicates in which house the bill originated and the number of the bill, which is retained throughout the legislative process.  The first printing of a bill is the introduced bill.  Reported bills are those that receive approval and go from committee to the full chamber.  An engrossed bill has passed one chamber with amendments.  At this point it may be called an act.  An enrolled bill has been passed both chambers and is sent to the President.  Resolutions can be found in most of the same sources as bills.  Concurrent resolutions express the opinion of Congress on a specific issue.

GPO Access 

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/multidb.html

GPO Access has the text of all versions of bills from 1993 and histories of bills from 1983. Bills can be found by keyword searching or from a browse list of bill numbers.

Thomas  

http://thomas.loc.gov/

Bill summaries from 1973 and final text of the bill from 1989.  Search by keyword or find using the browse lists by bill number. 

Lexis-Nexis Congressional

Available electronically.

**For remote access, you must be affiliated with Mississippi State University.**

          Lexis-Nexis Congressional contains sections for Bill Tracking (1989-present), Bills Full Text (1989-present), and Floor Votes (1988-present).

Hearings

Committee hearings are transcripts of witnesses before hearings which emphasize issues considered important by the legislators. Hearings reflect the bias of witnesses not necessarily the opinions of the committee members.  Not all bills have hearings and not all hearings are published.

CIS Index to Publications of the United States Congress
KF 49 .C62 (Government Documents/Microforms/Current Journals 2nd floor)

The print CIS Index provides indexing and abstracting of congressional hearings including lists of witnesses.

GPO Access 

http://gpoaccess.gov/chearings/index.html 

GPO Access has the full texts of selected hearings since 1995 in text or pdf file versions.  

Lexis-Nexis Congressional

Available electronically.

**For remote access, you must be affiliated with Mississippi State University.**

          Lexis-Nexis Congressional provides indexing for hearings dating from 1824 to the present.  Searching is by keyword, title and subject.

Committee Reports

Committee reports describe the purpose or scope of a bill and the justification for recommendation for approval and consideration. Committee reports are considered important in determining the intent of legislation.  Few bills are reported from committee without recommendation.  A bill not recommended by the committee is seldom reported.

United States Congressional Serial Set Catalog
GP 3.34 (Government Documents/Microforms/Current Journals, 2nd floor)

 

The Committee reports are eventually bound in the Serial Set and include slip reports.  The bound volumes have the following information on the spine and on the title page:  the volume number, legislative chamber, report or document numbers included, the session of Congress, and the year.

United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN)
KF 48 (Reference, 2nd floor)

The legislative volume should include either a House or a Senate Report.  The Mitchell Memorial Library holdings of the USCCAN begin in 1970.

Thomas  

http://thomas.loc.gov/

Thomas has committee reports from 1995.  Search by keyword, report number, bill number or by the name of the committee.

GPO Access 

http://gpoaccess.gov/serialset/crreports/index.html

Reports are available from 1995 to the present.  Search by keyword, congressional session, or type of document (House reports, Senate documents.)  Reports are available as summaries, text, or PDF files.

Floor Debates and Actions

After a bill is reported by a committee, it is placed on a calendar to be considered either by the House or Senate.  Debate on a bill is reported in the Congressional Record (CR), which is published daily when the Congress is in session.  The CR includes proceedings of both the House and the Senate.

Congressional Record  

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/index.html

The Congressional Record is available online via GPO Access from 1994 and the Congressional Index is available from 1983.  The Daily Digest from the most recent issue is available at this web site on the day of publication.  MSU Libraries print holdings of the Congressional Record begin with the 43rd Congressional Session and end with the 87th session (located in the Government Documents collection on the 2nd floor.)

Thomas  

http://thomas.loc.gov/

Thomas has the Congressional Record text from 1989 and a separate search page for the Congressional Record Index back to 1994.  The Congressional Record Index also has browse lists of major legislation topics and all index topics.  The Congressional Record may be searched by keyword or by member of Congress or browsed by date.

Overview of the Congressional Legislative Process

CQ Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report
Ref JK1 .C15(Reference, 2nd floor)

With holdings dating back to 1980, CQ Weekly Report contains summaries of Congressional activities, the status of major legislation, lists of public laws, and analysis of issues before Congress.

 

Congressional Quarterly Almanac
Ref JK1 .C66 (Reference, 2nd floor)

With holdings dating back to 1945, Congressional Quarterly Almanac surveys legislation for each session of Congress.  Included are summaries of bills and hearings, and roll call votes.  Also included are enactment dates and public law numbers.  Issued annually.

Public Laws, Statutes at Large, and the United States Code

The final formulation of a bill after it has passed through the legislative process and is enacted as a law can be found in the following print compilations or electronic resources.

United States Statutes at Large
Ref KF50 .U5(Reference, 2nd floor)

The official series of session laws, the United States Statutes at Large covers the entire range of federal legislation, beginning with 1789.  Each volume of the Statutes at Large includes lists of acts by bill number or by public law number with additional access through a popular name index and a subject index. 

United States Code Annotated (USCA)
Ref KF62 .A3 .U57(Reference, 2nd floor)

Statutes are codified in the USCA.  The 1987 edition is updated with pocket parts and pamphlets.  Historical notes include citations to the Statutes at Large and the Public Laws. Tables include lists of acts by popular name and a listing of Statutes at Large citations with reference to the appropriate title and section for that statute in the USCA. 

Lexis-Nexis Academic 

Available electronically.
** For remote access, you must be affiliated with Mississippi State University. **

As a Legal Research/Federal Code search option, Lexis-Nexis Academic provides electronic access to the full text of the U. S. Code, which is the statutory code for the United States as published in the compilation entitled United States Code Service.  The USCS includes all laws of a general and permanent nature as enacted by the United States Congress.

Originally created by David Nowak, created 08/07/02.

This page is maintained by the Reference Department.