Guides and Resources: Federal Legislative History: Compiled Legislative Histories

Compilied Legislative Histories

Considerable time can be saved if a compiled legislative history already exists for the law in question. Compiled legislative histories are of two types: (1) those put together for selected laws by previous researchers and (2) those issued on a regular continuing basis by commercial sources.

To determine whether such a legislative history has been compiled, check the sources below.

Legislative Insight (Proquest)
Select legislative histories from all Congresses.
Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories by Nancy P. Johnson
Available electronically and in print. This is a listing, by public law number, of legislative histories identified by the author as being published in books and/or articles. The library has most, but not all, of the compiled legislative histories cited.
Westlaw's GAO Federal Legislative Histories (FED-LH)
Makes available legislative histories for most U.S. Public Laws enacted from 1915 to 1995, as originally compiled by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. This set of valuable legislative histories was fairly recent acquired by Westlaw and has a rolling release over four years, and currently contains legislative histories from 1921 to 1995.
HeinOnline: U.S. Federal Legislative Histories Library
The Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories Database contains select compiled legislative history from the 1st Congress to present.

Steps to Compiling a Federal Legislative History

Check to see if a legislative history already exists

Locate the bill number

Identify citations to committee reports, hearings, congressional floor action, debates, amendments, and presidential messages

Locate the documents themselves

Other Tools for Locating or Compiling Legislative Histories

ProQuest Congressional
This resource is based on indexes created by the Congressional Information Service and is particularly useful for compiling legislative histories and tracking bills. It includes information on bills, laws, committee prints, House and Senate documents and reports, the Congressional Record, and more. Users can search by subject, keyword, document number, and public law number. This resource also allows full text access to Congressional Research Service reports published since 2004 and full text Congressional hearings from 1824-2003.

CIS Index (Print version of Proquest Congressional)
Full text is not available in CIS Index.
There are Legislative History volumes for all laws enacted between 1970 and 2008. All of the documents for each law are listed by document type. In addition to the Legislative History volumes, CIS indexes all House and Senate reports, hearings, prints, and documents, including materials relating to legislation that was not enacted. Searching is by subject, name, committee, public law number, bill number, or document number.
US GAO Federal Legislative Histories
Available in Westlaw, GAO makes available legislative histories for most U.S. Public Laws enacted from 1921 to 1995, as originally compiled by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Congress.gov
From 93rd Congress (1973) to present
Federal Legislative Bill History
From 2006 - present. Each document provides helpful insight into the legislative history of a particular Bill, Resolution, Ballot Measure, Executive Order, Amendment, or other legislation. The legislative history documents include: Bill Summaries, Committee Reports, and President's Messages.