Federal Legislative History Resources

Federal legislative history refers to the documents created at each stage of the legislative process, such as bills, committee reports, witness testimony (hearings), floor debates, presidential messages and public laws. The use of legislative history can be useful when questions as to applicability or interpretation of statutes arise. When statutory language is unclear, judges may refer to legislative history to help discern the intern of Congress in passing certain legislation. Additionally, legislative history may help researchers delve deeper into an overall understanding of an area of law. It may also provide information to non-legal information, particularly in the case of hearings. This guide is designed to help users navigate through the sea of electronic legislative history documents available through the Sol Blott Jr. Library. Some of the resources are freely available to anyone, while others require access through the law schools catalog or by entering a username and/or password. Additionally, some material is available to the law schools faculty and staff through the College of Charleston and The Citadel. Due to the enormity of Federal legislative history, users may not have direct access to all documents they may deem relevant. If you are looking for a document, not part of any of the collections below, either see a reference librarian or fill out an inter-library loan form.

Below is a list of the resources listed in this guide and a location from where they can be accessed. * If one of the databases does not provide the full text for a particular document, or for research assistance, please contact a reference librarian.
Lexis Congressional HeinOnline Thomas GPOAccess Westlaw American Memory Office of the Law Revision Counsel Law Library Microform Consortium Legal Information Institute (Cornell) Daniel Library, Citadel Addlestone Library, College of Charleston Catalog. See Governments links. Catalog. See E-Journalssection. http://www.thomas.gov http://www.gpoaccess.gov http://www.westlaw.com http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/ http://uscode.house.gov/ http://www.llmc.com http://www.law.cornell.edu/ http://www.citadel.edu/library/ http://www.cofc.edu/~library/

For more information about legislative history you may find the following resource helpful: Law Librarians Society of Washington, DC Legislative Sourcebook http://www.llsdc.net/sourcebook/ (research guides for legislative & administrative law)

Bills
Bills are basic legislative vehicles SOURCE CONGRESS YEARS which are introduced by members of Lexis Congressional 101st current 1989 present Congress. Bills are typically Thomas 101st - current 1989 - present designated as either House (HR) or GPO Access 103rd current 1993 - present Senate (S) and proceeded by a number American Memory 16th 47th (Senate) 1819 1881 th nd (chronological from the date American Memory 6 42 (House) 1799 1871 presented.) To conduct efficient American memory 18th-42nd (Sen Joint) 1823 - 1871 legislative history research, it is Westlaw 104th - current 1995 - present advised that you know the bill number from which the legislation originated. Included in the introductory pages to each bound volume of the United States Statutes at Large is a table indicating the bill to which a Public Law relates. Citations to the Public Laws can be found at the top of each page of the Stat. bound volumes, which correlate to the Statutes at Large citation. References to the Statute At Large and Public Law citations can be found in the annotations to the relevant provisions United States Code Annotated.

Committee Hearings
SOURCE Lexis Congressional Thomas GPO Access Westlaw (selective) Rutgers (selective) Committee hearings mainly consist of testimony from experts and other interested parties on the witness view of a particular bill. Committee hearings contain both transcripts of witness testimony and other material submitted for the record (documents, reports, studies or other relevant information deemed relevant by the committee) by persons who did not testify. As bills are the way in which the public comment on pending legislation, individuals or groups with contrary or opposing views often testify at the hearings. CONGRESS 68th - current 104th current 104th current 30th - current 91st - current YEARS 1824 present 1995 - present 1995 - present 1948 present 1970 - 1998

House/ Senate Committee Reports

SOURCE Lexis Congressional GPO Access Thomas Committee reports contain analyses and recommendations regarding proposed legislation. A committee report is usually the most valuable piece of legislative history concerning an enacted statute as it details the purpose of a bill, its prior history and the reasons as to why the language of the bill is worded in a particular way. Committee report will provide the reader with a section by section analysis of the proposed legislation. The publication number of Committee reports consists of (1) the Congress under which the report was issued and (2) an individual report number assigned to it. Some databases allow users to search for reports by the bill number or Public Law citation. CONGRESS 16th - current 104th current 104th current YEARS 1819 present 1995 present 1995 present

Conference Committee Reports

If a bill is sent to a conference committee regarding SOURCE CONGRESS the language of the proposed legislation, the Thomas 104th current conference committee will usually prepare a report GPO Access 104th current that discusses only the provisions that differed Westlaw 104th current between the House and Senate. It usually contains the agreed upon language of the bill as well as an explanation of the compromise. YEARS 1995 present 1995 present 1995 present

House/ Senate Journals

SOURCE Lexis Congressional American Memory The United States Constitution requires that Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such parts that in their Judgement require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of Members of either House on any questions shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal. Const. Art. 1. Sec. 5. Thus, as a requirement of law, the Journals contain the official record of a chambers proceedings. CONGRESS 91st - current 1st 43rd YEARS 1969 Present 1789 1875

House/Senate Documents SOURCE CONGRESS Lexis Congressional 15th - current GPO Access 104th current

Congressional documents originate from congressional committees and cover a wide variety of topics and may include reports of executive departments and independent organizations, reports of special investigations made for Congress, and annual reports of non-governmental organizations. There are three types of documents: House and Senate Documents; Senate Executive Documents; and Senate Treaty Documents. YEARS 1817 present 1995 present

Committee Prints
Committee prints consist SOURCE CONGRESS YEARS of miscellaneous Lexis Congressional 21st - current 1830 - present legislative documents GPO Access 105th current 1997 - present which were used as instruments with which to consider legislation or in the performance of other committee business. They may be reports compiled by outside consultants, committee staff, or by Congressional Research Services. Prints may also consist of compilations of laws or legislative histories of selected laws complied by the committee staff or House Office of Legislative Counsel.

Floor Debates
At the inception of their proceedings, the House of Representatives opened its doors to the public to observe and unofficially record debates on the floor of the Houses chamber, but it was not until 1794 that the Senate opened its doors to the public. In 1802, the Senate voted to allows stenographers and notetakers onto the floor. And in 1824, Congress decided to produce a printed summary of each chambers floor proceedings, resulting in the creation of the Registry of Debates. Annals of the Congress of the United States (1789-1824) The accounts found within the Registry SOURCE CONGRESS YEARS were written in first and third person by two HeinOnline 1st 18th 1789 1824 private publishers, Joseph Gales and American Memory 1st 18th 1789 1824 William Seaton) and covered the 18th th Congress, Second Session to the 25 Congress, First Session. In 1834, Gales and Seaton started the Annals of Congress, which was a compilation of newspaper accounts about Congressional activity, the journals of each chamber, stenographic reports of important debates, and notes on accounts of unreported debates. It provided reconstructed abstracts of the 1st Congress to the 18th Congress, 1st Session. Register of Debates (1824-1837) From December of 1833 until 1873, a rival SOURCE CONGRESS YEARS publisher, operated by Francois Blair and John HeinOnline 18th to 25th 1825 1837 Rivers, printed the Registrys successor, the American Memory 18th to 25th 1825 1837 Congressional Globe, which chronicled floor proceedings on a weekly basis. The Globe attempted to chronicle each step of the legislative process for both the House and Senate in the form of abstracts. However, as of 1851 the Globe became more of a verbatim account of the actions taken on the floor. In 1865, the Globe published Congressional accounts on a daily basis. Congressional Globe Since March 4, 1873, the United SOURCE CONGRESS YEARS States Government Printing HeinOnline 24th 43rd 1833 - 1873 Office took over the publishing American Memory 24th 43rd 1833 - 1873 of Congressional floor debates, through the creation of the Congressional Record. The Congressional Record contains proceedings and debates for each chamber, the Extension of Remarks, and the Daily Digest. The bound edition also includes an index volume, allowing users to search the session to which the index corresponds. It is searchable by subject, as well as by bill number.

Congressional Record SOURCE Lexis Congressional GPO Access Thomas LLMC American Memory COC (selective) Citadel (microfiche) Hein Online Westlaw

CONGRESS 99th current 103rd current 101st current 101st 43rd 44th 43rd 107th 43rd 94th 43rd-46th 104th 108th 99th - current

Enacted Law

The Act of September 15, 1789, ch. 14, 1 Stat. 68, CONGRESS YEARS provided for the publication of federal law in at 100th - current 1988 - present least three states newspapers. While this continued 104th - current 1995 - present only until 1875, the practice of publishing slip law, 93rd - current 1973 - present individual unbound pamphlets of newly enacted legislation, which began pursuant to the 1789 act, continues today through the Office of the Federal Register. The heading of each slip law indicates the public or private law number, the approval date and the bill number. For public laws, the Statutes at Large citation also appears. In additional to the language of the legislation, each slip law includes an informative guide to the legislative history of the law, including, among other things, a committee report number. Statutes at Large The United States Statutes at SOURCE CONGRESS YEARS VOLUMES Large are a chronological Lexis 1st - current 1789 - present 1 - current arrangement of Federal American Memory 1st 44th 1789-1875 1-18 legislation as they have been HeinOnline 1st 108th 1789 2004 1 - 118 enacted. They are published Westlaw 1st - current 1789 present 1 - current annually in bound volumes providing all public laws issued for a given year. Each volume contains an index and table of contents. As of 1975, legislative histories have appeared at the end of each law. These volumes are legal evidence of the laws contained in them, and will be accepted as proof of those laws in any court in the United States. United States Code (editions) The United States Code is a consolidation and SOURCE YEARS Note: Westlaw 1991 current USCA systematic codification of the general and permanent laws of the United States published by LII/ Cornell Current only USC the Office of Law Revision Counsel, House of Law Revision Counsel Current Only USC Representatives every six years.

YEARS 1985 present 1994 present 1989 - present 1989 - 1990 1873 - 1875 1936-2002 1873 - 1976 1873-1908 1985-2003 1985 - present Slip Law SOURCE Lexis GPO Access Westlaw

VOLUMES 99 - current 140 153 135 - current 139 14 80 148 (selective) 44 - 145 1 42 131-149 131 current

* Note on Print (USCCAN)

In addition to our electronic collections, located on the shelves of the Library, you can find bound volumes of United States Code Congressional and Administrative News. These volumes contain the full text of federal laws, Congressional Committee Reports, Signing Statements, Presidential Proclamations, Executive Orders, Reorganization Plans, President's Messages, Federal Regulations for the U.S. Federal government, Proposed Constitutional Amendments, Federal Court Rules and Sentencing Guidelines. Arranged in chronological order, it also provides tables, including classifications to the U.S.C.A. and the sections amended, repealed, or otherwise affected. Last updated: 12/12/07 David C. Walker, JD/MLIS dcwalker@charlestonlaw.org