• Definition of Legislative History
• Types of Sources
• Locating the Sources
  • The Statute
  • Bills & Amendments
  • Committee Hearings
  • Committee Reports
  • Conference Reports
  • Congressional Debates
  • Presidential Messages
  • Collected Legislative Histories

What is legislative history?

Legislative History refers to the documents generated by Congress during the passage of a statute. Legislative history is often used by litigants and courts to help ascertain the meaning of a statute.

For a description of the Federal legislative process, see:
Enactment of a Law by U.S. Senate Parliamentarian Robert Dove
How Our Laws Are Made by U.S. House of Representatives Parliamentarian Charles Johnson

What documents comprise legislative history?

The Statute - Often overlooked, the text of the statute as passed is the best evidence of legislative intent.

Bills and Amendments - Versions of the bill, as introduced, and as amended during the Congress consideration.

Committee Hearings - A bill typically will be referred to a House and/or Senate committee. The committee may hold hearings on the bill. Sometimes Congressional committees hold hearings on issues prior to drafting legislation. Hearings are useful for identifying competing views, but typically carry less w eight than rep orts as evidence of legislative intent.

Committee Reports - Whenever a bill is voted out of committee, it goes to the floor for full debate. The bill is then accompanied by a committee report. Committee reports are generally considered very good indicators of Congressional intent.

Congressional Debates - All members of the House or Senate can participate in the floor debate. These debates, proposed amendments and floor votes are recorded in the Congressional Record.

Conference Reports - When bills passed by the Senate and House differ substantively, a Conference Committee, comprised of members of both houses will try to work out a compromise version. The Conference Report explains the changes made by this committee.

Presidential Messages - Presidential messages can include signing statements, when the president approves legislation or veto messages, when (s)he vetos a bill. Also, the president sometimes sends a message in support of legislation that (s)he proposes to Congress.

Sources for legislative history documents (Federal)

STATUTES

• U.S. Statutes at Large (1789+)US 002 A2; HeinOnline https://research.lib.buffalo.edu/heinonline (UB only)
• U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN, 1941+)LAW US 002 U6 (Fed. Core)
• FDsys (GPO)- Public & Private Laws 104th Cong., 1995+ http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=PLAW
• Thomas 93th Cong., 1973+ Online

BILLS & AMENDMENTS

• Federal Bills 1981 to 2000 in Koren AV (microfiche)(5th floor) LAW KF 16 U57 You must use the accompanying finding aid.
• FDsys (GPO)- Congressional Bills 103rd Cong., 1993+ via Internet at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=BILLS
• Thomas, 101st Cong., 1989+ 

COMMITTEE HEARINGS

• Congressional Information Service (CIS) Hearings from 1970-2006 in Koren AV (microfiche). Use the CIS Index and Abstract volumes (LAW KF 49 C62 ) to locate the CIS #.
• Proquest Congressional Online https://research.lib.buffalo.edu/proquest-congressional (formerly LexisNexis Congressional) includes full text hearings from 1824 to 1969 and selected witness testimonies from 1988+.
• United States Serial Set Online https://research.lib.buffalo.edu/US-serial-set has some 300 select hearings from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
• FDsys (GPO)- Congressional Hearings (selected) 105th Congress, 1997+ Online http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=CHRG

You can also search by the hearing title in the Libraries' Catalog.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

• Congressional Information Service (CIS) Reports from 1970-2006 in the Koren AV (microfiche). Use the CIS Index and Abstract volumes (LAW KF 49 C62 )to locate the CIS #.
• Proquest Congressional Online https://research.lib.buffalo.edu/proquest-congressional (formerly LexisNexis Congressional)(UB only)
  is the online version of CIS; has the full text of committee reports from 1789+ in PDF format. Proquest Congressional has a variety of finding devices, including searching by subject and report number.
• United States Serial Set Online https://research.lib.buffalo.edu/US-serial-set (UB only) has reports from 1789-1969
• U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN, 1941+) US 002 U6
  USCCAN publishes the full/partial text of selected committee reports for all significant legislation. USCCAN is on Law School Westlaw. It is not on West's Campus Research database.
• FDsys (GPO)- 104th Congress, 1995+ Online http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=CRPT
• THOMAS 104th Congress, 1995+ Online

You can also search by report title in the Libraries' Catalog.

CONFERENCE REPORTS

• Conference Committee Reports are available as part of each of the collections listed under Committee Reports above.

CONGRESSIONAL DEBATES

The Law Library has a print version of the Congressional Record from its inception in 1874 its predecessors, the Register of Debates (1824-1837) and the Congressional Globe (1833-1973) on the 6th floor. Also available via:

• HeinOnline at https://research.lib.buffalo.edu/heinonline (UB only) (Click on Congressional Documents)
• Proquest Congressional Online https://research.lib.buffalo.edu/proquest-congressional (formerly LexisNexis Congressional)(UB only)
  includes Congressional Record 1985+ (99th Congress to present).
• Congressional Record - FDsys (GPO)- 103rd Congress, 2d Sess. (vol. 140+), 1994 to present http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=CREC
• Thomas 101st Congress, 1989+ via Internet

PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGES

• Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, 1967+ LAW J 80 A284 (General Collection)
  Compilation of Presidential Documents FDsys (GPO)- , 1993+ http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=CPD
• Public Papers of the Presidents 1929-33; 1945-2009+ LAW J 80 A283 (General Collection)
  Public Papers of the Presidents - FDsys (GPO)-1991+ (...Obama, G.W.Bush, Clinton, G.H.W.Bush...) http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=PPP
• Presidential signing statements (Joyce Green) 2001- present http://www.coherentbabble.com/listBHOall.htm
• U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN) 1986+ LAW US 002 U6 (Fed. Core)

COLLECTED LEGISLATIVE HISTORIES

• Congressional Information Service (CIS) Legislative History volumes (1984-2010) contain exhaustive cites to Legislative Congressional documents related to each statute passed by Congress. LAW KF 49 C62
• Proquest Congressional https://research.lib.buffalo.edu/proquest-congressional (UB only)
• Johnson, Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories...1st-113th Congress. 3rd ed. KF42.2 2014 (Ref Desk); also HeinOnline http://heinonline.org/HOL/Index?index=leghis/leghisb&collection=leghis (UB only) Lists book-length sources and law review articles that have compiled legislative histories of significant legislation. (113th Congress - partial coverage). Part 1 is a list of Commercial and Government Compilations of Legislative Histories.
• U.S. Federal Legislative History Library (HeinOnline)http://heinonline.org/HOL/Index?collection=leghis&set_as_cursor=clear%20 includes over 400 full text compiled legislative histories.