Legislative History Reference and Research Tools

TheCapitol.Net does not provide free research; we have arrangements for paid research with experienced independent researchers who have been conducting business and government research for at least 10 years. if you need research help, please see our Research Inquiry Form.
 

Detailed Legislative Process overviews, created by the House and Senate parliamentarians are available via Thomas

• How Our Laws Are Made treats the process from the perspective of the House of Representatives.

• Enactment of a Law presents a similar overview with emphasis on procedures in the Senate.

• The House Rules Committee site features an extensive collection of links on how Congress works.

• Learning About the Legislative Process found at the Senate's Homepage, is a detailed narrative description of the Senate's legislative process. The site also features a Glossary of Legislative Terms

• TheCapitol.Net Glossary of Legislative Terms

• To keep track of years and sessions of Congress when doing older legislative histories, consult the Session Dates Table provided by the Clerk of the House.  Also see Terms of Congress.
   

For guides to compiling a legislative history, see the following web sites:

• University of Michigan Library Legislative History Process

• LLSDC's Legislative Source Book 

  • A Practitioner's Guide to Compiling the Documents and Sifting for Legislative Intent

  • "Internet and Online Sources of U.S. Legislative and Regulatory Information," by Richard McKinney (9-page PDF )

  • "Electronic Sources of Federal Legislative History Documents With Years/Congresses Available," by Richard McKinney  (3-page PDF )

• Zimmerman's Research Guide - from LexisNexis
   

• See the Technology Reports from the Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) reporting on the use of technology in congressional offices

• The Virtual Chase provides some guidelines for evaluating the quality of information on the internet.
   

• The best place to begin to locate a bill is Thomas.  Bill text goes back to the 101st Congress (1989), and bill summary and status goes back to the 93rd Congress (1973).  

• FDSys by GPO  provides the text of bills since the 103rd Congress (1993) and the History of Bills  since 1983.
   

• The Law Librarians Society of DC provides a web page with quick links to these committee pages.

• Selected hearing transcripts since the 104th Congress can be searched at FDSys at GPO or at the Committee links at GPO under Miscellaneous House and Senate Publications.

• Committee web sites often provide the text of transcripts.  Try the list of committee links at Thomas and also on TheCapitol.Net's Congressional Leadership page.

• The Online Library at the Senate Judiciary Committee site is very comprehensive.

• Capitolhearings.org provides audio links to Senate hearings and markups.

Selected hearing transcripts including questions and answers are available from commercial subscription services.

• BGov (Bloomberg Government)

• CQ.com (Congressional Quarterly)

• The Federal News Service

Hearing testimony can also be found on the web sites of the organizations whose leaders appeared before a Congressional committee.  For example:

• The Center for Democracy and Technology
   

• Thomas provides committee reports going back to the 104th Congress (1995)

• FDSys at GPO provides similar coverage, and includes Senate Executive Reports.

• Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) - from the Law Library of Congress
   

• The Congressional Record is online at Thomas and full text goes back to the 101st Congress (1989).  The Congressional Record Index at Thomas goes back to the 103rd Congress, second session (1994). 

• The Congressional Record can also be searched at FDSys at GPO. Full text is available from 1994.

• The Index is available from 1983.
   

• United States Public Laws (U.S. Government Printing Office, FDSys) - Provides access to United States Public laws enacted since the 104th Congress, 1st Session (January 1995). 

  • Catalogs of Public Laws: 104th, 105th, 106th, 107th, 108th, 109th, 110th, 111th. 

  • Public Laws - Helpful Hints

  • History of Line Item Veto Notices 

• United States Public Laws (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)

  • Laws from Current Session

  • Receive E-mail Notification of New Laws

• Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) - from the Law Library of Congress

• THOMAS (Legislative Information from the Library of Congress)

• United States Statutes at Large (Law Library / National Digital Library Program) The seventeen volumes presented in this online collection cover the laws of the first forty-two Congresses, 1789-1873.

• The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School: Selected Statutes of the United States 
   

• United States Code (U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Law Revision Counsel) - Offers introductory material to the Code and access to a search engine. The database reflects the current edition and supplements of the United States Code as printed by the U.S. Government Printing Office (January 5, 1999). 

  • Download the United States Code

  • Search the United States Code

  • Search Prior Versions of the U.S. Code - beginning with the 1988 ed., suppl. II

  • United States Code Classification Tables - sorted by Congress, then by either Public Law or U.S. Code section. Updated within one to two days of federal legislation enacted into law.

• United States Code (U.S. Government Printing Office, FDSys) - Provides a search engine for searching the 1994 editions, plus supplement 4 (January 5, 1999 for titles 1-41) 

  • Description

  • General Searching Instructions

  • United States Code - Helpful Hints

• United States Code (Cornell Legal Information Institute) - Provides an updated interface to the U.S. Code, with links to notes and legislative activity through THOMAS. 

  • Find US Code Materials by Title and Section

  • List of Titles

  • Table of Popular Names

• Popular Names - from American Law Sources Online
   

• The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents contains executive orders, speeches, and press conferences.  It can be searched online at GPO Access since 1993.  After 2009, see FedSys.

• The White House web site also maintains a searchable database of presidential documents.

• Archived versions of the White House website can be accessed through the Internet Archive

• Another useful site for locating the records of defunct government agencies is Cyber Cemetery maintained by the Government Documents Department at the University of North Texas in partnership with GPO.
   

• Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act

• Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998

• NAFTA 

• NIH Legislative Chronology 

• Appropriations Legislation from the 104th Congress

• Endangered Species Act pathfinder at LLRX

• Detailed outline of the legislative history of specific provisions of the Social Security Act

• The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act

• Legislative History of the First Transcontinental Railroad

• Use THOMAS to create an online legislative history
   

• GPO's Legislative page has links to House and Senate Calendars and to selected volumes of the House Journal.

• An historical collection of House and Senate Journals can be found at the Library of Congress Century of Lawmaking page.
   

•  News

  • C-SPAN

  • Congressional Quarterly

  • The Hill

  • Roll Call

  • Project Vote Smart

  • Speakout.com

• Directory Information

  • Congress.org

  • House

  • Senate

  • TheCapitol.Net's Congressional Directory

• Congressional Research Service Reports

  • Open CRS

  • List from Truman State University's Library

  • Selected reports on the environment from the National Library for the Environment

  • Selected reports from the Federation of American Scientists
     

• opensecrets.org 

• Voter Information Services
   

• American Law Sources Online

• Full Text State Statutes & Legislation on the Internet 

• National Association of State Chief Information Officers

• National Conference of State Legislatures

• State Legislative Presence on the Internet
   

• The Guide to Law Online - from the Law Library of Congress

   

• ALA Government Information Clearinghouse & Handout Exchange

• Boston University Law Library - Legislative History Research

• Federal Legislative History Research: A Practitioner's Guide to Compiling the Documents and Sifting for Legislative Intent - from the Law Librarian's Society of Washington, DC

• The George Washington University Law School, Jacob Burns Law Library - Finding Statutes & Legislative History

• Georgetown University Law Center, Resources Related to Legislative History

• Ohio State University Libraries - Resources for Compiling a Legislative History

• University of California: Berkeley Library - Sources for Legislative and Regulatory Information

• University of Michigan Library - Legislative Histories United States Congress

• University of Michigan Library - Explore Government Documents

• University of Washington School of Law, Marian Gould Gallagher Law Library - Federal Legislative History

Quick DC Links - Washington Essentials
 

Related Resources

Live Courses

Research Skills for the Real World: Going Beyond Google

Tracking and Monitoring Legislation: How to Find and Use Congressional Documents 

How to Research and Compile Legislative Histories: Searching for Legislative Intent

Audio Courses