Look for a compiled legislative history first because identifying and collecting legislative history documents can be very time-consuming. There is no guarantee that a compiled legislative history for your statute exists, however. Consider stopping the search when the cost of continuing outweighs the benefit of what you might find.
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Title |
Print or Online |
Dates |
Contents |
|---|---|---|---|
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Westlaw: US GAO Federal Legislative Histories |
1921-95 |
PDF images of bills, committee hearings, committee reports, debates and statements in the Congressional Record, presidential messages and signing statements, and public laws. Also includes PL 104-191 (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996). |
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Arnold & Porter Collection |
varies |
Materials for 32 major laws on a variety of topics. |
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United States Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN) |
Print: KF48 at Reference Area |
1948-date |
Selected committee reports; reports may be edited. Contains references to other committee reports, dates of debate (Congressional Record), and presidential signing statements. |
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ProQuest Congressional |
1969-98 (partial) 1999-date (full) |
Itemized lists of and text of bills, committee hearings and reports, debates (Congressional Record) |
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HeinOnline Federal Legislative History Library |
Online |
1870-date |
Bills, committee reports, hearings, documents, and related material for dozens of laws. |
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HeinOnline Sources of Compiled Legislative History |
Online |
1789-date |
A finding list to compiled legislative histories; does not contain the congressional documents. |
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Search the Library Catalog |
varies |
The library has collected printed versions of some legislative histories throughout the years. Search the catalog for the name of the act and "legislative history". |
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Lexis |
varies |
Select Content Type: Statutes and Legislation/Jurisdiction: U.S. Federal and search for the name of your statute. On the results page, under "Content-Type" on the left side should be the link to Legislative Histories. |
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Federal Legislative Histories: An Annotated Bibliography and Index to Officially Published Sources |
Reference Office, KF 42.2 1994 |
1796 (4th Congress, 1st Session) and 1990 (101st Congress, 2d Session) |
Covers histories published by Congressional committee staff, the Congressional Research Service, or executive agencies. Includes popular name, public law, and bill number indexes. |
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Legislative Histories of Selected U.S. Laws on the Internet |
varies |
Links to freely available compiled legislative histories; prepared by the Law Librarians' Society of Washington |