Compiling a Legislative History: United States

Previously Compiled Histories In the event that a legislative history has previously been compiled, check the following sources before you begin your research : 1. Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories, by Nancy P. Johnson (KF42.2.J55). 2. CIS Annual Legislative Histories, 98th Congress (1984) to date. From the 91st to 98th Congresses (1970 - 1983) legislative histories are found at the end of the Abstracts volume. "Select" Legislative Histories For key documents only, do a select legislative history. For example, to see the most important House or Senate report, go directly to U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News. U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News is now on WESTLAW. Coverage begins with the 99th Congress (1986). (Database identifier: LH) HOW TO START Documents to check when compiling a legislative history: 1. Bills and Amendments 2. Committee Hearings 3. Committee Reports 4. Committee Prints 5. Congressional Record 6. Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Always begin with your Public Law Number. If you are at a code section, look at the legislative history notes which follow the text of the code section. The notes should contain the date of passage, the Public Law Number, and the Statutes at Large citation. If you only know the name or subject of an act, use the popular names table or subject indexes of the U.S. Code Annotated or the U.S. Code Service to find the Public Law Number. 1. BILLS & AMENDMENTS - Bill Numbers can be found in the U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News at the beginning of the Legislative History of the act or in Table 4, Legislative History or Table 9, Major Bills Enacted. Tables are located at the end of the Legislative History volume. To obtain the bill numbers for early Congresses (1st to 57th, 1789 - 1903) use Eugene Nabors book, Legislative Reference Checklist, KF49 L43 1982. - U.S. bills are available at Hastings from the 95th Congress (1977) to date.. Note: Please use the cross reference list to go from bill number to microfiche. Bills are arranged in fiche number order, not by bill number. - An excellent source for recent bills is LEXIS. Full text of bills introduced in the House and Senate, and tracking of congressional bills, are available. (Library: GENFED, file: BILLS) - San Francisco Public Library has bills from the 75th Congress (1937) to date on microfiche. 1. COMMITTEE HEARINGS - CIS Annual, 91st Congress (1970) to date. Hearings are indexed in CIS by subject, title and bill number. If you have the Public Law Number go directly to the legislative history section at the end of the Abstracts volume or to the Legislative Histories volume. Always check the Abstracts volume and read the abstract of the hearing. This will confirm that you have the correct hearing and give valuable information since hearings have no indexing. CIS uses its own accession numbers. All CIS publications are available on microfiche; you need the CIS year and the CIS accession number. Hearings from the 93rd Congress (1973) to date are available in paper format. To see hearings in paper format, you still use the CIS indexes to find a hearing title. Hearings are shelved under CONGRESS, CHAMBER, COMMITTEE, and within the committee alphabetically by TITLE. obtain the following information from CIS/INDEX Abstract volume: Congress, Chamber (House or Senate or Joint), Committee, Title. - CIS U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings, 1935 - 1969 (74th to 91st Congress) The Index and Reference Bibliography provide access to the hearings. The Index is by subject, title, and bill number. The Index directs users to the Reference Bibliography entries and to the microfiche. The Reference Bibliography gives full bibliographic information. It also includes witness names and a brief annotation. - CIS U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings Index, 1833 - 1969 (23rd to 91st Congress) - CIS Congressional Masterfile - Congressional Committee Hearings Index is available on CD-ROM for the 23rd to 91st Congresses (1833 - 1969). 3. COMMITTEE REPORTS - U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News, 78th Congress (1943) to date. WESTLAW coverage begins with the 99th Congress (1986). (Database identifier: LH) The Legislative History volume contains selected House and Senate reports. It also provides citations to committee reports not reprinted in the set, bill numbers, and dates of passage in the Congressional Record. - CIS Annual, 91st Congress (1970) to date. Indexes committee reports. Reports are given CIS accession numbers. Reports are available in paper format from the 60th Congress (1907) to date. - CIS Serial Set Index, American State Papers to 91st Congress (1789 - 1969) This is a twelve part set. Please choose the set which corresponds to the Congress you need. There is an alphabetical index by subject and key word. You will need the Congress number and the CIS accession number. - CIS Congressional Masterfile - CIS SERIAL SET INDEX, which indexes the American State Papers and the 15th to 91st Congresses (1789 - 1969) is available on CD-ROM. 4. COMMITTEE PRINTS - CIS Annual, 91st Congress (1970) to date. Committee prints are also indexed in this set. Not all committee prints are available in paper. If we have paper copies, the prints are interfiled with the hearings. - CIS Congressional Committee Prints Index (Z1223.Z7 C66) Indexes committee prints for the 21st to 91st Congresses (1830 - 1969). - CIS Congressional Masterfile - The CIS Congressional Committee Prints Index is available on CD-ROM for the 21st to 91st Congresses (1830 - 1969). 5. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - The Bound Daily Digest Volume for the 80th Congress (1947) to date gives a history of bills enacted into Public Law in table form. This table lists the public law number, the bill number, committees to which referred, dates and numbers of committee reports, date of passage by each House with a citation to the appropriate pages. - The Index volume contains a section on the history of bills and resolutions. It is arranged by bill number, and gives report numbers and pages on which the measures were debated. - LEXIS - The Congressional Record is available in the GENFED Library from the 99th Congress (1985) to date. - WESTLAW - The Congressional Record is available from the 99th Congress (1985) to date. Database identifier: CR. 6. WEEKLY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS (KF70 A5 W4) - Published since the 89th Congress (1965), gives texts of presidential messages. Each volume contains an index. Also available in the GENEFED Library on LEXIS. (File: PRESDC) Hastings College of the Law Library 200 McAllister St. / San Francisco, CA 94102 Veronica Maclay / November 1990 June 1994 / edited for GOPHER