Tutorials,
Guides, & How-to's

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

A legislative history is the documentation by Congress of the background and events leading up to the enactment of a law. It is used to determine the "intent" of the legislators in passing a statute. Various types of publications are needed to complete a legislative history. This guide describes key publications and how to find them in print on online.

TYPES OF PUBLICATIONS

Bills and amendments provide information on the original intent and language of the sponsor of specific legislation. Bill numbers include the chamber in which the bills were introduced and a number representing the chronology of when the bill was introduced, e.g., H.R. 1 represents the 1st bill in the House of Representatives during a session, or S. 2 the second bill introduced in the Senate.

Hearings are transcripts of the testimony of witnesses before House and Senate Committees.

Committee Prints are research studies, background information or working drafts of a bill.

Committee Reports provide detailed analysis, committee rationale, cost projections and minority views. Committee reports are sent with a bill for consideration by the larger body.

Debates and Presidential Messages can provide further background information.

FINDING TOOLS

The library provides a "portal" to key online legislative sites on the library's web page; Under "Resources" click on "Government Resources" then click on "Legislation." Three of those used most often are:

LexisNexis Congressional (Available to ODU students and faculty)
***Select "Legislative Histories, Bills & Laws" from the left menu***
Provides keyword searching for CIS legislative histories from 1969 to the present. Use the "get a document" feature to do numeric searches, e.g. by Public Law number, enacted bill number, or the Statutes at Large citation. The full text of bills, public laws, selected testimony, congressional prints, documents reports and the Congressional Record is searchable (dates of coverage vary by type of publication).

GPO Access
The History of Bills is available from 1983 to present. Search the full text of bills from the 103rd Congress (1993-94) to present. Search the Congressional Record from 1994 to the present. Advanced searching allows limiting by Daily Digest, House, Senate or Extension of Remarks.

Thomas
Search bill text from the 101st Congress (1989-1990) to present; Public Laws from 93rd Congress (1973-74) to present; and Committee Reports from the 104th Congress (1995-96) to present. Also search the Congressional Record Index 103rd - 2nd Session (1994 to present) or Congressional Record Text 101st (1989-90 to present).

PRINT or MICROFORMS RESOURCES for HISTORIC MATERIALS

(please ask for assistance at the reference desk on the first floor)

Federal Legislative Histories: An Annotated Bibliography and Index to Officially Published Sources (Ref KF42.2 1994) is a checklist of legislative histories compiled in government documents, periodical articles and books covering 1790 through 1990.

Statutes at Large located in the Gov Pub Shelves on the 1st floor (SuDoc AE 2.111) provide a brief legislative history section at the end of each Public Law including citations for House or Senate Reports, and the Congressional Record.

CIS/Annual (print) (Ref Gov Pubs Index Table KF49.C62)
LexisNexis Congressional is the online version of this product.
Indexes and abstracts nearly all congressional publications issued since 1970. It is published monthly and cumulated annually. From 1970 through 1983, the cumulated annual consisted of an Index and an Abstract volume with Legislative History located in the Abstracts volume. Starting in 1984, a separate Legislative Histories volume was added. Documents can be located by bill number, Public Law number, report number, subject, title or author. Abstracts are listed by committee.

Congressional Record Index: web access from 1983 to present via GPO Access
 Daily edition in print (SuDoc X 1.1: 1981- shelved with orange dot) provides biweekly access to the contents of the daily Records, acted upon during the previous two weeks, citing Congressional Record pages where action occurred.

The permanent bound Index in print (SuDoc X 1.1: shelved before the daily index) is not keyed to the daily print edition, but rather to the microfiche collection located in Reference on the 1st floor.

For publications prior to the Congressional Record, e.g., the Congressional Globe, Register of Debates and Debates Proceedings, please ask at the Reference Desk for location and format (many of these materials are on microfilm and located on the 2nd floor.)

Congressional Record: web access from 1994 to present via GPO Access
Daily edition print (SuDoc X/a. 1981-2005) superseded when bound version arrives
*** Library no longer receives the CR in print effective Jan. 18, 2006

Contains four sections: the proceedings of (1) the House, (2) the Senate, (3) extensions of remarks and (4) the Daily Digest. The House and Senate proceedings include records of votes and legislative actions, and full texts of many bills. The Extensions of Remarks are undelivered texts appended to the record. The Daily Digest is a summary of daily activities.

U.S. Congressional Serial Set 1817-1980: (available online via Readex to ODU faculty and students)
CIS U.S. Congressional Serial Set (Print indexes are located on Ref Gov Pubs Index Table Z1223.Z9.C65.1975)
Accompanying CIS microfiche reports and documents are located in the microfiche cabinets next to the index table on the first floor. Indexes House and Senate committee reports by subject, keyword and number before 1970. Instructions for using the materials are located on index table, and the reference staff is also available to assist.

 

NOTE: Many excellent resources are available on the Internet. Use the Library's homepage on the Web at http://www.lib.odu.edu as a gateway.