This guide describes federal legislative history documents, lists finding aids to access them and supplies documents' and indexes' locations online and in Paley Library.
The historical note sections of annotated federal codes (such as those on LexisNexis Academic) often provide Public Law numbers, bill numbers, dates and amendment information. These will serve as access points in the document indexes and collections and will help you retrieve the full-text materials for your research.
Legislative history refers to the documents produced during the ratification process. These include the many reports and materials used by members of Congress in the investigation, consideration, drafting and reporting of legislation, both the "inputs and outputs" of the process. Committee and floor debates and votes may also be used in legislative history research.
Legislative history is distinct from updating the law (e.g., Shepardizing) in that it is concerned with materials produced BEFORE the bill became law, rather than the analysis, interpretation and application of the law subsequent to its passage.
"Doing a legislative history" refers to identifying, compiling and analyzing these documents to learn the intended purpose of the legislation, the so-called, "legislative intent."
While all proposed bills, whether successful or not, may produce paper trails, only enacted legislation is said to have a legislative history. However, documentary analysis and bill tracking can be done for failed or pending bills, particularly as more and more material is becoming available online.
For more information, see
Statutory Interpretation: General Principles and Recent Trends, by Yule Kim (2009)
Stephen Breyer, On the Uses of Legislative History in Interpreting Statutes, 65 S. Cal. L. Rev. 845 (1992).
Charles Tiefer, The Reconceptualization of Legislative History in the Supreme Court, 2000 Wis. L. Rev. 205.
