LibGuides: Four-Step Legal Research Process: Legislative History

How Laws Are Made

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A Legislative History is the multitude of documents produced by the congressional lawmaking process, including everything created from bill introduction to the enactment of the resulting law. This includes many different document types and formats, such as committee hearing documents, voting records, floor debate transcriptions/recordings, presidential messages, and more. These documents can be used in many ways, but are most often used to interpret statutory language, as litigation outcomes can be determined by the evaluation of legislative history documents.

This breadth of information makes this research feel tedious and unmanageable, so efficient steps for compiling a legislative history are outlined below, along with both free and subscription research resources.

Compiling a Legislative History

STEP 1: Start with the statute you want to research, and determine the original bill number and session number (or year) by way of the statute's history/credit line. Do this again with any subsequent amendments to the statute, also available in the history/credit line.

STEP 2: Examine the bill file and extract further information, including session type and session year.

STEP 3: Find the bill history using the free or subscription databases listed below.

STEP 4: Listen to recordings, view documents from committee hearings, floor debates, voting records, etc. Read through the documents thoroughly.

STEP 5: Consult other relevant documents, and if necessary, consult other databases to fill out any missing information. Compile the relevant legislative materials you've found.

Legislative History Resources

Free Resources for Federal Legislative History Research:

Congress.gov
Includes bill summary, full text of bills, text of amendments, full text of laws as passed, summary of legislative action, links to reports and related bills, lists of co-sponsors, but DOES NOT include Hearings. Fairly easy to browse, but it's best to start with a bill number and session number. Comprehensive from 1990, can be searched by bill number or keywords. Alerts can be set to track bills currently in progress.
Govinfo.gov
Contains Bills (1993-), Congressional Record (1994-), Committee reports & hearings (1995-) as PDF files. This is a great source when you have the citation already and need more recent (1994-present) materials.

Subscription Resources for Federal Legislative History Research:

ProQuest Congressional & Legislative Insight
ProQuest Congressional & Legislative Insight is a comprehensive set of resources that provides access to compiled legislative histories, as well as hearings, reports, and prints. It can be used to track bills, legislation, and other historical congressional actions. (Must use TTU credentials to log in.)
HeinOnline
Contains legislative histories, including the full texts of bills, reports, hearings, and related congressional documents. (Must use TTU credentials to log in.)
Westlaw Legislative History
Westlaw's Legislative History Database provides access to U.S. legislative materials, including bill tracking, legislative histories, hearings, reports, and prints, useful for researching background and development of specific laws and analyzing legislative intent. (Must use TTU credentials to log in.)
Lexis+ Legislative History
Much like Westlaw, Lexis+'s Legislative History Database offers a collection of U.S. congressional documents, including bill texts, legislative reports, hearings, and related materials. (Must use TTU credentials to log in.)

Free Resources for Texas Legislative History Research:

Texas Legislature Online (TLO)
Provides access to a wide range of legislative materials, including bills, bill analyses, voting records, and legislative histories for the Texas Legislature. Can track current and past legislative sessions, view committee reports, and monitor the progress of legislation (1983-present).
Legislative Reference Library of Texas
Serving lawmakers, government officials, and the public, LRLT offers access to legislative histories, reports, bill analyses, and publications related to Texas law and governance. Reference librarians are also available via phone to answer more complicated questions.