Library Guides: Federal Legislative History: Compiled Legislative Histories

Sources for Compiled Legislative Histories - Online

Congressional committees and private publishers often compile histories for specific acts by collecting relevant documents and publishing them together. The documents included can vary; many are included at the discretion of the compiler.

HeinOnline

Federal Legislative History Library (HeinOnline)
Browse by title, public law number, or popular name.

Sources of Compiled Legislative History
Browse by Congress number of alphabetical list of public laws. Based on the print source by Nancy P. Johnson.

Taxation and Economic Reform in America (TERA) Legislative histories (1781-2009) (HeinOnline)
Legislative histories of major tax laws and tax conventions.

Westlaw

U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN)
Included the full text of most public laws, lists the reports associated with bills, lists the dates of debate, and reprints portions of the most significant reports.
GAO Legislative Histories
Comprehensive histories for most federal laws enacted from 1921 to 1995, as compiled by the Government Accountability Office.
Arnold & Porter Legislative Histories
32 legislative histories compiled by the Arnold & Porter law firm.
Health Care - Federal Legislative History
From 1990 forward, the database contains congressional committee reports, including reports on bills that did not become law. Presidential signing statements, are also included.

Additional Sources

ProQuest Congressional
Complete coverage of federal laws from 1999 to present, and selected histories from 1969-1998. Most have links to the full-text of documents. Searchable by keyword or public law number.

Legislative Histories of Selected U.S. Laws on the Internet
A list of compiled legislative histories available from free sources.
Department of Justice Legislative Histories
A small collection of legislative histories compiled by DOJ librarians; available online.

Is a Compiled History Available?

These publications list sources for compiled legislative histories:

Federal Legislative Histories by Bernard D. Reams
Call Number: KF42.2 .R33 1994
Covers the 37th Congress (1862) to the 101st Congress, 2d session (1990).
Union List of Legislative Histories
Call Number: KF4 .U55 2000
List of legislative histories compiled by libraries in the Washington, D.C. area. Published by the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C.
Sources of compiled legislative histories : a bibliography of government documents, periodical articles, and books, 1st Congress-114th Congress by Ronald E. Wheeler
Call Number: KF42.2 2018
Publication Date: 2018
Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories by Nancy P. Johnson
Call Number: KF42.2 2014

Sources for Compiled Legislative Histories - Print

Congressional Information Service (CIS) Annual
Call Number: Gov't. Docs KF49 .C62
Find condensed legislative histories in the Abstracts volume for years 1970-1983, and in separate Legislative Histories volume from 1984-present.
U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News (USCCAN)
Call Number: Main Floor Stacks 202B-203A
Includes the full text of most public laws, lists the reports associated with bills, lists the dates of debates, and reprints portions of the most significant reports. The library has volumes from 1952 to 2015.