A brief summary of the process of a bill through Congress:

1. A bill is introduced by a member of Congress in either the House or Senate.

2. The bill is assigned a number and referred to the committee which has jurisdiction over the subject of the bill.

3. The bill may be considered by the committee or refused further study. The bill may be amended or entirely rewritten while in committee. Also, hearings may be held where the committee receives testimony regarding the ramifications of the bill.

4. A committee mark-up is scheduled and the bill is analyzed.

5. The committee may submit the bill to the floor of the chamber. This is usually accompanied by a report.

6. If the bill is passed it is then sent to the other chamber for consideration. Much legislation, however, starts as similar bills in both houses.

7. The bill undergoes the same process as in the original chamber in which it is introduced.

8. If the House and Senate versions of the bill differ, the bill is sent to a conference committee composed of members from both the House and Senate.

9. A conference report is drafted, debated by each chamber, and approved.

10. The president either signs the bill into law or he vetoes it. The president has ten days (excluding Sundays) to act upon a bill; if the president does not act within ten days, the bill becomes law without his signature, providing Congress is in session. If Congress adjourns before the ten-day limit, the bill does not become law; this is what is referred to as a "pocket veto."

The legislative history of a federal law can include the following documents:

• Text of public law
• Text of bill and amendments
• Committee reports
• Congressional Record
• Committee hearings
• Presidential messages upon signing/vetoing
• Committee prints

Frequently, someone has previously compiled all or most of the documents concerning the legislative history of a particular law. Check the following sources to determine if such a compilation exists:

• Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories , by Nancy P. Johnson
  Location: KF42.2 1979 Ref. Res.; also at www.heinonline.org  in U.S. Federal Legislative History Library
• Heinonline: in addition to above title, includes full text of compiled histories on major federal acts: www.heinonline.org  in U.S. Federal Legislative History Library
• Federal Legislative Histories: An Annotated Bibliography and Index to Officially Published Sources, by Bernard Reams
  Location: KF42.2 1994 Ref Res.
• Westlaw: Choose Directory->U.S. Federal Materials->Legislative History OR Arnold & Porter Collection.   Look for "USCCAN" databases on Westlaw, providing partial legislative histories.
• Lexis: Choose Legislation & Politics U.S. & U.K.->U.S. Congress.  Look for "CIS" databases providing legislative histories for recent and older legislative acts. 
• Use MORT (the Law Library's catalog). Search keywords using words from the title of the act. Also search MELVYL's catalog database in the "title" field using words from the title of the act. If another library has a relevant book or government document, just hit the "Request" button.

If no compiled legislative history exists:

If no compiled legislative history exists, you will need to have a Public Law Number. If you are looking at a code section in U.S. Code Annotated or U.S. Code Service, review the history notes at the end of the text of the section. The notes contain the date of passage, the Public Law Number, and the Statutes at Large citation. If the section has been amended more than once, read the specifics on what each amendment did to determine which Public Law is the one for which you need to research the legislative history. If you know the name of an act, use the Popular Names Table at the end of the index.

A Public Law Number is assigned each piece of legislation after it is enacted. The number is XX-YYY with the XX being the number assigned to that Congressional session and the YYY being a number that is assigned to each law enacted within that session. The session starts with Y=1 and continues numbering each law consecutively until the session is over.

If the Public Law was enacted from 1970 to the present, a great source of information is CIS Annual Legislative Histories (KF49 C62 Ref Res. or online via Congressional Universe web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp ). From the 91 st to the 98 th Congresses (1970-1983) legislative histories are found at the end of the Abstracts volume. Beginning in 1984, an annual legislative history volume lists histories by public law number. Each history contains an abstract of the Public Law and full bibliographic citations to relevant documents.

See next sections in this guide for a more in-depth explanation of each document type and suggested sources for locating.

Each Public Law started as either a Senate or House Bill. It could then have been amended zero or several times before enactment. Bill numbers can be found in the U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News (aka USCCAN) KF48 U554 in the Legislative History volume either under the Public Law number, or in Table 4 at the end of the last Legislative History volume. Often looking at the bill texts and comparing the versions to each other can give you an idea of what Congress was trying to do as they insert/change/delete various provisions.

Sources of bill text:

• Microfiche cabinets 8-15 (use Finding Aids on top of cabinets)
• thomas.loc.gov  carries 101 st Congress (1989) to current
• www.gpoaccess.gov/bills/index.html  103 rd Congress (1993) to current
• Westlaw: Choose Directory->U.S. Federal Materials->Bill Tracking
• Lexis: Choose Legislation & Politics U.S. & U.K.->U.S. Congress
• web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp  101 st Congress (1989) to current

The Public Law itself should be reviewed and can be found in the above places as well as USCCAN.

Committee reports are the most significant documents of legislative history. House and Senate committees issue a report when a bill is reported out of the committee. The report generally includes the text of the bill as revised by the committee as well as analysis and reasoning for the committee's recommendations. If the House and Senate have passed bills on the same issue, a conference committee will be formed with members from each house. The resulting compromise will also be issued in a committee report.

Sources of reports:

• USCCAN (U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News): 1943-current
• Mabie Law Library: Paper format on Level 4 from 91^st to 98^th Congress.
• Mabie Law Library: Microfiche format in cabinets 25-27 from 96^th Congress to current.
• Thomas: http://thomas.loc.gov: 104^th Congress to current
• GPO Access: www.gpoaccess.gov/legislative.html: 104^th Congress to current
• Westlaw: Search in databases LH or GAO-RPTS
• Lexis: Choose “Legislation & Politics U.S. & U.K.->U.S. Congress
• LexisNexis Congressional (102^nd Congress/1991 to current): web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp
• Readex/Newsbank - U.S. Congressional Serial Set (1817 – 1980, 15th - 96th Congresses): http://uclibs.org/PID/42461

The Congressional Record is the official record of what is said on the floor of the House and Senate. Indexes are kept in Ref Res. and contain a section on the history of bills arranged by bill number. Here you will find a list of pages on which the measures were debated. Full text of the Congressional Record for previous years is on microfiche in cabinets 29-31.

Sources for Congressional Record: 

• Mabie Law Library: Level 4 at KF35 C56 for approximately 2 years.
• Mabie Law Library: Microfiche cabinets 29-31 for previous years going back to 1873.
• Thomas (101^st Congress/1989 to current): http://thomas.loc.gov 
• GPO Access (104^th Congress/1995 to current): www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/index.html
• Westlaw: Choose Directory->U.S. Federal Materials->Congressional Information->Congressional Record
• Lexis: Choose Legislation & Politics U.S. & U.K.->U.S. Congress
• LexisNexis Congressional (99^th Congress/1985 to current): web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp

Hearings are held by committees of the House and Senate and consist of transcripts of testimony before the committee. Hearings do not have to be held for every bill though they are fairly common. If you don't find a hearing directly concerning your bill, look for relevant hearings that were held on similar or related bills (including those in a previous year). Not every hearing is published.

Sources of hearings: 

• 1824-present: LexisNexis Congressional web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp
• 1863-1935: Use the Index of Congressional Committee Hearings found in Ref Res.  Note the volume and part number for using the microfiche in the basement.
• 1935-1970: Use the Cumulative Index of Congressional Committee Hearings found in Ref Res.  Note the volume and tab number for using the microfiche in the basement.
• 1970 – Present: check the CIS Annual Legislative Histories mentioned on pg. 1
• The Law Library carries hearings in microfiche from the 97^th Congress (1981) to present in the basement.  Hearings from 1971-1981 are in paper on Level 4. Consult a staff member for more information. 
• 1995 – Present:  GPO Access: www.gpoaccess.gov/chearings/index.html; House Committee Hearings: commdocs.house.gov/committees/
• Rutgers Law Library: lawlibrary.rutgers.edu/gdoc/search.shtml: 1970’s – 1998 but not comprehensive
• Westlaw (1993-current): Choose Directory->U.S. Federal Materials->Congressional Information->U.S. Congressional Testimony
• Lexis: Choose “Legislation & Politics U.S. & U.K.->U.S. Congress
• LexisNexis Congressional – summaries and full text (1824 to 1979): http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents - continued by: Daily compilation of Presidential documents.

Library Location: J80 A284 (level 6) - Vol. 1, no. 1 (Aug. 2, 1965) - v. 45, no. 3 (Jan. 26, 2009)

Online Location: GPO Access: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/wcomp/index.html - (1993 to present).  Note: The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents has been replaced by the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents as of January 29, 2009.

The President issues statements when a bill is signed or vetoed. This set compiles those chronologically. The statements can also be found in the Congressional Record.

Committee Prints are issued infrequently. They contain material prepared specifically for the use of a committee such as studies or statements by committee members. Consult CIS Annual Legislative Histories or Congressional Universe to see if one was issued on your bill.

Sources for Committee Prints:

• Microfiche cabinet 28 97 th Congress - current
• Consult Melvyl for any prints that might have been catalogued individually
• GPO Access - 105th Congress (1997-98 - current) http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cprints/index.html 
• Westlaw: Choose Directory->U.S. Federal Materials->Congressional Information->U.S. Congressional Testimony (1993-current)
• Lexis: Choose Legislation & Politics U.S. & U.K.->U.S. Congress
• web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp  1993 to current
• Check the committee's web site

American State Papers (1789-1838) - Mabie Law Library location: J33 .U53 - Rare books
Digitized at: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwsp.html 

U.S. Congressional Serial Set (covering sessions from 1817-) - digitized by the Library of Congress and can be found at:  http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwss.html .

Research tips:

If you are using Mabie Law Library for older historical legislative research, check the library's RESERVE AREA for a collection of CIS Annuals from 1970 - 2002 (the online version is on LexisNexis Congressional at http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp), also Congressional Record Indeces are available from 1966-2002, Sessional Indeces from 1789-1964.  The CCH Congressional Index is on Level 4 and covers the period 1967 to 2006 (90^th to 109^th Congress.)

Other finding aids include the Index of Committee Hearings, the Cummulative Index of Committee Hearings and the Shelflist of Congressional Committee Hearings covering pre-1970 legislation -- all found in the RESERVE AREA of the Mabie Law Library.

On Lexis Congressional  (http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp) researchers will find references to historical legislative documents, and links to full-text when available, drawn from the following sources: Serial Set, including Reported Bill Numbers (1789-1969), Senate Executive Documents and Reports (1817-1969), U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings (1833-1969), Unpublished U.S. Senate Committee Hearings (1823-1972), Unpublished U.S. House Committee Hearings (1833-1958), U.S. Congressional Committee Prints (1830-1969).