Legislative History - United States Federal Law - Free Websites

How to find legislative history

Legislative History Research: A Basic Guide
Julia Taylor, Congressional Research Service.
Federal Legislative History Research: A Practitioner's Guide to Compiling the Documents and Sifting for Legislative Intent
By Law Librarian's Society of Washington, D.C. Provides a detailed outline with links to written narrative.
Federal Legislative History
Research guide from the Law Library of Congress on conducting federal legislative history research.
Finding or Compiling Federal Legislative Histories Electronically
By Richard J. McKinney.
Legislative Source Book
By the Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C.
Other Uses of Legislative History
Mary Whisner, Other Uses of Legislative History, 105 Law Library Journal 243, (2013).

Congress.gov
* Public Laws, 1951-current
* Bills 1973 -current (plus bills that became law 1951-1972, plus some older bills 1799-1873)
* Also includes Congressional Record and committee reports.
For each bill, provides a bill history with links to related bills, committee reports (for that bill - may want to look at committee reports for related bills too) and Congressional Record sections, and lists some committee hearings. The bill histories are not as complete for bills 1972 and older.
scope of coverage
GovInfo
Coverage is generally 1993 to current.
Includes Public Laws, Statutes at Large (1951-), Official U.S. Code, bills, committee reports, committee hearings, Congressional Record, committee prints, presidential documents.

GovInfo
Coverage is generally 1993 to current.
Includes Public Laws, Statutes at Large (1951-), Official U.S. Code.
Congress.gov
Public Laws, 1973-current
U.S. Code at Cornell Legal Information Institute
Includes popular name table.
U.S. House of Representatives Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Tends to be the most up to date code online. Includes popular name table, but not as detailed as the Cornell one.
Statutes at Large via Library of Congress
Statutes at Large ( 1789-1950).
National Archives - Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 1789-2008
Only some are full text.

Senate Bills 1819-1873
Library of Congress. American Memory. A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates
House Bills 1799-1973
Library of Congress. American Memory. A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates

Congressional Debate - Library of Congress American Memory
Annals of Congress, 1789-1824
Register of Debates, 1824-1837
Congressional Globe, 1833-1873
Congressional Record, 1873-1875
Congressional Record - Bound Edition
1873-2010. Via GovInfo
Congressional Record via Congress.gov
Search back to 1921

Archive-It
By Standford University. Not all inclusive.
UNT Digital Library
By the University of North Texas. CRS reports since 1990. Not all inclusive.
EveryCRSReport.com
Provides access to every currently loaded CRS report in Congress’s internal website. The site contains over 8,200 reports, but this changes as reports are added or updated.

Legislative Histories of Selected U.S. Laws on the Internet
Popular Name listing or Public Law listing. Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C.
Legislative Histories compiled by the U.S. Dept. of Justice
Commercial Legislative Histories of U.S. Laws- Popular Name Order
The list includes compiled legislative histories on Westlaw, Lexis and HeinOnline. List available in Public Number order. Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C.

ProQuest Legislative Insight This link opens in a new window
Provides comprehensive legislative histories for federal laws. Each legislative history links to full text content that may include Congressional hearings, committee prints, and research reports related to legislative topics.
ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Includes full-text resources and indexing for the U.S. Congress. Access Congressional hearings, committee reports, witness testimony, and other publications. Content also includes the Congressional Record and its predecessors, documents from the Congressional Research Service, and information about current and historic members of Congress.

HeinOnline - Congressional Serial Set
Includes American State Papers (through 1838) and the Serial Set from 1817-2017 (includes House and Senate Documents and House and Senate Reports.)
HeinOnline - U.S. Federal Legislative History Title Collection
Compiled legislative histories for major legislation, 1870-current. Free if you come to the University of Akron Law Library. Remote access for University of Akron students, faculty and staff only.
HeinOnline - Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories
A bibliography indicating where to obtain compiled legislative histories. Free if you come to the University of Akron Law Library. Remote access only for students, faculty and staff.
Search the Library Catalog
Find compiled legislative histories in print and in electronic form by searching the library catalog. Try using the words "legislative history" and the name of the legislation as part of the search.