What do you do if you want to pull together everything—all the bill drafts, floor debates, hearings, reports, committee prints, etc.—related to a specific public law? Reach for the compiled legislative history! There are several sources for precompiled legislative histories, available electronically or in print. For now, we’re just going to focus on precompiled histories available through ProQuest and HeinOnline. Keep in mind that other sources exist (Westlaw and Lexis both have some, for example), and contact a reference librarian if you need help locating additional sources for precompiled legislative histories.
ProQuest Congressional is an almost comprehensive collection of congressional documents from 1789 to the present. While the database isn’t technically a precompiled legislative history, running a search by bill number can help you obtain all documents related to a bill.
Searching within ProQuest Congressional
HeinOnline’s U.S. Federal Legislative History Library includes a collection of more than 80 full-text compiled legislative histories. The U.S. Federal Legislative History Library is divided into two different legislative history collections: the U.S. Federal Legislative History Title Collection and the Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories Database.
Searching within HeinOnline’s U.S. Federal Legislative History Library
©Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305.