Research Guides: Law Research Guide: Federal Bill Histories

Find federal bill histories and legislative histories

Selected sources for bill tracking, bill histories, or legislative histories, some more complete than others:

Federal bill histories and legislative histories
Title	Congress	Years	Format	Location	Notes
Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, Journal of the Senate of the United States	H: 1-43 S: 24, 2nd sess.-43	H:1789-1875 S:1836-1875	online	House Journal Senate Journal, from American Memory Best Bet	To find the index to bills and resolutions, choose "browse", the Congress, the session, and "NAVIGATOR"; scroll down to the "Index". The index to bills and resolutions is often in the alphabetical index in the "B"s or at the end of the "Z"s. Each chamber's Journal contains an index of its own bills, and some contain an index of the other chamber's bills as well. Volumes earlier than those listed at the left may also contain some bill histories. Consult individual volumes.
U.S. Federal Legislative History Library	14-present	1815-present	online	HeinOnline, U.S. Federal Legislative History Library Best Bet	Choose "U.S. Federal Legislative History Library" from the drop-down (at the top left).
History of Bills and Resolutions in bound† Congressional Record; indexes in Annals of Congress, Register of Debates in Congress, Congressional Globe	43-98	1873-1984	paper	Govt Doc X 42-:	Information is the same as that provided in the daily version (described just below), except that page numbers refer to the bound† version of the Congressional Record. In the Congressional Record, History of Bills and Resolutions is often located in the last or penultimate Part of the session, after the Index and before the Daily Digest. The Daily Digest of the Congressional Record includes History of Bills Enacted into Public Law. The indexes to the Annals of Congress, Register of Debates in Congress, and Congressional Globe provide similar information about bills. For full information, you may need to check in volumes for both sessions of a Congress.
	43-present	1873-present	online	HeinOnline, Congressional Record Best Bet
U.S. GAO Federal Legislative Histories	66, 3rd sess.-101, 1st sess.	1921-1995	online	Westlaw	"The U.S. Government Accountability Office's collection of legislative history documents compiled for most U.S. Public Laws enacted from 1921 to 1995"
Digest of Public General Bills and Resolutions	74-101, w/gaps	1936-1990, w/gaps	online	HathiTrust	Does not provide the text of bills and resolutions. Provides "in summary form, the essential features of public bills and resolutions and changes thereto made during the legislative process. It also indicates committee and floor action and includes sponsor and cosponsor, identical bill, short title, and subject indexes."
Digest of Public General Bills and Resolutions	84-101	1955-66, 1967-1990	paper	Gov Doc LC 14.6:
Legislative Histories (Abbreviated)	91-97	1969-1983	online	ProQuest Congressional Best Bet	-1998 (105th), major public laws only 1999 (106th)-, all public laws "Full" legislative histories (1984-) include, as relevant: bill versions, related bills, debate from the Congressional Record (page numbers reference the daily† version), committee reports, committee hearings, committee prints, House and Senate documents, presidential signing statements, etc. Limit your search to "Legislative Histories 1969-Present", Narrow Results by "Legislative History", or choose a "Legislative History" from the results list.
Legislative Histories (Full)	98-present	1984-present	online	ProQuest Congressional Best Bet
Legislation	93-present (and some earlier)	1973-present (and some earlier)	online	Legislation, via congress.gov Best Bet	With bill summary, full-text (when available), actions, major recorded votes (when available), titles, amendments, cosponsors, committees, and related bills. References to page numbers in the Congressional Record are to the daily† edition.
Bills and Resolutions	93-present	1973-present	online	govtrack	data provided by THOMAS
History of Bills and Resolutions (in daily† Congressional Record Index)	96-present	1980-present	online	HeinOnline, Congressional Record Daily	Legislative actions on bills as reported in the daily† Congressional Record. The print equivalent is the History of Bills and Resolutions which is part of the biweekly Congressional Record Index. In HeinOnline, look for History of Bills and Resolutions in the last Index of the session. For full information, you may need to check the History of Bills and Resolutions for both sessions of a Congress. An entry may include the bill number, title, summary, names of sponsors and cosponsors, and a chronological list of actions on the bill. Each action references a daily Congressional Record page number and the date when the action was reported in the format "S5798 [9JN]" (page 5798 in the Senate section from the June 9 issue for that year).
	98-present	1983-present	online	search or browse History of Bills via govinfo
Bill Profiles, a.k.a. Bill Tracking reports	101-present	1989-present	online	ProQuest Congressional Best Bet	Includes bills that may not have become Public Laws as well as those that did. Page numbers reference the daily† version of the Congressional Record. From the results list, choose a "Bill Profile" or "Narrow Results by" "Bill Profile" from the facets on the right.
House Calendar	104-present	1995-present	online	search or browse Congressional Calendars via govinfo	The Calendars of the United States House of Representatives and History of Legislation contain a history of both House and Senate bills and resolutions that have been reported or considered by either house. In addition, the issue for the first legislative day of each week that the House is in session includes a legislative history of bills through conference. (If Congress is not in session on a Monday, these sections will be printed on either the prior Friday or the next day that the House is in session.)
Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, Journal of the Senate of the United States	108, 2nd sess.-113, 1st sess.	2004-2013	online	ProQuest Congressional, Committee Prints & Misc. Publications
Title	Congress	Years	Format	Location	Notes

† Explanation of the difference between the daily and bound Congressional Record.

Additional sources of information on the histories of bills or legislative histories

The Congressional Record includes a History of Bills Enacted into Public Law.
The Journal of the House of Representatives includes a section on the History of Bills and Resolutions.
Senate Journal includes a section on the History of Bills and Resolutions.
The House Calendar includes sections on the History of Bills and Resolutions and the Status of Major Bills.
CQ Almanac or CQ Magazine (formerly CQ Weekly) may include a short history of the bill or law.
Congressional committee reports usually provide information on the history of the bill(s) being reported.
U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News includes legislative histories from congressional committee reports.
CRS Reports, 2004-present, via ProQuest Congressional sometimes include legislative histories.
Committee prints sometimes include legislative histories.
List of Legislative Histories of Selected U.S. Laws on the Internet: Free Sources, Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C.
Subject search in the catalog on: "Legislative histories" OR "Legislative history"
Wheeler Ronald E. and Fegreus, Jenna E., compilers. Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories: A Bibliography of Government Documents, Periodical Articles, and Books, 1st Congress-114th Congress. 4th ed. Getzville, William S. Hein & Co., 2018.
Subject search in the Catalog of Government Publications on: "Legislative histories" OR "Legislative history"

About

What is bill tracking?

To understand a bill's progress toward becoming a public law (or not), some databases have "bill history" or "bill tracking" sections where researchers can follow the chronological sequence of actions on a bill, its current status, and locate the associated publications.

What is a legislative history?

A legislative history is a list of the steps that a particular piece of legislation went through and the associated documents. A legislative history might be used to answer questions such as:

What steps did a bill take in Congress? What documents were produced at each step?
What was the intent of Congress?
What arguments for and against the legislation were made?
Who were the leaders associated with the legislation?

How a bill becomes a law

PDF, Government Publishing Office

How our Laws are Made, 2007, by John Sullivan, Parliamentarian, U.S. House of Representatives, H.Doc. 110–49

Enactment of a Law, 1997, by Robert B. Dove, Parliamentarian, U.S. Senate

Our American Government, H.Doc. 108-94

Guides

Guides to major documents associated with a legislative history

at Bowdoin College Library

Bills
Congressional Hearings
Prints
Congressional Reports
Congressional Documents
Congressional Record and its predecessors
Presidential statements regarding bill signings and vetoes
Laws

Guides to legislative history

Compiling a Federal Legislative History: A Beginner's Guide, Law Library of Congress
Legislative History Research: A Basic Guide, Congressional Research Service
Federal Legislative History Research: A Practitioner's Guide to Compiling the Documents and Sifting for Legislative Intent, Law Librarians' Society of Washington, DC (LLSDC)
Legislative History Research Guide, Georgetown University Law Library
Federal Legislative History, Harvard Law School

Other

Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
Primary congressional agency charged with reviewing congressional budgets and other legislative initiatives with budgetary implications. For an overview, read CBO's Role in the Legislative Process by Douglas W. Elmendorf, Director.