Legislative Histories, 1970-
Microform Collection
Scope: The Legislative Histories are electronic and print indexes that "allow researchers to follow the evolution of a law from its inception through its arrival on the President's desk." "The laws chosen by CIS for inclusion in the legislative histories include all public laws except those of a predominately ceremonial or housekeeping nature. Private laws are not included and those public laws which deal with only a small number of individuals as individuals (and not as a class), such as the appointment of citizens to various governing bodies, are also excluded." (Locating Congressional Publications)
How to search the collection: The best index to use to find a legislative history is the LexisNexis Congressional index. It covers laws from 1970+. There are two other indexes, the CIS Annual/CIS Legislative Histories 1970-1998 (Reference KF 49 C62) and the Congressional Masterfile 2 CD-ROM 1970-1997 (across from the Reference Desk). LexisNexis Congressional index gives the exact same information as the other two indexes and covers more years.
1. Click on this link to go to the section in LexisNexis Congressional for Legislative Histories.
2. Type in the keywords that you want to search. The results will give you several Public Laws (PL) which match your keywords. Select the Public Law (PL) that you want to research.
|
|
3. For each Public Law, the Legislative Histories give you references for the reports and hearings that went on to shape the law. Some legislative histories give references for: Debates from the Congressional Record; Reports; Hearings; Committee Prints; U.S. Serial Set ; and references to the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents.
CIS Annual/CIS Legislative Histories 1970-1998 (Reference KF 49 C62)
Congressional Masterfile 2 CD-ROM 1970-1997 (across from the Reference Desk)
Locating Congressional Publications
Louis Database --- Comprehensive, completely indexed, searchable depository of documents from the executive & legislative branches of government.
For more information about this subject in
our Library Catalog, check out these
Subject Categories:
Legislative Histories United States
Time Period: 20th Century
Subject keywords: Congressional Papers, Law
Back to Alphabetical List of Microform Collections
dr
