Research Guides: Federal Legislative History Guide: Bills

About Bills

The legislative process begins with the introduction of a bill in the House and/or the Senate. Each bill is numbered, printed, referred to a committee, and often amended many times before it is finally passed. There are many versions of a bill and comparing the various versions of a bill may provide insight into the intended meaning of the law.

The bill number is an important piece of information in tracing a legislative history. Bills are Numbered consecutively by the house in which they are introduced. Each bill has its own legislative history. Bill Numbers do not carry over to the next Congress.

Sample Citation

H.R. 68, 109th Cong. (Mar. 1, 2005)
S. 67, 109th Cong. (Jan. 25,2005)

Locating Bills

ProQuest Congressional Publications
Provides daily updated information¸ including full text of bills starting in 1989¸ public laws starting in 1988¸ committee reports starting in 1990¸ House and Senate documents starting in 1995¸ Congressional hearings starting in 1987-88¸ Congressional Record starting in 1985¸ Federal Register starting in 1980¸ National Journal starting in 1977 and other government information. Users can search an index of congressional publications from 1970 to the present¸ retrieve CIS Legislative Histories for public laws going back to 1970¸ find testimony from congressional hearings¸ track bills as they move through the House and Senate¸ search the Congressional Record and Federal Register¸ locate information about members and committees¸ and search the National Journal.
ProQuest Legislative Insight
Congress produces a variety of publications as a bill moves through the legislative process on its way to becoming a law. A compilation of these full text primary source publications produces a legislative history that is valuable to a wide variety of researchers. Legislative Insight offers a research citation page that not only links to the full text of the associated primary source publications¸ but allows users to do a Search Within from that very page that searches the full text of all the associated publications with one-click. Full-text publication types associated with a legislative history include the Public Law¸ all versions of enacted and related bills¸ Congressional Record excerpts¸ and committee hearings¸ reports¸ and documents.
Govinfo.gov
Govinfo.gov is a new, dynamic way for the public to discover and access Government information on the three branches of the Federal Government. Govinfo is a user-friendly, modernized site that provides an easy to use navigation system accessible on smartphones, tablets, laptops and personal computers. GPO receives information from Federal agencies and organizations in all three branches of the Government. Its content feeds The Library of Congress’ www.congress.gov and the Federal Register site.
Congress.gov
Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. The site provides access to accurate, timely, and complete legislative information for Members of Congress, legislative agencies, and the public. It is presented by the Library of Congress (LOC) using data from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, the Government Publishing Office, Congressional Budget Office, and the LOC's Congressional Research Service.

A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates 1774-1875 (part of the Library of Congress's American Memory collection) includes historical bills.
Coverage: 1799 - 1873

Westlaw
Westlaw is a legal database restricted to law faculty, staff and students.
Lexis+ This link opens in a new window
Lexis Advance is a legal database restricted to law faculty, staff and students.