Legislative history refers to the documents produced by the legislature as a bill is introduced, studied and debated. The intent of the legislature is one of the arguments you can use when arguing how a ambiguous statute should be interpreted. Legislative histories for major laws are sometimes compiled and published in a single collection. These compilations can be very helpful because they gather all of the legislative sources relating to a law in one place. Therefore, it may be worth your while to determine if one of these exists before attempting to compile the sources on your own.
For information on finding legislative history, use the following research guides & resources:
Luckily for you, tax is one of those areas where precompiled legislative histories are plentiful! This means someone else has already done the hard work of gathering together or finding documents that reveal legislative intent.
Check UCLID for books in our collection: In the keyword search fields, enter the name of the law or topic you are searching, and the words "legislative history" (include the quotation marks).
The Joint Committee on Taxation publishes explanations of major tax acts. These are known as “Blue Books.” These are not legislative history but they are often persuasive to courts with respect to legislative intent. You can find the Blue Books at:
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