Federal Legislative Histories

1. Federal Legislative Histories AALL Quick Start Basic Legal Reference Workshop July 9, 2004

2. Why use legislative history? • To determine the meaning of an unclear statute. • Clarify questions about a statute if there are no cases interpreting or construing it. • To gain insight into legislative intent at the time the statute was enacted – how the words were intended to be understood.

3. Weight of Authority • A legislative history document or compilation of documents is only persuasiveauthority to a court of law.

4. What is a legislative history? • Basic Definition • Congressional documents that contain the information available and considered by the legislature prior to the enactment of a law or the rejection of a proposed law.

5. What is a legislative history? • Process-Oriented Definition • The results of research into the documentary records created by the legislature in it’s formulation, consideration and passage or rejection of a proposed law.

6. What is a legislative history? • Identifying • if a bill did or did not become the law • the purpose of a law or section of a law • the amendments offered to a bill • the reports of the committees to which the bill was assigned • debates on the bill • other documents associated with a bill • the current status of pending legislation

7. Documents • Bills • Versions as pass through legislative process • Floor amendments • Committee hearings • witness testimony • Committee Reports • especially Conference Report • Floor debates • Congressional Record • Committee Prints • Staff research/good historic & background information • Presidential signing statements

8. Steps in the Process • Popular Name or a U.S. Code citation • Identify the public law number • Identify the Congress, bill number and year of enactment • Use a legislative history finding tool or source to identify individual documents • Retrieve and read the documents

9. Legislative History finding Tools and sources • Use a tool or source that provides a “compiled” legislative history • document identification (At least!) • document identification AND full text (Great!) • document identification, full text AND cross Congress searching (Yes!!!)

10. Sources for Compiled Histories or Information • U.S. Code Congressional & Administrative News (U.S.C.C.A.N.) • Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories (Johnson) • Law Review Articles • Committee Prints • Library Catalogs – for Treatises • CIS Index and Abstracts, Legislative History volume • Congressional Universe • Loose Leaf services (specific subject areas) • Congressional Quarterly publications • CQ Almanac • CQ Weekly Report • CQ.com (compilation of databases)

11. Public Laws • Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 • 29 U.S.C. §2612 et seq. • February 5, 1993, P.L. 103-3, 107 Stat. 6 • 103rd Cong., 1st Sess. H.R. 1 • Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act • 18 U.S.C. §922 • November 30, 1993, P.L. 103-159, 107 Stat. 1536 • 103rd Cong., 2d Sess. H.R. 1025

12. CIS86:H623-9 21p. CIS Accession No. (Used to retrieve full text from microfiche library) Y1.1/8:99-699/pt.1 SuDoc. No.