Another way to make legislative history research easier is to find a short cut. If the law one is researching is especially important, so called “landmark legislation, for example, someone else might have already researched it and compiled a legislative history. HeinOnline offers its own U.S. Federal Legislative History Library. This collection includes full text of documents in already compiled legislative histories of important legislation (i.e. Employee Retirement Income Security Act). There is also a helpful guide to researching very early legislative history (1789 – 1903) as well as external links to legislative history pathfinders and Thomas. One can browse HeinOnline Legislative History Library alphabetically by popular name or by Congress as shown below.
If one's public law number is listed as in this case, one may find citations to a few useful law review articles which cite to legislative history documents. One can then retrieve the full text of these articles in HeinOnline’s popular Law Journal Library.
In this instance, we not only find law review articles which cite to legislative history documents, but the full text of the documents themselves in a compilation by William Manz, which has been published as a 10 volume set. This compilation has been digitized and is also available via HeinOnline's Federal Legislative History Library as shown below.
Another way to find legislative history compilations is to use a research tool like Johnson's Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories, which is located in the Library’s Reference collection on the 6th floor and is also available digitally via HeinOnline's Federal Legislative History Library. The legislative history references in Johnson are in public law number order.
A quick search for this title, Federal Identity Theft Law: Major Enactments of the 108th Congress: a Legislative History of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act and Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act in the Library catalog reveals that this title is also available in print in the Library's general collection on the 10th floor.
When retrieving a relevant catalog record like the one below, look at it carefully. In addition to call number and location, the record contains a brief description of the title including number of volumes, as well as subject headings for further research. A compiled legislative history is often quite voluminous. This one consists of 10 volumes. That is yet another reason why it is relatively rare to find such compilations, especially in print.
Still, it is always worth checking HeinOnline’s Federal Legislative History Library, Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories, and the Library catalog to see if one exists for the law you are researching. One strategy is to start your search in the Library catalog. Try a keyword or subject search for “legislative history” or the law’s popular name and see what you find.
Given the many research tools and sources available, it has become quite challenging to keep track of them all. For a quick comparison of many of the resources we have discussed, you might wish to refer to a comparison chart like the one below from 2004 edition of The Process of Legal Research. You may even wish to create your own chart, as this one is somewhat out of date and does not mention the latest developments like FDsys.
The above chart provides a helpful overview of the contents and strengths and weaknesses of many well known legislative history resources. It might also be useful to create a chart by type of document. For example, one could compare coverage of Congressional bills, reports, hearings and debates by the various print and electronic resources, including years of coverage, full text availability and format.
With the help of a comparison chart, you can pick the best tool for your research project.
Some general guidelines for effective research always apply. Understand what you are doing and why. Make a good effort, but when you are out of your depth, ask for help. Happy researching!