Federal Legislative History Research: Bills

• Enact new legislation

• Amend previous legislation

• Originate in either House or Senate

• Are printed and assigned numbers such as HR230 or S45

• Are usually referred to committee with jurisdiction over the bill's subject matter.

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• 97% of bills "die in committee"
• Bill Numbers die along with the bills
• If a bill is reintroduced in a subsequent session of Congress, it is assigned a new bill number

Congress.gov - pdf legislative information on the Internet beginning with the 101st Congress (1989/90).

Bills may be searched by keyword or bill number. 

Congress.gov also provides Bill Summary and Status for bills going back to the 93rd Congress (1973-74).

GovInfo - pdf congressional bills beginning with 103rd Congress (1993-94)

Bloomberg Law - pdf congressional bills beginning with 103rd Congress (1993-94)

Lexis - Full text of congressional bills from 101st Congress (1989-90) to current Congress, as well as well as summary and status of bills in current Congress.

Westlaw - Full text of congressional bills from 104th Congress (1995-96) to current Congress, as well as summary and status of bills in current Congress.

Proquest Congressional  - Full text of congressional bills and bill summaries and status from 101st Congress (1989-90) to current Congress.  

Proquest Legislative Insight - Full text of bills associated with enacted legislation from 1929 forward.

  As a depository library, Brooklyn Law School Library receives the full text of all Congressional bills in microfiche through the Federal Depository Library Program.  Our collection begins with 1969 and is located in the lower level of the Library. For help, please contact a reference librarian at askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu