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Federal Legislative History Guide

USING WESTLAW FOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

The easiest way to find legislative history documents on Westlaw is to first find the particular section of the United States Code that you are interested in a legislative history for. 

 

While the legislative history documents available on Westlaw will vary from law to law, they tend to link to relevant Congressional Record documents, committee hearings, and different versions of bills.

 

FINDING THE PUBLIC LAW NUMBER

It is also easy to use Westlaw to find the public law number.  To locate, simply scroll to the bottom of the bill's text. 

Finding the public law number on Westlaw can make finding compiled legislative histories using other resources (such as HeinOnline and ProQuest Legislative Insight), much easier.

DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF BILL

Another way to find legislative history documents that might not be under the "Legislative History Materials" tab is to click on "Graphical Statute," also under the "History" tab. 

This will show you different versions of the bill and proposed texts. 

 

Example of a Graphical Statute: