Federal Legislative History Made Easy

Have you ever had to trace the legislative history of a federal law, particularly an older law? Ever wonder if there was an easier way to do it? Well, there is a resource called the U.S. Serial Set that has been digitized by Lexis to help with the researching process. The Lexis Serial Set covers 1789-1969. The Serial Set contains Committee Reports, House and Senate Documents and other publications.

Access the digital Serial Set via our Electronic Resources page under LexisNexis Congressional . The resource may be accessed in the Law Library computer lab only.For newer legislation, our subscription to LexisNexis Congressional contains Committee Prints (1995-2004), Hearings (abstracts & indexing 1970-, selected full text 1988-), Bills (1989-), Public Laws (1988-), Daily Congressional Record (1985-). It also has CIS Legislative Histories (1969-current), which are lists of all the legislative history documents available for piece of legislation.

For more sources for legislative history, see our Legislative History Research Guide.