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Legislative Histories: 04 - Bill Tracking Report

Step-by-Step Research about a Federal Law

Begin Step-by-Step Research -- Research Tips

  1. Identify the Public Law number
  2. Locate and read overviews of the bill's history
    - Congressional Quarterly Almanac
    - U.S. Code Congressional & Administrative News
  3. Retrieve a compiled legislative history list of bills, hearings, reports, debate, etc.
    - CIS Index: Legislative Histories
  4. Retrieve the Bill Tracking Report
    - ProQuest Congressional
  5. Retrieve the brief "Guide to Legislative History" list of bills, reports and debate
    - U.S. Statutes at Large
  6. Retrieve the list of reports and documents by bill number(s)
    - CIS U.S. Serial Set Index, Part XIII, Index by Reported Bill Numbers, 1817-1969
  7. Retrieve the list of reports, documents, and hearings by subject
    - ProQuest Congressional, Historical Indexes, 1789-1969
    - CIS U.S. Congressional Committee Hearings Index, 1833-1969
  8. Retrieve articles from journals & newspapers
  9. Search for information from organizations concerned with the issue
    - Gale Directory Library
  10. Check other resources for information
    - Thomas
    - GPO Access
    - Other sites

Is the Public Law earlier than P.L. 101-1 (1989)?

Retrieve the Bill Tracking Report

You might find the following useful as part of your research:

ProQuest Congressional provides an online Bill Tracking Report within the legislative history beginning with P.L. 101-1 (1989). Links are provided to the full text for dates of consideration of the bill reported in the Congressional Record.

NOTE: There are a significant number of bills enacted after 1989 for which the LexisNexis Congressional database does not include online Bill Tracking Report information. The online Bill Tracking Report is nice to have, but not essential since the information can also be gathered elsewhere, albeit slightly less conveniently.

Proceed to step 8