Legislative Research

Introduction to the Legislative Process

Tracking a bill through the House or the Senate can be a long and complex process. The following sites provide an excellent overview of the legislative process:

• Enactment of a Law from the Senate
• How Our Laws Are Made from the House of Representatives
• Legislative Resources from Columbia University
• Sources for Tracing Legislative History from The College of Wooster
• U. S. Legislative Branch from Library of Congress
• Years of the 1st through 110th Congresses (1789-2008) (U.S. Senate)

Bills and Status of Legislation

For the full text of any bill introduced before the House or Senate, check one of the following sites:

• GPO Access
• LexisNexis Congressional for use on campus only
• THOMAS

For the status of any piece of pending legislation, check one of the following sites:

• History of Bills from GPO Access
• LexisNexis Congressional for use on campus only
• THOMAS

Hearings and Reports

Once a bill is sent to a committee for consideration, the committee may decide to hold public (or sometimes closed) hearings to debate the merits of the bill. Not all congressional hearings are available on the Web, but the following sites provide access to selected hearings as well as to most congressional reports and documents:

• GPO Access
• LexisNexis Congressional for use on campus only
• U. S. Congressional Bibliographies

Floor Proceedings

Once a bill leaves the committee it returns to the floor of the full House or Senate and may be debated there. The official source for the verbatim proceedings of floor activity is the Congressional Record, which is available through two sites:

• GPO Access
• THOMAS

Additional information about the weekly activities of Congress (both in the committees and in the full House or Senate) is available from the following site:

• C-SPAN

Floor Votes

Bills must be voted on by the full chamber in which they are introduced before they are sent to the other chamber for approval and then to the President for signature. Votes taken on the floor of the Congress are recorded in the Congressional Record, which is available online through the following sites:

• GPO Access
• THOMAS

Presidential Statements

When the President signs a bill into law or vetoes it, he may make a public statement to explain his actions and his support for or disapproval of the legislation. These statements are made available to the public through the following online sites:

• Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents from GPO Access

Laws and Regulations

Once a bill has been signed by the President, it becomes a law and is added to the United States Code. Based on this law, agencies can write federal regulations in order to direct how various situations or operations are handled. Full text of the laws and regulations are available at the following sites:

• GPO Access
  Public Laws, Federal Register, and Code of Federal Regulations
• United States Code

About Congress

General information about Congress, the two chambers, and the structure and purpose of the legislative branch can be found in these links:

• U. S. House of Representatives
• U. S. Senate

Members of Congress

When researching legislation, it may also be helpful to know more about the players involved in the legislative process. These links provide basic information on Representatives and Senators, including addresses and phone numbers:

• Congressional Directories from University of Michigan
• Congressional Directory from GPO Access

In addition, you may find it useful to understand the personal and political background of members of Congress involved in the progress of a particular bill or to know what role campaign finance contributions may play in getting legislation passed or stopped. These sites will help you find this information:

• Federal Election Commission Information About Candidates
• LexisNexis Congressional for use on campus only
• Political Money Line

Committees and Organizations

Once a bill has been introduced, it is sent to committee for lengthy discussions and debate. For information on the various standing committees of Congress, select one of the following sites from the Library of Congress:

• House Committees
• Senate and Joint Committees

While the congressional committees get the most attention, other organizations can be influential in proposing or creating support for legislation. Information on other congressional organizations, such as caucuses, commissions, or political party organizations, can be located through the following links:

• Commissions, Caucuses, and Task Forces
• Democratic Leadership Committees (Senate)
• Republican Policy Committee (Senate)

Congressional News

Keeping up with the activities of Congress can be a time-consuming and frustrating effort, but several news organizations devote a great deal of time to complete coverage of all congressional events. Try one of these sites if you need more information or general analysis of legislation:

• Academic Search Complete (for news sources)
• CNN/AllPolitics
• Congressional Quarterly (CQ)
• C-SPAN
• Fednet
• LexisNexis Academic (for news sources)
• Roll Call

Other Guides to the Legislative Process

While our pathfinder has introduced the most important sites for tracking legislation, you will find additional sources (both online and in paper; check CONSORT for local holdings) in the following guides produced by other depository libraries:

• Legislative Histories from University of Michigan
• Legislative Information from Bowling Green State University
• Legislative Process from The College of Wooster
• Legislative Resources from Columbia University
• Resources for Compiling a Legislative History from Ohio State University

If you need to find information on Ohio's laws, please see our State of Ohio page or use the following guide:

• Resources for Compiling a Legislative History of an Ohio Law from Ohio State University