PUBLIC SCHOOL LAW Part 12: Primary Legal Sources: Legislative History Sources

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY SOURCES

Legislative History Legislators do not always draft statutes that express their intentions clearly Often they use words that are ambiguous It is almost impossible to draft a statute that contemplates every possible situation that may arise under it Unintended consequences Lawyers and judges are often left to try to determine the meaning of an ambiguous statute When this happens, lawyers and judges are left to try to figure out what the legislature intended when they passed the statute

Legislative History Because we do not always know what the legislature intended when they passed a bill, any clues that we can find are valuable. We are looking for the legislative history of a bill. We can find the legislative history in four possible sources

Sources of Federal Legislative History Bills introduced in Congress Hearings before committees or subcommittees Floor debates in the House and Senate Committee reports Listed in order from least authoritative to most authoritative

1. Sources of Legislative History-Bills What is a Bill? A bill is a legislative proposal before Congress. Bills from each house are assigned a number in the order in which they are introduced, starting at the beginning of each Congress (first and second sessions). Public bills pertain to matters that affect the general public or classes of citizens, while private bills pertain to individual matters that affect individuals and organizations, such as claims against the Government.

1. Sources of Legislative History Online: BILLS THOMAS THOMAS is a website maintained by the Library of Congress. THOMAS provides many options for finding legislation and information about legislation. You can obtain information about bills before congress, such as searching the text of a bill, search bill summary and status, (which contains information about the bill) search multiple Congresses, and browse bills and resolutions. Goes back to the 93rd congress (1973). FDsys: The Federal System: Congressional Bills FDsys: The Federal System: Congressional Bills This site contains all bills from the House and Senate and joint resolutions from the 103 rd Congress ( ) to the present 112 th Congress The Senate: Active Legislation The Senate: Active Legislation Bills are arranged alphabetically by popular title or by subject. Also has a useful page called How to find copies of bills How to find copies of billsHow to find copies of bills The House: Legislative Activity The House: Legislative Activity

2. Sources of Legislative History-Hearings What is a Hearing? A hearing is a meeting or session of a Senate, House, joint, or special committee of Congress, usually open to the public, to obtain information and opinions on proposed legislation, conduct an investigation, or evaluate/oversee the activities of a government department or the implementation of a Federal law. In addition, hearings may also be purely exploratory in nature, providing testimony and data about topics of current interest. Most congressional hearings are published two months to two years after they are held.

2. Sources of Legislative History Online: HEARINGS FDsys: Federal Digital System: Congressional Hearings FDsys: Federal Digital System: Congressional Hearings FDsys - GPO Access contains contain selected House and Senate hearings for the 105th Congress ( ) forward. The House and Senate appropriations hearings for fiscal year 1998 are included. Documents are available as text and PDF. The Senate The Senate Can access committee reports since the 106 th congress. Have to select a committee first The House The House have to select a committee first and only does current year have to select a committee first and only does current year

3. Sources of Legislative History Online: Congressional Debates Found in the Congressional Record

What is the Congressional Record? The Congressional Record is, to a large extent, a verbatim account of the floor proceedings of the House and Senate. Each daily issue consists of four parts: –1. House of Representatives –2. Senate –3. Extensions of Remarks (text not actually part of floor activity but inserted later) –4. Daily Digest (a summary of the day's activities in both chambers) Each part is paginated separately and continuously for each session of Congress. Page numbers are preceded by single letters designating the part: H for House, S for Senate, E for Extensions, D for Daily Digest (e.g., S2987, H14990, E19, D2339).

What is the Congressional Record? After the end of each session, a permanent final version of the record is prepared. In this version, the pagination is continuous, without any section designations, and there is some editing and re-arrangement. Congressional Record files on THOMAS represent the daily edition, not the final.

Where can you find the Congressional Record? It is located in the Library on Floor 2a, in the Government Documents Room Older issues are shelved in Storage

Where to Find the Congressional Record Online THOMAS You can search the Congressional Record back to the 101st Congress (1989) FDsys: The Federal Digital System FDsys: The Federal Digital System You can view each issue of the Congressional Record from January 1, 1994 to the present, which means the previous day's issue of the Congressional Record.

4. Sources of Legislative History Online: Committee Reports Legislatures are made of topical committees that study a bill before it becomes law In the reports that a legislative committee produces could be information relating to the intent of the legislators in enacting a law

4. Sources of Legislative History Online: Comm Reports THOMAS Congress divides its work among over two hundred committees, each of which issues regular reports on its activities. You can search for committee reports by committee back to GPO Access: Congressional Reports GPO Access: Congressional Reports Congressional reports originate from congressional committees and deal with proposed legislation and issues under investigation. There are two types of reports House and Senate Reports and Senate Executive Reports. The database for the current Congress is updated irregularly, as electronic versions of the documents become available. Reports are available as ASCII text and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files.

Online access to legislative information There is a lot of information on recent bills and laws online But for older laws enacted before 1990 the place to go is still the paper copy

We are now done with Part 12: legislative histories. Part 13 is waiting for you!