If you’ve ever researched Massachusetts legislation, you might be familiar with how difficult it can be. Even if a researcher has compiled all the necessary primary and secondary materials to review, intent can still be difficult or impossible to infer—it’s the “white whale,” so to speak. However, if you’re new to researching federal legislation, you might be pleasantly surprised at how many explanatory materials are produced during the lawmaking process. In fact, it’s even common to find pre-compiled federal legislative histories, whereas in Massachusetts the compiling must be completed by the researcher. There are also many examples of “similar but different” or even “very different” when comparing Massachusetts and federal research. For example, certain terminologies can mean very different things, such as “committee report”:
- Massachusetts definition: The report is not a written document but the recommendation of a Committee that a bill ought to pass (OTP), ought not to pass (ONTP), or ought to pass with an amendment (OTPWA). (source)
- Federal definition: Document accompanying a measure reported from a committee. It contains an explanation of the provisions of the measure, arguments for its approval, votes held in markup, individual committee members’ opinions, cost estimates, and other information. (source)
As this blog aims to highlight federal legislative research, here are some helpful resources and guides that will help you learn about: the federal legislative process; how to locate primary documents, compiled histories (if available), and secondary materials; and other important information:
Federal government resources:
- House Doc. 110-49: How Our Laws are Made
- U.S. Congress: congress.gov
- U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO): govinfo
- Library of Congress: Compiling a Federal Legislative History: A Beginner’s Guide
- Rick McKinney/Federal Reserve Board: Federal Legislative History 101
Non-government resources:
- Georgetown Law Library: Legislative History Research Guide
- Law Librarians’ Society of Washington D.C.: Legislative Source Book
- GovTrack: govtrack.us
- C-SPAN: c-span.org
- POLITICO PRO: Policy Guides on regulatory, budget, and legislative processes
Subscription databases:
(most commonly found in law, academic, and government libraries)
- ProQuest Congressional
- ProQuest Legislative Insight
- HeinOnline
Kaitlin Connolly
Reference Librarian
