Resource Guides: Public Policy: Legislative Histories

Legislative Histories

A legislative history tracks the progress of a particular bill toward becoming law, including the text(s) of the bill and documents created during the process of sponsoring and voting the bill. A legislative history can help you understand the purpose of the bill and its status as law.

The Georgia Archives has a step-by-step guide for researching legislative histories to get you started.

Resources for Creating US State-Level Legislative Histories

Georgia Government Publications This link opens in a new window
Contains scanned images of public documents of departments or agencies within the executive branch of the Georgia state government. Types of materials included are annual reports, budget documents, periodicals, maps, posters, and videos.
Georgia Legislative Documents This link opens in a new window
Provides access to three legislative resources: Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia (the actual text of the laws and resolutions as they were voted upon). The Journals outline the passage of bills and resolutions through each chamber of the General Assembly.

Georgia General Assembly Legislation Search
Search for bills and topics within specific sessions of the Georgia General Assembly.
Georgia legislative histories and bill tracking (GSU Law School)
A full guide for legislative histories from the Georgia State University College of Law Library.
US State-level Legislative History (Indiana Univ.)
An index of state legislatures and online legislative history research guides from the law library at the University of Indiana.
OpenStates Project at Plural Policy
Bill tracking, legislator locations, and open data on policy and democracy.
Bill Track 50
A simple search tool for state and federal legislation.

Resources for Creating Federal Legislative Histories

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Congressional reports, bills, hearings, committee prints, serial set maps, and other documents.
HeinOnline This link opens in a new window
Articles from law and law-related journals, as well as information on famous trials, legal classics, treaties, and more.
HeinOnline provides comprehensive coverage of more than 2,400 law-related periodicals. HeinOnline contains the entire Congressional Record, Federal Register, and Code of Federal Regulations, complete coverage of the U.S. Reports back to 1754, and entire databases dedicated to treaties, constitutions, case law, world trials, classic treatises, international trade, foreign relations, U.S. Presidents, and much more. The Georgia Tech subscription includes the latest edition of HeinOnline's National Survey of State Laws.

Federal Register
A website administered by the US government to help citizens track the regulatory process using a searchable record of public documents created by government entities.
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This site is a joint project of the National Archives and Records Administration and the US Government Publishing Office.

Organizations for Legislators

National Conference of State Legislatures
Website for an organization that provides research and training for state legislators and their staffers.
Council of State Governments
A curated collection of state legislation (or potential legislation) submitted for public sharing by state legislators and staffers.

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Legislative Histories

Resources for Creating US State-Level Legislative Histories

Resources for Creating Federal Legislative Histories

Organizations for Legislators

Georgia Tech Library