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Westlaw Campus Research

Legislative History Research in Westlaw

Searching by Public Law Citation

Enter the Public Law citation into the search field at the top and click on Search. This will direct you to the public law. The tabs at the top provide information on Bill Drafts, Legislative History Materials, and the Statutes Affected.

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Searching within a Statute

To discover the legislative history materials directly from a statute, select the History tab to view a History Overview, a graphical visualization of the statute, various versions, editor's and revisor's notes, validity, bill drafts, and all legislative history materials.

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 If the statute does not have any legislative history materials available, you can review the legislative history for the public law that enacted that statute. Scroll down to the credits and click on the link for the public law you wish to review. 

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Depending on the depth and breadth of the congressional process, the legislative history materials will contain the following:

  • Reports
  • CRS Summaries
  • Congressional Records
  • Presidential Messages
  • Testimonies

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Searching within the Legislative History content page is another avenue of searching for content. Using natural language or Boolean searches, enter your keywords into the search field at the top. You also have the option of selecting to search one of the advanced search templates listed on the page. 

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