Legislative History

The CIS^®(Congressional Information Services) Legislative Histories source provides legislative history beginning with 1970 for key federal legislation, from first consideration through presidential signature. The source compiles legislative history for each public law covered and provides abstracts (and links to full text documents, when available) of hearings, reports, prints, and other legislative documents.

The following sample searches illustrate common methods for searching CIS Legislative Histories:

Sample Searches:

You can search CIS Legislative Histories by area of law or topic. The following are a few of the available sources:

• US - CIS Legislative Histories
• US - CIS Legislative Histories - Federal Tax Law
• US - CIS Legislative Histories - Securities Law

For additional details about CIS Legislative History sources, review their source descriptions. Consult your LexisNexis^® product Help for instructions on viewing source descriptions.

These searches use a search method called segment searching.

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Legislative History

Use the LEGIS-HIST segment to retrieve legislative history documents for a particular public law when you know the public law number. For example, take the following steps to find the legislative history documents for Public Law 103-382:

1. Click the Search tab.
2. Click the Legal source tab.
3. Click the following links in the order listed to search the CIS Legislative Histories:
   Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. / U.S. Congress / Legislative Histories / US - CIS Legislative Histories
   NOTE: Because the LexisNexis^® services list some of the most popular sources on the main search page, you can often link to the source you want directly from the Look for a Source box.
4. Click the Terms and Connectors link if it is not already selected.
5. Enter legis-hist ( 103-382 ) in the search field.
6. Click Search.

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Statute at Large

Use the STAT segment to retrieve legislative history documents for a particular statute at large when you have a Statutes at Large citation. For example, take the following steps to find the legislative history of 107 Stat. 2057:

1. Click the Search tab.
2. Click the Legal source tab.
3. Click the following links in the order listed to search the CIS Legislative Histories:
   Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. / U.S. Congress / Legislative Histories / US - CIS Legislative Histories
   NOTE: Because the LexisNexis^® services list some of the most popular sources on the main search page, you can often link to the source you want directly from the Look for a Source box.
4. Click the Terms and Connectors link if it is not already selected.
5. Enter stat ( 107 stat 2057 ) in the search field.
6. Click Search.

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Bibliographic Information

Use the BIBLIOGRAPHIC segment to search for legislative history documents when you know the bibliographic information. For example, take the following steps to find documents from the 1993 Armed Services Committee hearings:

1. Click the Search tab.
2. Click the Legal source tab.
3. Click the following links in the order listed to search the CIS Legislative Histories:
   Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. / U.S. Congress / Legislative Histories / US - CIS Legislative Histories
   NOTE: Because the LexisNexis^® services list some of the most popular sources on the main search page, you can often link to the source you want directly from the Look for a Source box.
4. Click the Terms and Connectors link if it is not already selected.
5. Enter bibliographic ( committee pre/1 armed services and hearing and 1993 ) in the search field.
6. Click Search.

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Summary

Use the SUMMARY segment to locate legislative history information on a particular subject. For example, take the following steps to find legislative history documents on the national maximum speed limit:

1. Click the Search tab.
2. Click the Legal source tab.
3. Click the following links in the order listed to search the CIS Legislative Histories:
   Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. / U.S. Congress / Legislative Histories / US - CIS Legislative Histories
   NOTE: Because the LexisNexis^® services list some of the most popular sources on the main search page, you can often link to the source you want directly from the Look for a Source box.
4. Click the Terms and Connectors link if it is not already selected.
5. Enter summary ( speed limit ) in the search field.
6. Click Search.

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Title

Use the TITLE segment to retrieve legislative history documents for a particular act when you know the act's title. For example, take the following steps to retrieve the legislative history of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002:

1. Click the Search tab.
2. Click the Legal source tab.
3. Click the following links in the order listed to search the CIS Legislative Histories:
   Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. / U.S. Congress / Legislative Histories / US - CIS Legislative Histories
   NOTE: Because the LexisNexis^® services list some of the most popular sources on the main search page, you can often link to the source you want directly from the Look for a Source box.
4. Click the Terms and Connectors link if it is not already selected.
5. Enter title ( bipartisan campaign reform act of 2002 ) in the search field.
6. Click Search.

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Enacted Bill Number

Use the ENACTED-BILL segment to retrieve legislative history documents for a particular bill when you know the bill number. For example, take the following steps to retrieve the legislative history of 107 H.R. 700:

1. Click the Search tab.
2. Click the Legal source tab.
3. Click the following links in the order listed to search the CIS Legislative Histories:
   Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. / U.S. Congress / Legislative Histories / US - CIS Legislative Histories
   NOTE: Because the LexisNexis^® services list some of the most popular sources on the main search page, you can often link to the source you want directly from the Look for a Source box.
4. Click the Terms and Connectors link if it is not already selected.
5. Enter enacted-bill ( 107 h.r. 700 ) in the search field.
6. Click Search.

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Descriptors

Use the DESCRIPTORS segment to search for legislative history documents on a particular subject. For example, take the following steps to find documents on the Marriage Penalty and Family Tax Relief Act of 2001:

1. Click the Search tab.
2. Click the Legal source tab.
3. Click the following links in the order listed to search the CIS Legislative Histories:
   Legislation & Politics - U.S. & U.K. / U.S. Congress / Legislative Histories / US - CIS Legislative Histories
   NOTE: Because the LexisNexis^® services list some of the most popular sources on the main search page, you can often link to the source you want directly from the Look for a Source box.
4. Click the Terms and Connectors link if it is not already selected.
5. Enter descriptors ( marriage penalty ) in the search field.
6. Click Search.

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Area of Law

The LexisNexis^® services also organize CIS Legislative History documents by area of law. For example, take the following steps to view the legislative history documents for PL 104-67, Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

1. Click the Search tab.
2. Click the Legal source tab.
3. Click the following links in the order listed to search the CIS Legislative Histories for Securities Law:
   Area of Law - By Topic / Securities / Find Statutes, Regulations & Administrative Materials / Federal / US - CIS Legislative Histories - Securities Law
   NOTE: Because the LexisNexis^® services list some of the most popular sources on the main search page, you can often link to the source you want directly from the Look for a Source box.
4. Click Go to the Table of Contents.
5. Select the LINK™ marker for P.L. 104-67, Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

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