Legislative History Research

1. Find the name of the act that you want to research using some of the links listed in the   "Researching Your Federal Law" tab

2. Use Wikipedia to find the essential information about the act:

     Public Law (or chapter) number;

     Sponsors

     Roll Call

     U.S. Statutes at Large Number

     Date of enactment

     Number of the House or Senate bill that was enacted

3. Read the legislative history in the right hand box.  The links in the legislative history are clickable and take to congress.gov, etc.

Use Westlaw through EKU Libraries

Legislative histories for most public laws enacted between 1921 and 1995 are available through Westlaw Next

***NOTE:  It is easiest to search using the Statutes at Large number that you found through Wikipedia.  The Statutes at Large number looks like this 89 Stat 773

1. Click on the Library Resources tab in this guide

2.  Click on Westlaw Next

3.  Click on Legislative Histories link

4.  Click on Advanced Search

5.  Scroll down to the search box for Statutes at Large, put the Statutes at Large citation in the search box. For example "89 Stat 773".  You have to put the citation in quotes for the best search.

6.  A listing of all the congressional documents associated with the law is provided with a link to the pdfs.

Use Encyclopedia of Social Work through EKU Libraries

1.  Go to the Library Resources in this guide 

2.  Click on Encyclopedia of Social Work

3. Use the white search box in the right hand corner 

4. Put the name of your law in the search box in quotes, for example "personal responsibility and work reconciliation act"