The Law Library created a guide to legislative histories, a common summer research project. Find the guide at http://libguides.law.uci.edu/legislative_history.
Highlights include information on:
- Full legislative histories that have already been done by experts, in the form of compiled legislative histories. If you find yourself in the delightful position of having to research the legislative history of a statute, it’s generally best to see if another researcher’s already found everything and put it all together in a tidy bundle for you.
- Finding and citing the basic documents, including bill versions, hearings, reports, floor debate, and committee prints.
- State-law starting points, with a focus on California. State legislative histories can be particularly challenging; this page can get you started in the right direction.
- Off-campus access to databases, with a short FAQ. Protip: get the VPN set up on your laptop before you go away for the summer.