Research Guides: Legal Resources: Finding Legislative Info

Research Guides

Research Guides
from the Gelman Library

Country Information

Government Information (U.S.)

Legislative Histories of US Laws

Public Policy

News Sources

Academic Search Complete
Multi-disciplinary database with emphasis on scholarly publications and peer-reviewed journals. Full-text available for many titles.
Factiva
Business information resource that also offers full-text news sources.
Nexis-Uni
formerly known as Lexis-Nexis. News, business, legal, and medical news/journals provided primarily in full-text.
ProQuest Research Library
Multi-disciplinary database covering general and academic periodicals. Full-text available for many titles.

NexisUni & Proquest Congressional

Nexis-Uni
formerly known as Lexis-Nexis. News, business, legal, and medical news/journals. Search state legal codes. Search case law.
ProQuest Congressional
Legislative histories

Additional resources

Congress.gov Search engine for Congressional bills that have been proposed and enacted: https://www.congress.gov/

Statescape Bill Finder. Search engine for state legislation proposed this year: http://www.statescape.com/search/quickfinder.asp

Code of Federal Regulations (Cornell). Published in codified form. Searchable by title and section number. Title 42 for public health.: http://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/

OMB Regulatory Review Website. Shows federal regulations now or recently under review at OMB: http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eoPackageMain

State/Local Legislation

National Conference of State Legislatures – Health Tracking Documents. Maintain a number of compilations of state laws and policies regarding health issues.: For example, http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/health/2011-health-insurance-reform-state-laws.aspx concerns state laws related to implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

State Legislation is tracked by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. http://www.astho.org/Public-Policy/State-Health-Policy/

State Websites. Any state’s website can be found using: www.state.2letterabbreviation.us, e.g., www.state.va.us. May redirect you to another web portal.

Congressional Quarterly (CQ)

CQ.com on Congress
Provides extensive coverage of the activities of both Houses of Congress, including Committees. Includes daily articles and reports analyzing Congressional activity, as well as member profiles, the text of bills, schedules and agendas, and more.
CQ Press Library
Contains the following resources: The Voting and Elections Collection, CQ Weekly, The CQ Researcher Online, The CQ Public Affairs Collection and CQ Historic Documents.
CQ MoneyLine
This is a timely and objective resource on money in politics. The service allows you to track the flow of money in politics by providing up-to-date filings from the FEC and other sources, as well as 25 years of data on political contributions.
Bill Text
Bill Text includes the fully searchable text of all bill versions, with links to a PDF from the U.S. Government Printing Office Web site. Use it to browse only the sections of a bill that contain your keywords.
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Bill Source
Committee Reports
CQ offers the full text of every committee report dating to the 104th Congress in 1995. The information is searchable by keyword and bill number, and is organized by the full text, outline and sections with keywords.
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Committee Source
Committee Testimony
CQ provides prepared witness statements as submitted to committees and subcommittees. You can view a full document of all testimony submitted to a hearing or use the outline to locate the statement of a specific witness in a separate document.
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Committee Source
Congressional Record
Search the official record of the proceedings and debates of Congress by bill number, keyword, member, speeches, amendments and more.
CQ BillTrack
Track your bills in real time as they move through the legislative process. Bill actions, including floor votes, markup information and forthcoming activity are presented in reverse chronological order as they are entered throughout the day.
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Bill Source
CQ Committee Rosters
View comprehensive, up-to-date listings of every committee and subcommittee member. It also provides a brief overview of the committee’s jurisdiction and relevant contact information.
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Committee Source
CQ Congressional Transcripts
Provides gavel-to-gavel coverage of select newsworthy hearings. Updated throughout the day until they are complete, hearing transcripts offer verbatim record of the Q&A between members and agency, private sector and interest group witnesses.
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Congressional Source
CQ Member Profiles
Get to know Congress with detailed information on every member. CQs comprehensive profiles provide background on the members, helpful contact information, committee
assignments, vote studies, key votes and election results.
CQ Schedules
A thorough, up-to-date calendar for House and Senate events in addition to robust coverage of events at the White
House, federal departments and agencies, leading
policy groups and more.
CQ Magazine
CQ Magazine is CQ's flagship publication. It takes you deep inside the policy-making process. CQ Magazine provides a clear and objective perspective on how legislation is shaped, who is shaping it and how the process could affect your interests.
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News Source
Federal Register
The official daily publication for the rules, proposed rules and notices of federal agencies, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents. The Federal Register is searchable by keyword, date, agency name or item type.
CQ Library
Provides information on historical and current issues in American politics and government, including: Political Handbook of the World; Washington Information Directory; Guides to Congress, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Presidency, U.S. Elections and more.
CQ Researcher
CQ Researcher Online features original, comprehensive reporting and balanced analysis on issues of major issues of political import. CQ Researcher is a particularly good source of bibliographies on current topics.
CQ Voting and Elections
CQ Voting and Elections Collection integrates data, analyses, concise explanations, and historical material to provide research material on the American voter, major and minor political parties, campaigns and elections, and historical and modern races, ..