Legislative documents - federal and state - Tax Research - LibGuides at Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University

What is Statutes at Large

The Statutes at Large (abbreviated Stat.) contain the laws passed by Congress and signed by the President. These laws as passed are assigned "Public Law" numbers. The Statutes at Large contain the Public laws arranged chronologically. So you will find Public Law 111-148 from 2010 in Statutes at Large volume 124 on page 119. The citation would appear as 124 Stat. 119 (2010).

Finding Statutes at Large

HeinOnline - Statutes at Large by citation This link opens in a new window
pdf - back to volume 1 ; access restricted to Hofstra users.
HeinOnline - Statutes at Large This link opens in a new window
pdf - list of volumes back to volume 1; access restricted to Hofstra users.

Legislative history - incl proposed legislation

Each of the documents listed in the abbreviations in the box below will have a variety of sources. Here are the most likely databases/websites to find these documents.

Federal Legislative History - generally

Proquest Congressional (Search by Number) This link opens in a new window
access restricted to Hofstra Law users. If you have a document citation - e.g. H Rpt 104-21, use this link. Click on the Bibliographic Citations tab if you do not see your document type.

Legislative Insight (Proquest)
access restricted to Hofstra Law users.. This is the best resource for research legislative intent for federal statutes
Congress.gov
selected coverage of selected documents back to 1973

Proposed legislation - Bills

Congress.gov
selected coverage of selected documents back to 1973
govinfo
for federal Congressional bills
State Legislature web sites
links to states' legislatures for proposed legislation in states

Congressional materials / Abbreviations Explanation

Documents created as legislation is considered by Congress are known as the "legislative history" of that law. They go by a variety of abbeviations, as listed below.

1. Bills -

H.R.*= House Bill

(*do not confuse with House Report-H.Rpt.)

S.=Senate Bill

example: H.R. 1 or S.1

2. Hearings

H.Hrg=House Hearing

S.Hrg=Senate Hearing

example: S.Hrg 108-383 or H.Hrg 108-383

3. Committee Reports

H.Rpt= House Report*

(*do not confuse with HR which is for House bill)

S.Rpt=Senate Report

example: H.Rpt 111-299 or S.Rpt 110-470

4. Debates

CR or Cong.Rec=Congressional Record

5. bill goes through process in other chamber.

6. Conference Report

H.Rpt, H.Conf.Rpt=House Conference Report (may be same as for House Report)

S.Rpt=Senate Conference Report (same as for Senate Report)example: H.Rpt 111-89

7. Presidential Signing Statement

WCPD=Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents

DCPD=Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents

8. Public Law

P.L.=Public Law

example: P.L. 111-148

See Bluebook Rule 13 for citing rules.