It’s 2016. That means that it’s been well over 200 years since the Constitution was created.
That’s a lot of time for things to change, and yet to date, there have only been 27 amendments made to that all-important constitutional document.
How do we get laws or state rules to change? The first step is to know where you’re coming from. For over 100 years, lawmakers and policy drafters of individual state regulations have looked to the federal constitution and to legislative intent, or the statutory history of a law, to decide how to progress. Sometimes, the best path forward is made clear from the steps we’ve taken before.
What do you need to know in order to write a U.S. code legislative history? If you want to do a thorough and proper job, start by digging through these seven sources:
- Committee Hearings
When a proposed bill first goes before a committee, there may be evidence or testimony put forth by experts and witnesses that support its cause. Not all of these may be available to the public, but they are a good start to examine why the bill was proposed in the first place. - Committee Reports
The committees from both House and Senate branches will provide their comments, questions, or concerns about a proposed bill, before or after a hearing. - Committee Prints
These documents will give you all committee reports or studies related to a bill issue. - Floor Debates
Transcriptions of all activity on the House or Senate floor will grant you inside access to any discussions about the bill before a vote is held. - Bills
Obviously, this provides the drafted document of the proposed bill itself to give you information about its codes and regulations. - House and Senate Documents
Rather than materials that stem from congressional discussion itself, these items refer to documents presented to either branch pertaining to the bill. - Presidential Documents
This information will detail the President’s justifications for finally approving or vetoing a bill.
To write the most comprehensive U.S. code legislative history, you’ll want to scour all of these documents and more, bearing in mind the era from which they came and your projections for the future.