A statute is the final product of the legislative process. In most cases, a judge, lawyer, or other researcher will locate a statute, read and analyse it, then apply it to the situation at hand. Sometimes, however, the statutory language may be vague or unclear; there may be a gap in the statute; or one may want to argue for a particular interpretation of the words in the statute. In such cases, one will look for the "legislative history" of the statute; that is, you want to ascertain the intent of the Congress ("legislative intent") in passing the law.
A "legislative history" is nothing more than the papers and documents generated during the legislative process; examples: reports of Congressional committees that considered the bill, statements of persons sponsoring or urging passage of the bill, various versions of the bill showing certain language was specifically deleted or inserted, even statements by highly qualified individuals who testified for or against the bill.
There is much controversy on the use of legislative histories, particularly in litigation. As a great many conflicting and inconsistent statements may be made by different persons during the legislative process, and because a legislative body with several hundred members can hardly be said to have a single "intent", the whole concept of a "legislative intent" could be called into question. The weight or persuasiveness of documents generated during the legislative process will vary according to the type of document (bill, committee report, presidential message, etc.), as well as the status of the party (parties) making the statement(s) contained therein.
There are many different steps in the lawmaking process, and many persons may play a role in the passage of a bill. Therefore, the safest conclusion is that "legislative intent" (if such a thing really exists at all) is most accurately set out in the REPORTS issued by the Congressional committees whose role it is to consider the pros and cons of the bill, hear testimony in favor or against, and report to the full house on the scope/purpose/intent of the proposed legislation and why it should pass.
Congressional committee reports can be located with the tools listed below, but one common (and often overlooked) source is the U.S. Code Congressional and Administrative News which publishes many of the House, Senate, and Conference committee reports. Legislative History Tables are also given in the last bound volume for each year.
From time to time, some government agency or a private individual may publish a compiled legislative history, in which case most of your work is done for you. Check first in Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories, by Nancy Johnson. Then, you might check the card catalog, the online catalog, the Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications or, better yet, the CD-ROM Index "GPO on Silver Platter" for U.S. Government Publications.
For access to some research tools, you may need the P.L. (public law) number OR the number of the bill as originally introduced in the House or Senate. Check the reference tool you are using to see if it has a cross-reference table from P.L. no. to bill no. If not, find the slip law (if the statute is recent) or find your statute in the Statutes-at-Large. The bill number will appear in the margin, at the head of the statute. Remember, if you are reading your statute from the U.S. Code, the USCA, or the USCS, the Statutes-at-Large cite appears at the end of each section.
