Government Documents - Congress, Laws, and Legislation: Laws & Legislation

Private laws are laws passed by Congress that only affect one individual or entity and do not have general applicability. Most private laws cover these situations:

• Hardship immigration cases
• Claims, such as claims for monetary damages or the awarding of pension benefits
• Military justice and the correction of military service records

Copies of private laws can be found in the Statutes at Large. In addition, consult House and Senate reports on private bills for additional correspondence and related materials.

There are several ways to look for Congressional bills:

1. Search for the bill in Congress.gov (93rd Congress (1973)-present)
2. Search for the bill in GovInfo (103rd Congress (1993)-present)
3. Look in the Congressional Record using GovInfo or HeinOnline (UHM login required) for the text or a summary
4. Use the Digest of Public General Bills and Resolutions
5. Use ProQuest Congressional (UHM login required) to search for hearings, reports, or documents that might contain the text of the bill.
6. Use HeinOnline (UHM login required) to search for reports or documents that might contain the text of the bill.
7. We have a partial collection of bills on microfiche covering the 96th Congress (1979)-106th Congress (2000) (Y 1.4/X:).
8. We can also request copies of bills dating back to 1789 through interlibrary loan.
9. Drafts of bills can be found in the congressional papers of the member who introduced the legislation.

The United States Code (USC) is the codification of United States laws -- in other words, the laws are arranged by subject, and amendments are incorporated into the text of existing laws. It is published every six years and is updated with supplements. Printed copies are available in Government Documents under call no. Y 1.2/5: USC is also availabe electronically:

Additional sources of legislative histories:

Legislative histories compiled by the Department of Justice staff