Research Guides: Legal Research: Finding Primary Legislative Sources

How To Find Legislative Information

The Claremont Colleges Library subscribes to a database, Proquest Congressional (formerly LexisNexis Congressional) that provides indexing and full-text access to most Congressional publications from 1769 to 2004. Documents and electronic publications after 2004 are generally available through Library Seach, the online catalog as well as from Govtrack; FDsys; and U.S. Congress Web sites.

How a Bill Becomes a Law (diagram)
How Our Laws Are Made
Narrative on how laws are introduced and work their way through the process to become law.

Legislative Information Databases

Proquest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for providing a unique perspective on all aspects of U.S. History through this large collection of congressional documents., which includes abstracts to Congressional hearings, committee reports, bill files, and more.
Content type: Primary sources, abstracts, government documents, committee reports, bill files, witness testimony, transcripts
Coverage dates: 1789-present
Full-text is available through 2010, later for some titles. Full-Text Hearings 1824-2010; (CRS) Reports 1916-present, committee prints from 1830-current; Serials Set documents from 1789; the Congressional Record (1969-1994 in print); and Executive Orders and Presidential Proclamations, 1789-2017.
Language: English
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Search here for comprehensive coverage of news and current events, government, business, medical, and legal topics, as well as general reference information.
Content type: Newspaper articles, trade journal articles, broadcast transcripts, financial reports, federal and state case law, medical abstracts, corporate profiles
Coverage dates: 1980-present
Language: English, Spanish, French, Dutch, German, Portuguese
Keywords: Lexis Nexis
CQ Press Library This link opens in a new window
Why search here? Good for finding information on bill profiles and congressional floor votes as well as on other American government, politics, and current affairs topics.
Content type: Primary sources, government reports, books, magazine articles, biographies, data
Coverage dates: 1789-present
CQ Press Library incudes the following resources: CQ Almanac; CQ Researcher Plus Archive; CQ Magazine; Politics in America; Supreme Court Yearbook; Voting and Elections Collection.
Language: English
Keywords: Congressional Quarterly

CRS Reports
These documents were prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress.
C-SPAN
Your Resource for Campaign 2012, the Latest from Congress, and Politics Around the Country
Congress.gov
Congressional information system maintained by the Library of Congress
U.S. Congress House of Representatives
U.S. Senate
LEG/EX
Legislative Explorer: Legislative Explorer:
Data Driven Discovery
A one of a kind interactive visualization that allows anyone to explore actual patterns of lawmaking in Congress.
FDsys
New generation access portal to information at the U.S. Government Printing Office. Eventually to replace GPO Access.

State & Local Government Links

State and Local Government on the Net
Links to most state and local government web sites
State Resources at Findlaw
More links to state government resources, primarily from the legal perspective.
**California Government Archive (Jerry Brown's Administration)
With the change in Governor, most of the Executive office web sites are migrating. Here is an archive of websites from the (Brown) previous administration.
California Governor's Office Executive Orders and Proclamations
The California State Library has the Executive Orders and Proclamations 1850-2007.

Legal Research

How To Find Legislative Information

Legislative Information Databases

State & Local Government Links

Links to Foriegn Governments and International Law Sites