For 40 years, our attorneys and researchers have developed an unmatched expertise in the field of legislative history and intent research. We know that successful research of legislation and regulations enacted at different times during the last three centuries requires unique research approaches and applications. We also know that our clients’ comprehension of the documents we provide required us to create an organizational format that makes sense to those unfamiliar with legislative history materials. In this way, we can help our clients understand the legislative or regulatory process related to their research inquiry.
Today, while some legislative history materials are available online, they lack committee files, author files, governor files, and other original sources which are only available in hardcopy. Our trained staff efficiently accesses these files and publications and provides all available documents to you in an organized PDF form.
State Research: Our research protocols include personal contact with legislative policy and fiscal committees and author or sponsor offices, legislative offices, governor’s offices, legislative counsel offices or bureaus, archives, law libraries and government publications facilities. We look also for legislative journals and publications by interested stakeholders, and reports generated by state or legislative committees. We search for failed legislation where specific language or statutes originally developed but were unsuccessful. All of these materials help to illuminate the intent and public policy of the legislation. Learn more about our areas of expertise.
Federal: We access the congressional depository libraries at the Capitol and universities to acquire abstracts relating to the enacting bill, related bills, and committees’ hearings. We look for committee reports, debates from the Congressional Record, committee prints, studies, presidential papers, and articles on the bill. Learn more here!
LIS Report: The attorneys review and prepare our objective analysis report to assure the thoroughness of our research, noting sources such as competitor and predecessor bills as well as the legislative history materials provided, and to guide the reader through the legislative history of the bill or regulation. When there is a section or issue focus, we also try to point to discussions in the materials that may be relevant.
LIS Declaration: Our organized legislative or regulatory history documents are itemized in a declaration authenticating the materials collected and signed under penalty of perjury by one of our staff attorneys. This declaration may be useful when offering the materials as evidence. The list of documents itemized in the declaration provides a roadmap for the client reviewing the documents who may be unfamiliar with the legislative process.
PDF Delivery: All of our research history materials, reports and declarations are net posted to a secured website for our clients to access using a password provided to them. The materials can be downloaded into your database and will be bookmarked in pdf format, allowing you to review the documents at your convenience on your own screen or to print as a hardcopy if you prefer.