Legal Research Center | Legislative Histories for Pennsylvania Laws

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Research Guides > Legislative Histories for Pennsylvania Laws

Legislative Histories for Pennsylvania Laws

Getting Started
Summary of the Pennsylvania Legislative Process
Documents Created During the Pennsylvania Legislative Process
Publications and Databases

Getting Started

Legislative history is “the background and events leading to the enactment of a statute, including hearings, committee reports, and floor debates. Legislative history is sometimes recorded so that it can later be used to aid in interpreting the statute.” Black’s Law Dictionary (8th ed. 2004), legislative history.

The purpose of a legislative history is to collect the documents relating to a particular statute in order to better understand the legislative intent. Frank Y. Liu et al. Pennsylvania Legal Research Handbook (2008 ed.) § 4.2, Law Library KFP 75.P47 2008.

To determine Pennsylvania legislative history and the intent behind a particular Pennsylvania law, researchers must have a firm understanding to the Pennsylvania legislative process. Researchers must note that there is no comprehensive resource that provides compiled Pennsylvania legislative histories.

To compile a legislative history in Pennsylvania, you must have the act number and year of enactment. The act number can be found at the end of the statute section of an annotated statute.

Lexis example: In Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes 75 Pa. C.S. § 4524 contains a section entitled “History.” The history section provides information regarding the legislative history for this statute. It references “Act 1990-137 (H.B. 240), § 1, approved Nov. 21, 1990, eff. in 180 days.” The act number in this example is 137 and the year is 1990.
West example: In Purdon’s Pennsylvania Statues and Consolidated Statutes 75 Pa. C.S.A. § 4524 contains a section entitled “Credit(s).” This credit section also provides legislative history information. It references “1990, Nov. 21, P.L. 556, No. 137, § 1, effective in 180 days.” The act number in this example is 137, not 556 and the year is 1990. P.L. 56, in this example, refers to the pamphlet law and the starting page number in the Laws of Pennsylvania.

Summary of the Pennsylvania Legislative Process

The Pennsylvania General Assembly has a major role in creating the documents used in compiling a legislative history. Like the federal government, it is a bicameral legislature with two chambers or legislative houses: the Pennsylvania Senate and the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The Pennsylvania Constitution stipulates that the General Assembly must meet in a regular session; a legislative session is two years.

By understanding the legislative process, the researcher will be better able to locate the primary sources of Pennsylvania legislative history. The following is a summary of the Pennsylvania legislative process.

A bill is introduced into the Pennsylvania Senate or Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
The bill is referred to a legislative committee for consideration. The committee controls bill in its possession. Only bills released from committee receive further consideration.
While the committee considers the bill; the committee may
- a. Hold a public hearing;
- b. Author a committee report; or
- c. Amend the bill.
Once the committee releases the bill to the full chamber, legislators may engage in debates or offer remarks.
The full chamber may amend the reported bills.
Bills passed by one chamber are sent to the other chamber. The other chamber conducts its own substantive committee reviews and floor debates.
If the two chambers passes different versions of the bill, a Conference Committee is called. The Conference Committee works to resolve the differences and release a Conference Committee Report.
Once a bill is approved by both chambers, it is sent to the Governor to be signed into law.
The Governor may include a Governor’s Message when signing or vetoing a bill.
Every bill has chronological bill history called a Bill Tracking Report. This report records the bill’s status through the legislative process and may also include a summary of the bill.

Note: This preceding summary is an abbreviated summary of the Pennsylvania legislative process. For a more complete explanation, please consult Frank Y. Liu et al. Pennsylvania Legal Research Handbook (2008 ed.), Chapter 4, Law Library KFP 75.P47 2008.

Documents Created During the Pennsylvania Legislative Process

The following list of documents can be created during the Pennsylvania legislative process:

Bill Tracking Report is a chronological bill history. This report records the bill’s status through the legislative process and may also include a summary of the bill.
Bill is a proposed law introduced into the Pennsylvania General Assembly, either the Pennsylvania Senate or Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Each bill has a bill number. For each legislative session, the bill numbering begins with HB1 for the House and SB 1 for the Senate. The bill numbers continue chronologically throughout the two year legislative session. In addition to the “bill number,” bills and later amended versions have “printer’s numbers” which are used to track successive versions of the bill.
Committee Hearings provide information regarding the public sentiment for proposed laws. It must be noted, however, few committees hold hearings and transcripts of public hearings are not readily available. Researchers may consider use newspaper accounts of public sentiment expressed about proposed legislation as an alternative.
Committee Reports authored by committees in the Pennsylvania General Assembly. They have been assigned to study a particular bill. While committee Reports are a great source of legislative intent, they are not readily available.
Legislative debates and remarks by legislators are considered floor action. This floor action is useful in establishing the purpose and possible impact of a bill.
Governor’s Messages are used to express the intent of the executive branch of government. The Pennsylvania Governor has the authority to provide signing messages when introducing a bill, signing a bill into law, or veto messages when vetoing a bill.
Session Laws are statutes published in their chronological, pre-code and pre-annotated form. In Pennsylvania, session laws are also called “pamphlet laws.” Early compilations are sometimes referred to by the name of compiler, for example the set from the late 18th and early 19th century is Smith’s Laws.
Annotated Statutes is a collection of Pennsylvania laws, organized by topic area, accompanied by brief summaries or "annotations," of the court decisions of the appropriate state or federal appeals courts that have interpreted the meaning, constitutionality or limitations on the enforceability of the statutes.

Pennsylvania Legislative History: Publications and Databases

Compiled Legislative Histories

History of House & Senate Bills: The Combined Histories of Senate and House Bills is a publication of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. This is the main print source for determining Pennsylvania legislative history, the status of a bill, and locating a subject index for bills and laws. Selective volumes are located at the Jenkins Law Library, KFP18 .P4

Lexis Historic Bill Tracking Reports: (PALH) This electronic database provides insight to the legislative history for selective bills from the Pennsylvania General Assembly. This collection began in January 2001 and is updated daily.

Bill Tracking

Pennsylvania General Assembly Website sponsors a free electronic database with tracking reports regarding bills introduced by the Pennsylvania General Assembly since the 1969- 1970 Session.

Lexis Historic Bill Tracking Reports: (PALH) provides summary of legislative histories for selected bills since January 1, 2001.

Lexis Current Bill Tracking Reports: (PATRCK) contains bill summaries and legislative chronology of all pending Pennsylvania legislation in the current legislative session. Note: changes made to bills during the legislative process are not reflected in the Synopsis. Updated daily.

Westlaw Current Bills: (PA-BILLTRK) contains summaries and status information concerning current Pennsylvania legislation. This database also contains a legislative session status calendar providing the latest information about session status, adjournment dates and action deadlines for all states. Coverage includes all available bills from current (and recently-ended) legislative sessions. All regular and special legislative sessions are included. This database is updated daily.

Bills Considered by the Pennsylvania General Assembly

Bills Introduced Prior to 1969:

Combined History of Senate and House Bills. Selected print volumes from this set are located at Jenkins Law Library.

Full Text: Locating full text versions of bills considered by the Pennsylvania General Assembly prior to 1969 is difficult. The best resource is Pennsylvania Legislative Reference Bureau Library, Main Capitol Building, Room 641, Harrisburg, PA 17120-0033, (717) 787-4817.

Legislative Bill Introduced During or After 1969:

Pennsylvania General Assembly Website sponsors a free electronic database will full text versions of Pennsylvania House and Senate bills. Search by bill number or keyword. This database permits bill number searching from 1969 and keyword search from 1971.

Westlaw Older Bills: (PA-BILLS-OLD) contains bill summaries, status information, and full text of all available bills since 1991. This database does not include the current session.

Westlaw Current Bills: (PA-BILLS) contains full text of all available bills (introduced, amended, and enacted versions) from the current session of the Pennsylvania General Assembly and summary bill tracking materials. This database is updated daily.

Lexis Current Bills: (PATEXT) contains Pennsylvania full text of bills from the current legislative session. This database is updated daily.

Legislative debates and remarks

Pennsylvania Legislative Journal is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Print volumes of this title are available at Jenkins Law Library, KFP18 .P4. Jenkins’ collection begins with the 1963 volume.

Westlaw Pennsylvania Legislative History Journals: (PA-LH-JRNLS) This electronic database contains both the House Journal and the Senate Journals. The House Journal database begins on October 20, 2003 and the Senate Journal database begins at the start of the 1999 Session.

Governor’s Messages

Index to the veto messages of the governors of Pennsylvania (1984-2003) Pittsburgh, Penn.: Pennsylvania Legal Resources Institute, 2007. This print index will be available at Drexel Legal Research Center, BOOK ON ORDER.

Westlaw (PA-LH-MSG): This electronic database includes messages from the Governor of Pennsylvania related to law enacted by the Pennsylvania General Assembly since 2003. Updated every month.

Session Laws

Current

Westlaw (PA-LEGIS): This electronic database includes the current version of acts or session laws passed by the current Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Lexis (PAALS): This is a digital version of the Pennsylvania Advance Legislative Service. It contains full text versions of all laws enacted during the current legislative session.

Historic Session Laws

The Statutes at Large of Pennsylvania (1680-1700) was compiled under the authority of the Act of May 19, 1887, and supplemented by Gail McKnight Beckman. This print volume is available at Hagerty Library KFP30 1887 .A44x

Pennsylvania colonial session laws (1700–1776). These microforms are available at Drexel Legal Research Center, KFP25 .A23m

Laws of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 1826 -2005. These microforms are available at Drexel Legal Research Center, KFP25 .A23m

Westlaw (PA-LEGIS-OLD): This electronic database includes the historic versions of Pennsylvania acts or session laws. Coverage includes documents since the 1988 Regular Session.

Lexis (PAARCH): This database contains all session (pamphlet) laws enacted since 1989.

Annotated Statutes

Current

Purdon's Pennsylvania statutes, annotated. This is an unofficial statutory collection. It is a print multi-volume set that is available at Drexel Legal Research Center, KFP30 .A44

Pennsylvania consolidated statutes / prepared by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Legislative Reference Bureau. This is an official statutory collection. It is a print multi-volume set that is available at Drexel Legal Research Center, KFP30 1975 .A25.

Lexis (CODE): This electronic database contains all acts through the current legislative session.

Westlaw (PA-ST-ANN): This electronic database includes the current version of Pennsylvania annotated statutes. It is related to the print publication Purdon’s Pennsylvania Statues and Consolidated Statutes Annotated.

Historic Annotated Statutes

Purdon’s Pennsylvania statutes, annotated, Microforms (1930- 1958). These microforms are available at Drexel Legal Research Center, KFP30 1930 .A44m

Westlaw (i.e. PA-STANN88): This set of databases providing historic versions of Pennsylvania annotated statutes by year since 1988. It is related to the print publication Purdon’s Pennsylvania Statues and Consolidated Statutes Annotated.

Lexis (PAARCH): This is Pennsylvania Statutes Archives and is a digital archive of Pennsylvania statutes since the 1991 - 1990 legislative session.