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Answered By: Mindy Kent Last Updated: Jan 27, 2025 Views: 4260
Legislative history can be a complicated process. If you'd like to sit down with a librarian to go over the process, please sign up for a research consult (http://www.law.harvard.edu/library/services/research-appointment.html)
The basic steps for tracing the legislative history of your law are:
Start with annotated statutes
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Start by looking at the annotated statutes for Massachusetts. In the credits for the law, you'll see a history section that will give citations to the session laws, also known as the Massachusetts Acts and Resolves.
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The current and historical annotated statutes are available in print and microfiche.
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Current and recent historical annotated statutes are also in Westlaw and Lexis.
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Get the bill number from the session laws
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Next, look up each session law that you want to trace and identify the bill number. The Acts and Resolves are available from the following sources:
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Massachusetts website - 1692-present
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Lexis: 1990-present (MA-Massachusetts Advanced Legislative Service)
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Westlaw - 1987 - present (Massachusetts Proposed & Enacted Legislation>Massachusetts Enacted Legislation (Session Laws))for current legislative session, Massachusetts Historical Enacted Legislation (Session Laws) for 1987-)
Use the bill number to find the bill text and track the legislative process
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To read the full-text of Massachusetts bills
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Mass State Website - current session only
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Lexis:
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1991-present: MA-Full-Text Bills;
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Westlaw:
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current session: Massachusetts Proposed & Enacted Legislation>Proposed Legislation (Bills);
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2005-present: Massachusetts Historical Proposed Legislation (Bills)
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Print versions of older bills were bound chronologically. Some are available from Widener - Search HOLLIS for the keywords: General Court Documents
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Earlier bills are available at the Massachusetts State Library
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Once you have the bill number you'll need to look at the procedural history of the bill as it moved through the legislature.
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Recent bills can be tracked online:
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Lexis
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1989-present: MA Bill Tracking Reports;
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Westlaw:
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current session: Massachusetts Bill Tracking
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2005-present: Massachusetts Bill Tracking: Historical
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For bills after 1973 a bill history summary is included in the final volume of each year of the Journal of the House and Senate.
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For older bills, consult the Bulletin of Committee Work.
- The bill history will give citations to the Journals of the House and Senate:
Locate material in the House and Senate Journals
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Mass State Website:
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HOLLIS:
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Westlaw:
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Massachusetts Legislative History- includes Massachusetts House (2001-present), Senate Journals (1998-present) & Joint Session Journals
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Find the legislative packet and additional legislative history documents
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The legislative packet includes the original petition and other documentation.
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Legislative packets are held at the Massachusetts Archives in Boston.
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For bills between 1964 and 2006 you may also want to look at the Governor's Legislative Files, also at the Massachusetts Archives.
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Lexis
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Massachusetts Legislative Bill History includes committee messages analyses and governor's messages from 2006-present
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Additional legislative history information may be found in newspapers, press releases and recordings of the proceedings of the legislature.
Additional Resources
These research guides will give you some more guidance:
- Massachusetts Legal Research (Harvard Law School Library)
- Guide to Performing Massachusetts Legislative History (Massachusetts State Website)
- Massachusetts Legislative History (State Library of Massachusetts)
- Massachusetts Legal Research/Legislative (Boston College Law Library)
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