Q. How can I trace the history of a Massachusetts law?

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

• 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.

  • The current and historical annotated statutes are available in print and microfiche. 

  • Current and recent historical annotated statutes are also in Westlaw and Lexis. 

Get the bill number from the session laws

• 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:

• Massachusetts website - 1692-present

• Lexis: 1990-present (MA-Massachusetts Advanced Legislative Service)

• Westlaw - 1987 - present (Massachusetts Proposed & Enacted Legislation>Massachusetts Enacted Legislation (Session Laws))for current legislative session, Massachusetts Historical Enacted Legislation (Session Laws) for 1987-)

• HeinOnline Session Law Library 

Use the bill number to find the bill text and track the legislative process

• To read the full-text of Massachusetts bills

  • Mass State Website - current session only

  •  Lexis:

    • 1991-present: MA-Full-Text Bills;

  • Westlaw:

    •  current session: Massachusetts Proposed & Enacted Legislation>Proposed Legislation (Bills); 

    • 2005-present: Massachusetts Historical Proposed Legislation (Bills)

  • Print versions of older bills were bound chronologically. Some are available from Widener - Search HOLLIS for the keywords: General Court Documents

  •  Earlier bills are available at the Massachusetts State Library

• Once you have the bill number you'll need to look at the procedural history of the bill as it moved through the legislature.

   

  •  Recent bills can be tracked online:

    •  Lexis

      • 1989-present: MA Bill Tracking Reports;

    • Westlaw:

      •  current session: Massachusetts Bill Tracking

      • 2005-present: Massachusetts Bill Tracking: Historical

• 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.

•  

   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

• Mass State Website: 

  • House Journal

  • Senate Journal

• HOLLIS:

  • Journal of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  

  • Journal of the Senate of Massachusetts

• Westlaw:

  • Massachusetts Legislative History- includes Massachusetts House (2001-present), Senate Journals (1998-present) & Joint Session Journals

Find the legislative packet and additional legislative history documents

• The legislative packet includes the original petition and other documentation.

  • Legislative packets are held at the Massachusetts Archives in Boston.

  • For bills between 1964 and 2006 you may also want to look at the Governor's Legislative Files, also at the Massachusetts Archives.

• Lexis

  • Massachusetts Legislative Bill History includes committee messages analyses and governor's messages from 2006-present

•  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)