Senate & House Hearings, Committee Prints, Y4 Documents

Research Aids & Tools

Tutorial: Senate & House Hearings, Committee Prints,
and Other Y4 Documents

Types of Publications
Finding Y4 Documents published before 1970

Finding Y4 Documents published after 1970
How to find and read an entry in the indexes/abstracts

Introduction

The Senate and House of Representatives release several kinds of documents that can be very useful to those who are interested in the "whys" behind bills and laws.

One major force behind a piece of legislation is usually a committee. Committees are found in both the House and the Senate, and they function in basically the same way. That is, once a bill or resolution is introduced in either the House or the Senate, then it is usually sent to a committee. The committee's job is to look at a bill and the policies that surround that bill and make a recommendation about that bill back to the main body (either the House or the Senate). To see how bills are introduced to committees and for a brief introduction to committees themselves, go here.

There are many different types of committees. Some are "permanent" and they are called "Standing Committees." Other committees are formed to do a specific task, such as reviewing a piece of proposed legislation, and then they are dissolved. To see different tasks performed by committees, look here.

Types of Publications (from CIS Congressional Universe)

Hearings-

Published hearing transcripts are an official record of the committee's proceedings on pending legislation or national/international issues. Testimony from government and public witnesses at hearings typically is arranged in chronological order of appearance of witnesses. Official (i.e., GPO-printed) hearing transcripts usually include witnesses' written and oral statements; the transcript of the verbal question-and-answer (Q&A) session between the committee and the witnesses; related reports, exhibits, and other material submitted for the record; and correspondence. Congressional Universe contains witness statements, the Q&A transcript, and citations to the CIS microfiche collection of official hearing transcripts.

Committee Prints-

This is a report prepared by Congressional staff for a committee that gives background information on the proposed legislation and related information. This generic document-type can be anything the committee wants to issue in support of its legislative and oversight functions. Committee prints can be approved and issued by the committee or issued by only a portion of the committee. The latter will have specific language on the cover that the print does "not reflect the consensus" of the committee. Committee prints can contain draft legislation, situation reports, statistical information, historical information, or legislative analyses. They can be found in the CIS microfiche collection and in Congressional Universe.

House and Senate Reports-

House and Senate reports are the designated class of publications by which Congressional committees report and make recommendations to the House or Senate as a whole. These reports concern the findings of committee hearings or outcome of committee deliberations. They can contain discussions of legislative intent, or a short history of a bill. Reports are assigned separate sequential numbers within each chamber (e.g., H.Rept. 99-1, S.Rept. 99-1).

Once a committee has made a recommendation, then the bill and recommendation are reviewed by the main body (either the House or the Senate, depending on where the committee is located. A Senate committee reports back to the Senate, and a House committee reports back to the House.)

These reports make up part of the history behind a law, and many people are interested in what a committee found and what they recommended. That is why committee reports are often accessed.

So how do you find these documents? First, you must realize that not all of the committee hearings are published. If you are looking for an unpublished committee report, look it up in a book called UNPUBLISHED U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES & SENATE COMMITTEE HEARINGS, which is found in the Main Reference area of the Main Library at KF40 C58 1986. If you are looking for a published report, then read on!

Finding Y4 Documents Published Before 1970

In order to find Y4 documents in the University of Arizona Library that were published before 1970, you must find a number assigned to that document called the Serial Set Number. In order to do this, you can look in 3 places:

MONTHLY CATALOG, CUMULATIVE SUBJECT INDEX, Ref. section of Gov't Docs. (1990-1971, grey)
MONTHLY CATALOG, CUMULATIVE TITLE INDEX, Ref. section of Gov't Docs. (1789-1976, red)
U.S. CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE HEARINGS INDEX, 1833-1969, in Main Reference at KF40 C56 1981.
U.S. CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE PRINTS INDEX, to 1969, in Main Reference at Z1223 Z7 C66.

Finding Y4 Documents after 1970

The University of Arizona Library maintains a subscription to a wonderful service called the CIS Congressional Universe.

If you prefer to search via books, use the CIS ABSTRACTS, 1970-. This is found in Main Reference at Index Table M (Call # is KF49 C62).
Use this set to look up a subject or name and get the Index number. Then take this Index number and look it up in the CIS ABSTRACTS, 1970-, (KF49 C62) also located in Main Reference at Index table M. If your document was published before the 99th-Congress, then get the CIS fiche number and go to the 3rd floor to the Government Documents Section and look it the Microfiche cabinets located there. If your document was published in the 99th Congressional Session or later, then find the SUDOC number. This number will refer you to a paper copy of the document located in the Government Documents section on the 3rd floor of the main library.

How to find and read an entry in the indexes/abstracts:

First of all, you pick a subject and go to the MONTHLY CATALOG, CUMULATIVE SUBJECT INDEX, Ref. section of Gov't Docs. (1990-1971, grey) and look up your subject. It will look like this:

90 H142-12, 90 S142-1

The bolded information (appear as regular type in the book) tells us that two reports were generated, one by both the House and the Senate. The "90" is the year the report was published and the letters tell us who wrote it. For example, the Senate report has an "S" in front of the number, so 90 S142-1 stands for a Senate report on this topic published in 1990. Same thing is true for the House, represented here by the "H".
Once you decide which report you want to see, you go to the CIS ABSTRACTS, 1970-. This is found in Main Reference at Index Table M (Call # is KF49 C62). You look up either "H142-12" for the House report or the "S142-1" for the Senate report.

In this case, we will look up "S142-1." It looks like this in the CIS ABSTRACTS (explanations are in parentheses):

S142-1 (CIS ABSTRACT #)

Once you have this information, the easiest way to get the document is to plug in the SuDoc number in the CIS CONGRESSIONAL UNIVERSE's search engine for House and Senate hearings and prints.