Bluebook Citation: Legislative Materials

When citing United States legislative material, except debates, include the following elements to their citation:

1. The title of the material;
2. The abbreviated name of the house;
3. The number of the Congress;
4. The number assigned to the material itself; and 
5. The year of publication

These elements can be arranged in a variety of ways, dependent upon what type of material you are citing to in your paper.

Rule 13 (Rule B13 in the Bluepages): Covers all of the citation rules regarding legislative materials

Table 6: Provides abbreviations for case names and institutional authors in citations

Table 9: Lists the abbreviations for citation of the words most commonly found in legislative documents

Table 10: Gives abbreviations for geographical locations 

Table 11: Abbreviates titles of judges and other officials

Federal Bills and Resolutions

When citing federal bills and resolutions, include:

1. The name of the bill (or resolution);
2. The abbreviated name of the house;
3. The number of the bill;
4. The number of the Congress;
5. The section (if any); and
6. The year of publication.

This is formatting used when citing unenacted bills or the legislative history of an enacted bill. An enacted bill is a statute, so if you are citing to an enacted bill for anything other than its legislative history, it should be cited to as a statute. (See Rule 12).

State Bills and Resolutions

When citing state bills and resolutions, include:

1. The name of the legislative body (abbreviated according to Tables T6, T9, and T10);
2. The number of the bill or resolution;
3. The number of the legislative body (or, if not numbered, the year of the body); and 
4. The number or designation of the legislative session

Parenthetical information should include:

1. The name of the state (abbreviated according to Table T10); and 
2. The year of enactment or the year of publication (dependent upon enactment or unenacted)

For examples and further information, refer to Rule 13 (B13 in Bluepages) for more. 

Rule 13.3 covers how to cite legislative hearings, both federal and state, properly. 

When citing to federal committee hearings, include:

1. Entire subject matter title as it appears on the cover;
2. Bill number (if any);
3. Subcommittee name (if any)*;
4. Committee name*;
5. Number of Congress; 
6. Page number the particular material being cited (if any); and
7. Year of publication

* Committee and subcommittee names should be abbreviated in accordance with Tables T6, T9, and T10.

When citing to state committee hearings, follow the same form as federal committee hearings, as well as the number of the legislative session.

Rule 13.4 provides explanations on how to properly cite legislative reports, documents, and committee prints. 

Numbered Federal Reports and Documents

Citations should include:

1. Name of the house;
2. Number of Congress connected by a hyphen to the number of the report; 
3. Part and/or page number of the particular material being cited to appears; and 
4. Year of publication

Small caps must be used for the house, abbreviation of report, and abbreviation of number. Small caps should also be used for the title and author when that information is available.

The Bluebook provides readers the abbreviations for commonly cited to legislative reports and documents (pp. 143-144).

Here is an example:

H.R. Rep. No. 99-426, at 4 (1985)

For more examples and information on legislative journals and unnumbered legislative reports and documents, see Rule 13.4.

State Materials

Citations to state legislative reports, documents, and committee prints should include:

1. Title of document;
2. Author of document (if available);
3. Name of the legislative body (abbreviated according to Tables T6, T9, and T10);
4. Number of the legislative body or year connected by a hyphen to the number of the report or document (if available);
5. Number of the legislative session;
6. Part or page number the material being cited to appears; and
7. Year of publication

The rules surrounding small caps in the federal documents apply to state documents as well.

Here is an example:

Commonwealth of Pa. Dep’t of Agric., Annual Report of the State Food Purchase Program, S. 178-247, 1st Sess., at 4 (1994)

Rule 13.5 provides formatting and rules surrounding citations to congressional debates.

Congressional debates after 1873 should be cited to the daily edition only for matters not yet appearing in the permanent edition. 

The Bluebook provides examples of how to format the citation on p. 145.

The year of publication should be the year used in the citation, regardless of the year the debate occurred. 

Rule 13.6 is the governing citation rule for separately bound legislative histories. 

Important acts (e.g., Civil Rights Act of 1964) are published separately. These separate publications can be cited to as a parallel citation in the format provide by Rule 15. 

For an example of how the entire citation, see Rule 13.6 (p. 145).

Rule 13.7 offers context to citations of legislative materials obtained through electronic media and/or online sources.

These citations should include:

1. Name of the database
2. Any identifying codes or number that identify the material 

The Bluebook offers examples for unenacted federal bills, federal reports, and congressional debates found through online databases (p. 146).