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Compiling a New Hampshire Legislative History

Reviewed 3/11/2024

Where to Find Legislative Journals

Legislative journals in print are located at the State Library, the New Hampshire Law Library, the State Archives, and many public libraries.

Daily Journals, which do not contain all the information of the permanent Journals, are available on the General Court's website. 


Some permanent House and Senate Journals have been digitized and are online. 

About Legislative Journals

Legislative journals are the records of what occurred on the floor of the Senate and House of Representatives. There are two versions of journals: the daily, or working, journals which are published within a few days of each completed floor session, and the official, permanent journals which are bound and edited versions of the daily journals. The permanent journals are indexed in several ways and include transcriptions of remarks on the floor of the Senate and selective transcriptions of House remarks. 

Streaming media files of Senate and House floor debate are also available online. If you are researching a recent law, you will need to use the daily Journals and streaming media files because there’s a delay of a year or more between the publication of the print permanent Journals and the end of a session. Also, you may want to listen to the House floor sessions even if you have the House Journal; debate in the House is not routinely transcribed in the House Journal. The Senate Journal has included floor debate since 1973.