Skip to Main Content

Fact check: Correcting the record about the UC Berkeley Library’s long-term space plan

Cal-in-Sac Projects Resources: Legislation

This guide provides students in the Cal-in-Sac program with research resources to prepare them for their fellowships.

Location

Legislation - California

California Legislative Information
1999-Current
Find bills using the following criteria: status, author, committee or floor location, and date ranges for various legislative actions on a bill. In addition, you may perform a more complex bill search by combining criteria available using the Advanced Search search.

Clerk of the Assembly -- Provides info on daily occurances, rules, current bills, etc in the Assembly.

Leg. Info
1993 - 2016
Find bills by bill number, author, or keyword. Search by session. Results include: status, history, chaptered, amended, enrolled, and introduced  information.

 

Historic Legislation - California

Historic Legislation in California can be difficult to find.  Use the resources below to guide you through the process.

  • Paper:
    • Assembly bills: [1911]-1970 (incomplete): J87C2exa Main Library
    • Senate bills: 1903-1970 (incomplete): J87C2ex Main Library 
  • Microfim/Microfiche
    • 1967/68-1974, 1979/80-: Microfiche 1504 Main Library Newspapers & Microforms Room
    • Assembly, 1975-1978: Microfilm 2242.J Main Library Newspapers & Microforms Room 
    • Senate, 1975-78: Microfilm 2243.J Main Library Newspapers & Microforms Room
  • California Budget Bills, 1967-present Provides citation information for the CA budget bills, and online access to 1995-present
  • The Law Library has a great guide on CA legislative histories, including their holdings of bills. 

Other Legislative History Information

  • California Legislature. Assembly or Senate. Final History. 1973-
    Arranged by bill number and listing action taken on all measures on file for the year. Issued daily and cumulated weekly and then semi-annually and annually. Previous to 1973 actions were reported in the Final Calendar of Legislative Business 1899-1972 (J87C2e Main). The latter includes a Legislative Index in the back which provides subject access to bills.
  • California. Legislature. Assembly or Senate. Journal. 1849/50-
    Each journal is issued daily and cumulated annually. They include an account of proceedings (however, not verbatim or summary transcripts of debates), list of measures taken up, texts of amendments to bills, committee reports, etc. Senate committee votes are recorded and published in the Senate Journal, but the Assembly reports its committee and other votes in a separate appendix to the Assembly Journal. An Alphabetical Index provides access by subject and legislative member name. A Bill Action Index provides access by bill number.
  • California. Legislature. Legislative Index... 1973/74-
    Published at various intervals during a legislative session, it lists by subject all bills introduced in the Legislature. Part 2 contains a table showing which sections of the constitution and statutes are affected by the measures introduced.
    • J87C2e.A35 (latest 10 years) Main Library Doe Reference
  • California. Legislature. Summary Digest. 1935-
    Includes a short summary of each law enacted, and of each constitutional amendment, concurrent or joint resolution adopted by the Legislature during the year. It is arranged by chapter number and includes cross-reference tables, a detailed subject index and a statutory record. Published also since 1967 as part of Statutes of California.
    • KA80.A25 DREF (latest 10 years) Main Library Doe Reference
  • California. Legislature. Senate. Digest of significant legislation covering the period of... 1985-
    Major Assembly and Senate bills are arranged by broad subject categories (health, education, etc.). Each entry provides name of the author, a brief summary, and the disposition of the bill at the end of the session. An index by bill number is included.
    • KFC7.C33 DREF (latest) Main Library Doe Reference

Legislative Process - California

For a brief overview on how a bill becomes a law in California, see this from the California State Senate. 

Legislative Process
Georgetown Law Library

Overview of Legislative Process
California Legislative Information website

The Essential Guide to California Legislation
PolitiCoPro

 

Hearings - California

These publications are the result of committee action on proposed laws. The hearings contain the testimony and sources used by the committees to develop recommendations. The reports usually contain the recommendations and explain the intent of the law. Unfortunately many California hearings, especially bill hearing sessions, are not published. To find what hearings and reports are available, check the lists below, then search them by title in Oskicat or MELVYL. Selected reports through 1970 were published in the appendices of the Assembly and Senate Journals. (Appendices 1855-1944 are located in J87C2p Main)

  • California State Publications. 1945-
    Listing of official state publications issued by executive agencies, the Legislature, and the Judiciary. Hearings begin with California Documents Call Number L500. Published monthly and cumulated each year. Title and subject index. Microfiche cumulation: 1982-89, 1990-93 (reference microfiche 7150)
    • J86C2.A2 DREF
  • Assembly Publications Catalog. 1992-
    Lists reports and hearings of the State Assembly committees, caucuses, task forces and selected State commissions.
    • JK8731.A424 DREF
  • Joint Publications Catalog. 1985-1989
    Catalog lists the reports and hearing transcripts of the Assembly, Senate, and Joint Committees that are for sale. Arranged by committee name.
    • JK8731.A423 DREF
  • Hearings and Reports of the Committees of the California Legislature. (1961-84)
    Lists published hearings and reports alphabetically by committee.
    • JK8778.A3 DREF
  • California Interim Legislative Committees and Reports. (1937-76)
    Lists published reports by committee with a subject index.
    • JK8771.A35 DREF
  • California Legislative Committee Reports.
    A compilation of lists that includes List of special committees and commissions by legislative session, 1850-1936 by C. Larsen.
    • JK8771.L298 DREF
  • Records of the California Legislature. comp. by D. Snyder. (Calif. State Archives Inventory No. 2). 1971.
    Includes committee hearing transcripts and other committee records on file in the State Archives, the Government Publications Section of the California State Library, and the Assembly Office of Research.
    • CD3116.L4.S6 DREF

Legislation - Other States

Florida
Florida Senate 
Bill List 
1998-Current

Florida House of Representatives
Bills for Regular Session   
1998-Current

Journal of the House of Representatives
(1845-2008)
The House Journal is the official record of actions taken by the House and its committees. Among other things, it includes the titles of bills introduced, the full text of amendments considered, and a breakdown of how each Representative voted on matters taken up during floor sessions.

Florida State University College of Law Research Center
Florida Legislation Guide

Illinois
102nd General Assembly Legislation
Current Senate and Assembly Bills

Illinois Legislative Reference Bureau staff
Researching Legislative History

University of Chicago Library 
Illinois & Chicago Legislative History Library Guide

Michigan
Michigan Legislature
Bill Search 1989-Current

Library of Michigan
Legislative History Resources

Michigan Votes
Michigan Laws, Bills and Votes 

New York
New York State Senate
Bills and Laws 2009-Current

New York State Assembly
Bill Search and Legislative Information 1999-Current

New York University Law Library
New York Legal Research: New York State Laws

Texas
Texas Legislature Online
Bills 1989-Current

Texas Legislative Council
Guide to Texas Legislative Information (Revised)
March 2015

Wisconsin
Wisconsin State Legislature
Advanced Search - Bills

Wisconsin State Law Library
Researching Wisconsin Legislative History