Statutory law in California consists of the Constitution plus acts passed by the California Legislature. Statutes are laws enacted by the Legislature and signed by the Governor. The Code is the current law. The following terms refer to statutory law: acts, statutes, and codes. If you want the text of the original law as signed by the governor, go to the Statutes.
STATUTES
CODES
The California Code is the body of law still in force, arranged by subject (eg Health and Safety Code). California Law consists of 29 codes, covering various subject areas, the State Constitution and Statutes.
Legislative Index (see below)
Detailed subject index to all bills. Does not include a list of bills or bill history. For earlier years, see the Final History (1893-1972), above.
Hearings 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. 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 UC Library Search. Selected reports through 1970 were published in the appendices of the Assembly and Senate Journals. (Appendices 1855-1944 are located in J87C2p Main)
A bill is a legislative proposal that if passed by both the Assembly and the Senate and approved by the Governor becomes law. Each bill is assigned a bill number. A denotes bills that originate in the Assembly and S denotes bills that originate in the Senate.
Historic Bills. (Stanford, UCD Law, and San Francisco Public Library have complete microfilm holdings)
Final Histories. These includes detailed bill history information. Organized by bill number. Also includes voice vote information. Earlier years (1893-1972) include a subject index.
Location: Main (Gardner) Stacks J87 .C2e
Location: Doe Reference J87.C2eb A34
Print: Doe Reference J87.C2ec A34 1979-2011.
Digests of Legislation are detailed listing of all bills with basic subject indexing. Includes summary of bill and later years include outcome (e.g. Vetoed by Governor).
Annual Digests of Legislation. From the office of the Senate Floor Analyses. 1995- present. Print issues listed below.
California Legislature Summary Digest. 1935 - (print vols, - incomplete, with title changes)
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)
California. Legislature. Senate. Digest of significant legislation covering the period... KFC7.C33 (Doe Reference has latest). Major Assembly and Senate bills 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.
The Statutes of California and Digest of Measures.1849/50- 2008. Doe Reference, KA35 .A12. Chronological arrangement of laws enacted by the California legislature. Includes full text of statutes and resolutions sub-arranged by chapter number. The last volume of each session contains a subject index and a table of affected laws. Since 1967 the Summary Digest is included.
Nearly 4,000 California Assembly and Senate publications are now online and have been opened for reading access to everyone worldwide via HathiTrust. Collections include:
These collections are the result of a collaboration between the California Office of Legislative Counsel and librarians at the University of California, Stanford University and the California State Library.
California's Legislature - An introduction to the Legislature written for the general reader.
How a Bill becomes a law - Graphic illustration of the legislative process in California. Also see this text version of an overview of the legislative process.
A Guide for Accessing California Legislative Information on the Internet - This Public Access guide is designed to assist the general public in obtaining legislative information from the Public Access computer over the Internet.
California Legislative History Research Guide (UC Hastings) - "Details the seven steps involved in researching the legislative history of a California statute. It also lists additional sources to check for legislative history materials."
Historic Legislation in California can be difficult to find. Use the resources below to guide you through the process.
Journals. Official record of the proceedings of each house. They do not contain verbatim accounts, but they do list the actions taken. The Journals also include voice and roll call votes.
Other Legislative History Information
Another method of finding information on historic legislation is to check historic newspapers. California newspapers will have stories on major state legislation. UCB subscribes to two historical California newspapers in digital format. Visit the Newspaper and Microfilm Library in Doe to use UCB's extensive collection of California Newspapers: