California Legislative History

Current Legislative Counsel Website:

The Legislative Counsel’s Website, http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/, (pictured above) is a comprehensive resource for legislative history for statutes chaptered from 1999 to the present. 

• The Bill Information tab on the home page allows you to search by keyword, bill number, or statute number and year. Enter the pertinent information into the search fields and hit “Search” to find your bill.

• Your selection will start automatically on the Text tab (pictured below). Here you will see the Legislative Counsel’s Digest, the text of the bill, and some tabs along the top of the page which link to further legislative history:

  • The Legislative Counsel’s Digest (located at the beginning of the bill text) is a summary of the bill prepared by the nonpartisan Legislative Counsel’s Office that tells the legislators what they’re voting on.

• The History tab shows which committees reviewed the bill and whether there were any hearings or reports.

• Use this tab to find the committee that the bill originated in (will generally be the first committee listed in time apart from the rules committee).

  • Using this information, you can look on the committee’s website or in the LRC Catalog to find any published hearings or reports. For a list of committee websites, visit: http://assembly.ca.gov/committees.

    • Search LRC Catalog (http://sally.sandiego.edu/search) to determine whether the LRC owns the hearing or report. The general format for this search is: california legislature [assembly/senate] committee on [education/public safety/etc.]

• ​The Bill Analysis tab often contains Comments and/or Arguments for/against the measure. Committee Analyses are written by the staff of the legislature’s committees, summarizing the committee action on the bill and often including information about the bill’s intent.

• The Compare Versions tab helps visualize the amendment process: added language is indicated by blue italics; deleted language is indicated by red strikethrough. 

  • The new website version allows you to compare from any one amendment/ version to any other, which is a feature the old website did not have.

Old Legislative Counsel Website:

The old Legislative Counsel Website, http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/, (pictured above) includes older bills than the new website, but contains essentially all the same information. A search by bill number, author, or keyword allows you to find a bill and view its Status, History, Analyses, and Votes.

• Under the “History” section, when you select a particular amended version of the bill, additions are indicated by italics and deletions are indicated by strikethrough.

This older information is not contained in a comprehensive online source like the more recent statutes. 

BILL TEXT:

• For Assembly Bills 1963-2004: LRC Information Service Microforms KFC 6 .A87
• For Senate Bills 1963-2004: LRC Information Service Microforms KFC 6 .S46

Legislative Counsel’s Digest: (1850-2008) State Assembly Chief Clerk’s Archives 

• The bill text contains the legislative counsel’s digest, but if you don’t have access to the text of the bill, you can look at the Summary Digest to see the LC’s summary of the bill.
• Click on the year of your statute and go to the last volume for that year and click on the appropriate hyperlink for you session & chapter number. (Example below)

BILL HISTORY:

• Assembly & Senate Final History (Online)
  • Clerk’s website organized by bill number (1949-2013 & 1881-1947 with gaps) 
• Assembly Final History (Print)
  • 1973-present: LRC California KFC 14 .L43 A87 (paper)
  • 1964, 1966-1970, 1981-latest available: LRC Information Services Microforms KFC 14 .L43 A87
• Senate Final History (Print)
  • 1973-Present: LRC California KFC 14 .L43 S46 (paper)
  • 1964, 1966-67; 1969, 1970, 1981-present: LRC Information Services Microforms KFC 14 .L43 S46

Assembly Analysis:

• Analyses prepared by the Assembly Office of Research for selected bills from both houses, 1975-2002. If available for your bill, the file will include information on committee actions, a short digest, a summary of comments by committee consultants, and an assessment of the effect of the bill, including fiscal effect. The comment section may provide background information on the bill's intent, and/or list proponents and opponents. The Assembly File Analysis is located at LRC Information Services Microforms KFC 7 .A87.