California Legislative History

Many states, such as California, have ballot initiative and referendum processes. Ballot Initiatives and Referendums are legislation that is adopted directly by the voters. The Ballot Initiative process happens when citizens propose or "initiate" a statute or state constitutional amendment.  The process includes writing the initiative and its purpose and collecting the appropriate amount of signatures at least 131 days before a statewide election in order for it to appear on the ballot. Once the signatures are obtained, the initiative is sent to the California legislature where it is assigned to committees.  Those committees hold joint public hearings; however, they cannot change or prevent the initiative from being placed on the ballot.  The signatures are then sent to the appropriate election official for verification. The  Referendum process happens when citizens "refer" a statute already passed by the legislature to the citizens to vote on, in an effort to repeal it.  The referendum process is similar to the ballot initiative process, except the referendum petitions have to be provided to the public and filed within ninety days of enactment of the bill being "referred."   (Aimee Dudovitz ET AL,. California Legal Research (2016))

Sometimes the language of a statute or state constitutional amendment that has become law through the ballot initiative or referendum process is unclear to the courts. Thus, the courts may look at original intent or the meaning of the statute or amendment as interpreted by the voters. The court may review the ballot summary or arguments and/or analysis provided to the voters in the California Voter Information Guide to ascertain that meaning or intent. Attorneys may need to provide an analysis of intent or meaning of the ballot initiative or referendum to the courts when making their arguments.  (Aimee Dudovitz ET AL,. California Legal Research (2016))

You may locate ballot initiative or referendum by searching the database at the following link:  UC Hastings Law Library California Ballot Measures Database.  The ballot propositions and initiatives located in this database range from 1911 to the present. "It includes the full text of individual ballot propositions, accompanying information contained in the ballot pamphlets, related legal and legislative history, and pdfs of the full ballot pamphlets. For ballot initiatives, it contains the full text of the individual initiatives, accompanying material relating to their filing & qualification, related legal and legislative history, and pdfs of related official documents." (UC Hastings Law Library website)

You may search the database by entering search terms or browsing. 

Entering Search Terms: 

• Enter your search terms in the "Enter Search Terms" box, then choose "Propositions and Initiatives, "Propositions Only," or "Initiatives Only" from the drop-down menu directly below the "Enter Search Terms" box.  You may then sort by relevance or by publication date.  If you sort by publication date, you will need to enter start and end dates. If you do not know the publication date or whether it was a proposition or initiative, then leave those boxes blank and search using only the terms.
• After entering your search terms and criteria in the boxes, click "search" located beside the "Enter Search Terms" box.   Choose from the list of results and click "Download" to open the pdf.  You may also filter your results by using the criteria located on the menu to the left of your results. You may filter by publication year, publication (initiatives or propositions), publication type, or file type.

                     Browsing:

• Choose "California Ballot Pamphlets (1911-2020)", "Individual Ballot Propositions", or "California Initiatives" located below the "End Date" box to browse PDF images of these categories. 

A History of California Initiatives (Secretary of State): This website includes historical study and statistical analysis of California initiative measures.

California Attorney General Official Website:  This website includes full texts of Initiatives (2004-current).

California Secretary of State Official Website: This website includes full texts of Propositions (1996-current).