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California Legislative History

This guide provides an overview of California legislative history materials available at Rains Library, as well as a how-to guide to perform your own legislative history.

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Performing a California Legislative History

Performing a California legislative history can be a time-consuming process. You may need to consult a myriad of sources in print and online and check for relevant documents at various state offices.

If you're not familiar with the California legislative process, first you should:

To start your legislative history research:

For bills passed in or after 1991:

For bills passed in 1990 and before:

If you choose not to buy a compiled history, follow these steps to compile your own history:

Sometimes you will discover that your statute was passed by voters as an initiative rather than by the California legislature. If this is the case:

The resources available at Rains Library will help you begin the legislative history research process, but you may need to seek out additional resources for an exhaustive legislative history. For additional guidance, please see: