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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:
- Retrieve legislative history materials from the California legislature's website.For bills passed in and after 1993, you can quickly and easily retrieve most major legislative history materials from the legislature's website.
- Consider retrieving legislative history materials from Lexis and Westlaw.Most materials on Lexis and Westlaw are free on the California legislature's website. However, for bills from 1991 and 1992, the legislature's website does not have materials but Lexis does.
- Consider retrieving video and audio of floor sessions and committee hearingsAlthough not essential, this can provide insight into what the legislature considered when it passed the bill.
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: