Researching California Legislative Intent
BASIC VOCABULARY
A BILL is a draft of a proposed law. It may be identified as either SB number if introduced by the Senate or AB number if introduced by the Assembly
A SESSION LAW is a bill after it has been enacted into law but before it has been codified. It is identified by chapter number. Published chronologically in Statutes and Amendments to the Code (KFC25 .A213).
A CODE is a subject matter arrangement of session laws. A code is identified by topic and section number. Published in Deering's California Codes Annotated (KFC30.5 .D4) and West's Annotated California Codes (KFC 30.5 .W4).
CONSTRUCTING A LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
1. In the annotated code, view the legislative source and history of the current law. Check whether the annotation cites to law review articles, committee or commission reports, or attorney general opinions and locate these citations. Note the session law chapters from which the current law is derived.
2. Check Shepard's California Citations (KFC 39.S44 1995) to determine whether the legislation has been amended or repealed and whether the attorney general has written an opinion about the law or whether a scholarly article has analyzed it.
3. In Statutes and Amendments to the Code compare the original version of the law with the current version. Look for changes in language that may indicate legislative intent. Check the Summary Digest in the last volume of the year and locate the bill number.
4. Check the Senate Semi-final and Final History as well as the Assembly Semi-final and Final History to determine which committees considered the bill. WSU has these histories on microfilm dating back to 1979: Senate (KFC6.C342) and Assembly (KFC6.C34). CSUF's holdings date back to 1973: Senate history (Docs/State, CALIF L500 A1 H5s) and Assembly history (Docs/State, CALIF L500 A1 H5a).
5. Compare the various versions of the bill considered by each committee it passed through. Analyzing the changing language of a bill as it goes through the legislature is a good method of determining legislative intent.
6. Look at the Journal of the Assembly (KFC 5.C34) and the Journal of the Senate (KFC 5.C34) for committee recommendations and votes. The Bill Index indicates where a bill is mentioned in the journals. The Alphabetical Index lists the locations of other legislative history documents. Both journals are also available at CSUF.
7. The Pacific Law Journal (K 16.A255) contains an annual review of selected California legislation from 1970 to date. It includes an index by bill number, bill summaries and bill histories. Between 1965 and 1969 this annual review may be located in CEB Review of Selected Code Legislation (unavailable at WSU or CSUF). The Journal of the State Bar of California (KF 200.C34) contains an annual review of legislation for the years 1955--1963.
INTERNET SOURCES
Since the 1993/1994 legislative session information on legislative history is available from the California Legislature's web page: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov.
FEE-BASED LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH SERVICES
Legislative Intent Service Legislative Research, Inc.
(800) 666-1917 (800) 530-7613
WESTLAW and LEXIS-NEXIS RESOURCES
LEXIS
Library = CAL
File =
CODE: Deering's Annotated Statutes
CATEXT: A full text version of California bills beginning with 1991
CATRCK: Bill tracking for the current legislative session
CABILL: Combined CATRCK and CATEXT files
CACOMM: Committee analyses of legislation beginning with 1991
WESTLAW
Database =
CA-ST-ANN: West's California Statutes Annotated
CA-BILLTRK: Status of California bills from the current or recently ended session
CA-BILLTXT: Full text of California bills from the current or recently ended session
CA-BILLS: Combined CA-BILLTXT and CA-BILLTRK files
CCA: Current committee analyses
CCA-OLD: Committee analyses of legislation beginning with 1991
Your comments and questions are appreciated. To send your message to the law library, click here.
