Steps
detailed below...
1. Choose a policy to research and read the statute.
2. Note the year, the chapter number, the bill number, and author of
the policy.
3. Read and copy the bill "history."
4. Read all of the versions of the bill.
5. Check for a Senate or Assembly Floor Analysis of the bill.
6. Check for committee analyses of the bill.
7.
Check the Senate and Assembly Journals.
8. Check for published committee reports or hearings.
9. Check the State Archives for unpublished materials.
10. Call legislative offices.
11. Expand your search.
Before You
Begin
Researching California legislation is challenging. Legislative history
material is not as readily available for California legislation as it
is for federal legislation. Committee hearings on bills are usually not
transcribed and reports on bills are rarely prepared. There is no written
record of debate. There are, however, some sources that you can routinely
check to trace the history of a California statute. This guide describes
those sources. Most important among them are the various versions of a
bill, which (as noted in Step 6) you should always consult as part of
your search for legislative history.
Doing a Legislative
History
Follow the steps below, preferably in the order suggested. A simple checklist
for keeping track of each step as you complete it is provided.
For questions about
legislative history research, consult with your professor or Ask a Librarian.
1. Choose
a policy to research and read the statute.
Legislative policies, in order to be effectively research, must
have become actual law. You will need to locate an enacted law, called
a statute, to begin your assignment. This can be a difficult step if you
have no particular kind of policy in mind. Luckily, there are tools that
allow you to chose a policy area and view legislation passed during a
particular year. You can also locate California statutes for specific
policy areas if you have a topic already in mind.
Source of
STATUTES:
California
State Legislature (1993- ).
Search by chapter number, chapter year, or keyword. The original statute
may be viewed and printed.
http://www.legislature.ca.gov/port-statute.html
Official
California Legislative Information (1993- ).
Search by chapter number, chapter year, or keyword. The original statute
may be viewed and printed. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/statute.html
Senate
Office of Research (1998- ).
Browse by policy area. Note bill number, year, author. Look up bill
in one of the other statute sources. VERY USEFUL IF YOU DO NOT HAVE
A TOPIC BUT DO HAVE A GENERAL AREA OF INTEREST. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
http://www.sor.govoffice3.com/index.asp?Type=B_LIST&SEC={78E1CF94-861F-4853-AEAF-4ED9BC71D3C5}
Statutes
of California and Amendments to the Codes (1854-1919).
Statutes of California (1921-1967).
Statutes of California and Digest of Measures (1968-date).
KFC25 A213 (Law Reference)
Choose a year. Look up topic in the index in the back of the last volume
of that year. Use the chapter number referenced next to the topic to
find the text of the statute. Look up the chapter number in the "Table
of Laws Enacted" to find the bill number and sponsors (front of
first volume of each year).
2. Note the
year, the chapter number, the bill number, and author of the policy.
This citation helps you find the original statute, if not already located
in step 1. All numbers will be important when conducting further research
and when writing your paper.
Your bill numbers
should appear as S.B. (for Senate Bill) or A.B. (for Assembly Bill) or
a similar variations for other bill forms.
3. Read and
copy the bill "history."
The bill "history" is actually a chronology of actions taken
on the bill. Critical information from the "history" includes:
(1) bill authors and sponsors; (2) dates of amendments; and (3) reviewing
committees. Information about committees helps you find published or unpublished
reports or hearings. Knowing authors' and sponsors' names lets you request
from them any unpublished information on file, and eventually researching
authors and sponsors can help determine their motivations or interests
in drafting the law.
Bill histories are
listed by bill number and are printed in each sessions' Senate (or Assembly)
Final History (or, before 1964, in the Final Calendar of Legislative Business).
You can find more current bill histories online. See below for options.
Sources of BILL HISTORIES
before and after 1993:
Senate
or Assembly Final Histories (1961- ). California Documents,
L505 H5s/a.
Senate or Assembly Final Histories
(1981- ). California Documents, Microfiche.
Sources of BILL HISTORIES
for 1993 and after:
California
State Legislature (1993- )
Search
by keyword or by bill number. Search by keyword
or by bill number. http://www.legislature.ca.gov/
Official
California Legislative Information (1993- )
Search
by keyword or by bill number. Search by keyword
or by bill number. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html
4. Read all
of the versions of the bill.
This is the single most important step in researching the California legislative
history. Often the only clues to intent are in (1) the occasional explicit
statement of intent, (2) whatever you can infer from the language of the
bill - the various amendments, additions, and deletions made to the bill
as it went through the legislative process, or (3) the Legislative Counsel's
Digest, which precedes the text of the bill. (A Legislative Counsel's
Digest accompanies each version of every bill and compares current law
to the proposed bill.)
Sources of BILLS
before and after 1993:
California
Documents, Microfiche (1961- ).
Look up the bill number to find all versions.
Sources of BILLS
after 1993:
California
State Legislature (1993- )
Official
California Legislative Information (1993- )
5. Check
for a Senate or Assembly Floor Analysis of the bill.
These nonpartisan
analyses of bills provide a committee digest, comments, fiscal effects,
and amendments.
Sources of FLOOR
ANALYSIS (current and historic):
State
Archives. Contact archives staff with bill
number and year to request documents related to your bill. (See
Step 9, below, for more information.)
Sources of FLOOR
ANALYSIS after 1993:
California
State Legislature (1993- )
Official
California Legislative Information (1993- )
6. Check
for committee analyses of the bill.
These analyses offer
insights into the potential effect of the legislation and indicate which
interest groups supported or opposed the bill. Only non-partisan analyses
are available, and superseded analyses are not included.
Sources of COMMITTEE
ANALYSES (current and historic):
State
Archives. Contact archives staff with bill
number and year to request documents related to your bill. (See
Step 9, below, for more information.)
Sources of COMMITTEE
ANALYSES (1993- ):
California
State Legislature (1993- )
Official California Legislative Information (1993- )
7. Check
the Senate and Assembly Journals.
Contains the proceedings
of the Senate and Assembly (does not include debate). Such proceedings
include: the title of each measure considered and the vote, messages from
the Governor and Senate/Assembly, reports from Senate/Assembly committees
and other agencies as required by law, and the contents of petitions,
memorials, or other papers presented to and authorized by the Senate and
Assembly. Sometimes include Legislative Counsel opinions, legislators'
letters of intent and other communications about bills. Although these
valuable documents will not be available for many bills, you should always
check the Journals to see if they contain anything useful regarding your
bill.
Sources of SENATE
& ASSEMBLY JOURNALS (1850-date):
Journal
of the Senate (1850 - date). California
Documents, L505 J7s.
Journal of the Assembly (1850 - date). California Documents,
L505 J7a.
Official
California Legislative Information.
Senate Daily
Journal (Oct. 2002 - date). http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/senate-journal.html
California
Assembly site.
Assembly
Daily Journal (1995 - date). http://www.assembly.ca.gov/clerk/billslegislature/srchframe.htm
8. Check
for any published committee reports or hearings.
It is rare to find
published reports and hearings, but some do exist. Generally the published
reports or hearings rarely concentrate on a specific bill. Instead, they
tend to focus on a more general problem facing the State. Therefore, when
consulting the sources below, be sure to check the years immediately preceding
the bill for hearings and reports on the general subject addressed by
the bill. Most hearings are never transcribed. For very recent hearings,
however, it is sometimes possible for interested persons to request a
transcript from the chair of the committee that conducted the hearing.
To find out which
committees may have conducted hearings or issued reports on a bill, consult
the Final Calendar or Final History (described in Step 3).
Sources of PUBLISHED
HEARINGS:
Meriam
Library's California Documents Collection. 4th floor.
To find hearings in the Meriam Library, you must first search either
the California
State Library Catalog or Melvyl
to find the relevant California Documents call number. Then, use that
call number to look in our California Documents collection for the hearing.
California
Hearings and Reports Index: (Hastings Law Library) (1984-date)
Search this site to determine what hearings have been held since 1884.
Searchable by keyword, bill number, and committee.
9. Check
the State Archives for unpublished files (hearings, etc.).
The state archives
contain a wide variety of background information on legislation. Some
of the major resources are listed below. For each of these resources,
the content of the files may vary drastically from one bill to another,
and for some bills no file may exist at all. Always check with the Archives
for availability before traveling to Sacramento. If you call the Archives
in advance, they can tell you whether they have a file on the bill and
how many pages it contains. For a fee, they will make copies for you,
or you can visit the Archives and make your own copies. If you choose
to have the Archives make copies, expect a turn-around time of at least
a week. Always have the year and bill number before calling the Archives.
Contact:
California
State Archives (http://www.ss.ca.gov/archives/)
1020 "O" Street, 4th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814.
(916) 653-7715 (General Information)
(916) 653-2246. (Reference)
Email: ArchivesWeb@ss.ca.gov
Hours: Monday - Friday, 9:30 am to 4:00 pm
Description
of legislative resources at the Archives: http://www.ss.ca.gov/archives/level3_legrecords.html.
Governor's
Chaptered Bill File (1943-1998). A file the governor reviews before
signing or vetoing a bill. Useful material might include: "enrolled
bill memoranda" or "enrolled bill reports." Some governors,
however, sealed their chaptered bill files and others never gave them
to the Archives. (Beginning with the Wilson administration, all governors
are required by law to deposit their public papers in the Archives.).
Committee
Bill Files (1960- ). Files prepared by the committee considering
the bill. These include: analyses; summaries of testimony; minutes;
legislative counsel opinions; miscellaneous background material.
Committee
Hearing Files (1940- ). Files (often containing transcripts) from
committee consideration of a particular issue. May include consideration
of one or more bills. Besides transcripts, other useful material might
include: statements or testimony not in transcripts; legislative counsel
opinions; various background documents.
Authors'
Bill Files (ca. 1950- ). Maintained by the author of the bill.
(Legislators are not required to deposit these with the Archives, but
many do.) At best, a thorough documentary record tracking the progress
of the bill. May include: documents prepared by interested third parties;
press releases; other background information.
Agency
Legislative Records (dates vary). Documents generated by state
agencies with an interest in the legislation. May include: analyses;
policy memoranda; position statements; background information. Particularly
useful if the bill in question originated with the agency.
Caucus
Bill Files (1973- ). Contains: Democratic and Republican party
caucus analyses reflecting the parties' views.
Legislative
Bill File (1849- ). Contains: summary and text of bill (and amendments);
name of author; record of progress through the legislature. Useful only
in the absence of other information.
10. Call
legislative offices for any unpublished information.
For relatively recent
legislation it is often useful to call: (1) the author and sponsors of
the bill; (2) the committee(s) that considered it; and/or (3) any partisan
caucuses (the Assembly Republican and Democratic Caucuses and the Senate
Majority and Minority Caucuses) that may have been involved. A staff person
may be willing to search the relevant files for useful documentation on
the bill.
Phone numbers for
individual legislators as well as committees and caucuses are printed
in the California State Government Directory. The Senate and Assembly
web pages also give contact information.
Sources of STATE
DIRECTORY INFORMATION (current):
California
Blue Book: KFC721 Z9 C3 2000 (Ready Reference, behind the reference
desk)
California
Senate: http://www.senate.ca.gov/.
Select the "Senators," "Committees," or "Offices/Caucuses"
link.
California
Assembly: http://www.assembly.ca.gov/.
Select the "Member Directory," "Committee Directory,"
"Democratic Caucus," or "Republican Caucus" link.
11. Expand
your search by consulting one or more of these sources:
Newspaper
Articles. Articles in California newspapers (especially the Los
Angeles Times, the Sacramento Bee, and the San Francisco Chronicle) may
provide clues to the background and purpose of the legislation. You may
also find quotes from parties interested in the outcome of the bill, including
industry lobbyists, grassroots activists, and legislators.
When searching newspapers,
try searching any of the following: the bill number, the topic of the
bill, the common name of the bill, or the sponsor(s).
Sources of NEWSPAPERS
(current and historic):
LexisNexis
Academic. Access LexisNexis through the ReSEARCH Station
/ Articles & Databases page. Once in the database, select Guided
News Search / U.S. News / California... Newspapers include:
Fresno
Bee (1/1994-)
Los Angeles Times (last 6 months)
Sacramento Bee (1/2002-)
San Diego Union-Tribune (1/2000-)
San Francisco Chronicle (10/1989-)
San Jose Mercury News (10/11/1996-)
National
Association of Newspapers.
Select California from the map or pull-down menu. http://www.newspaperlinks.com/
The Sacramento Bee as
the Capitol's paper, has particularly good legislative coverage. http://www.sacbee.com/
A fee-based searchable archive (from 1984 to date) is available at http://www.sacbee.com/static/live/search/index.html.
Journal Articles.
Articles in journals can provide studies of policy problems,
examination of the effectiveness of existing policies, and insights into
how other communities tackle particular problems.
Sources of JOURNAL
ARTICLES (current and historic):
To find recommendations
for journal databases, visit the ReSEARCH
Station / Subject
Guides / Public
Administration. Try searching several databases, specifically ABI/Inform and Academic Search.
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