Scope: This Research Guide provides information and guidance for the patron who wishes to utilize evidence of California legislative history as an aid for interpreting statutes.
PURPOSE OF LEGISLATIVE HISTORY Our state's Supreme Court recently reviewed the principles guiding statutory construction: 'In construing statutes, we must determine and effectuate legislative intent.' [Citation.] 'To ascertain intent, we look first to the words of the statutes' [citation], 'giving them their usual and ordinary meaning' [citation]. If there is no *886 ambiguity in the language of the statute, 'then the Legislature is presumed to have meant what it said, and the plain meaning of the language governs.' [Citation.] 'Where the statute is clear, courts will not "interpret away clear language in favor of an ambiguity that does not exist." [Citation.]' [Citation.]" (Lennane v. Franchise Tax Bd. (1994) 9 Cal.4th 263, 268, 36 Cal.Rptr.2d 563, 885 P.2d 976.)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Coonjohn, A Brief History of the California Legislative Counsel Bureau and the Growing Precedential Value of Its Digest and Opinions (1994) 25 Pacific L.J. 211
Holder, Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say: The Resurrection of Plain Meaning in California Courts (1997) 30 U.C. Davis L.Rev. 596
Hurst, The Use of Extrinsic Aids in Determining Legislative Intent in California: The Need for Standardized Criteria (1981) 12 Pacific L.J. 189
Rose, Research & Practice Guide California Legislative History and Intent : Practical "How To" Guidance for Improving Your Advocacy Skills When Legislative History/Intent Is At Issue (1998)
LOCATING ENACTED BILLS USING THE CALIFORNIA CODES
A study of the added or deleted text in a California Assembly or Senate bill as it is amended may reveal legislative intent. A bill number is needed to track the legislation's progress.
Use the California Code section number to locate the year and chapter number of the original legislation. Both Deering's California Codes and West's Annotated California Codes include the year and chapter number after the text of each code section.
EXAMPLE: The following information appears after the text of Cal. Ed. Code §35183:
(Added by Stats.1993, c. 435 (A.B.980), § 1. Amended by Stats.1994, c. 325 (S.B.1269), § 1).
Stats. = Statutes and Amendments to the Code (official compilation of laws as passed and signed by the Governor and numbered by the Secretary of State; arranged in chronological order.) 1993 = year
c. 435 = chapter number
§ 1 = section number 1
NOTE: Check the advance legislative services for recent legislation. Two identical services, West's California Legislative Service and Advance Legislative Service to Deering's California Codes, are used to supplement what is reflected in the annual (pocket part) updates to the codes. Butte County Law Library and CSU Chico each subscribe to West's California Legislative Service. The Advance Legislative Service to Deering's California Codes is maintained at Cal Northern School of Law. Both West's California Legislative Service and Advance Legislative Service to Deering's California Codes arrange new legislation in chapter number order, and include the bill number. Both services have subject indexes. For BCLL users, West's California Legislative Service is shelved immediately following the Statutes and Amendments to the Codes on Stack C.
Once you have the chapter number, go to Statutes and Amendments to the Codes - California (KFC 30 .A2) to find the chapter text. The chapters are arranged in numerical order for each year.
EXAMPLE: For Ed. Code § 35183 , go to the 1993 Statutes volume which includes chapter 435 and turn to page 2459.
To locate the bill number, use the Summary Digest which is found in the last Statutes volume for each year. The Summary Digest portion of the volume is arranged numerically by chapter number. The bill number appears in parenthesis after each digest's chapter number. The Summary Digest is the Legislative Counsel's digest of each enacted law.
EXAMPLE: The 1993 Summary Digest contains the following entry for Ed. Code § 35183: Ch. 435 (AB 980) Allen. School districts: dress codes.
Ch. 435 = Slip Law or Chapter Law (final version of bill as signed by the Governor and numbered by the Secretary of State.) AB 980 = Assembly Bill number 980 Allen = Legislator who authored the bill.
For legislation earlier than 1965, no Summary Digests exist. To find the number of an older bill, follow these steps:
1. Look in the Table of Contents of the Statutes and Amendments volume for your year for the entry "Table of Laws Enacted" or "Table of Laws."
2. Turn to the Table of Laws Enacted and find your chapter number in the left-hand column.
3. Next to the chapter number will be the bill number and the author's name.
Bills for previous legislative sessions (from 1963- ) are available on microfiche at CSU Chico's Meriam Library (located in the microforms area on the far west wall on the 4th floor). Copies of bills from previous legislative sessions are available by interlibrary loan (through Butte County Law Library or the Meriam Library) from the California State Library. The State Library will fax up to six pages at no charge.
CURRENT AND PENDING BILLS
PRINT COPIES
CSU Chico's Meriam Library receives current legislative session bills, which are placed in boxes at the end of the California Documents Collection (4th floor) and numerically arranged by Senate or Assembly number. The bill and all its amendments are located together in chronological sequence.
INTERNET SERVICE
Updated daily, the California Legislature's website contains a complete listing of all bills from the 1993-1994 session - forward.
FINDING CALIFORNIA BILLS ONLINE
LEXIS-NEXIS: http://www.lexis.com/xchange/Components/authform.asp?url=/research
The full text of all versions of pending bills is available in the LEGIS Library, CATEXT file. LEXIS-NEXIS also provides access to bill tracking information. Bill tracking provides significant dates in a bill's passage through a legislature, committee assignments, signature by the executive, and the sponsor. The California bill tracking database on LEXIS-NEXIS has information from the current year in the LEGIS Library, CATRCK file. Committee analyses can be found in the CACOMM file. LEXIS-NEXIS also combines these three files: use the CABILL file in the LEGIS Library.
WESTLAW: http://www.westlaw.com/ California coverage begins with the most recent legislative sessions. The full text of recent California bills is in the CA-BILLTXT database, while CA-BILLTRK contains bill tracking and summary information. The full text of bills and bill tracking information is combined in the CA-BILLS database. Committee analyses can be found in the CCA database.
NOTE: Butte County Law Library's Government-user contract limits the use of LEXIS-NEXIS and WESTLAW to staff-use only.
CHECKLIST
1. Code Section __________
2. Record the Statutes and Amendments to the Code (Stats.) citation following the text of Code section in West's or Deering's Annotated Codes, and note any legislative history.
Year and Chapter number__________
3. Shepardize Code section in Shepard's California Citations: Statutes (KFC 59.S5). Check bound volumes and paperbound supplements.
a. Note any citations to Attorney General's opinions. b. Note cited cases and law review articles.
4. Read original statute at noted year and chapter in Statutes and Amendments to the Code (KFC 30 .A2).
5. Convert chapter number or code section to bill number using one of the following:
a. Statutes and Amendments to the Code "Table of Laws Enacted" or "Summary Digest of Statutes Enacted."
b. Prior to 1973, check the Final Calendar of Legislative Business (available at Meriam Library, KFC 14 .L453). For 1973 and later, use Assembly or Senate Final History (Id., KFC 14 .L43 A87 or KFC 14 .L43 S46) "Chapter Numbers of Assembly and Senate bills."
c. Current issues of the Senate Weekly History or Assembly Weekly History (shelved with current bills at KFC 1).
d. Deering's Advanced Legislative Service or West's California Legislative Service for current legislation (shelved at the end of Deering's and West's California Codes, KFC 30 .D4 and KFC 30. W4, respectively).
Bill number __________
6. Read bill history in Assembly and Senate Final History volumes (KFC 14 .L43 A87 and KFC .L43 S46). Make note of author(s), committee assignments, amendment dates, journal pages, etc. for later use.
7. Read all versions of the bill.
The LRC has paper copies of bills from current and last sessions only; microfiche copies of bills begin with the 1963 session (Microforms KFC 1).
8. Read Assembly File Analysis for each bill. Available in microfiche with the bills from 1975 to the present.
9. Check Assembly Journal and Senate Journal index volumes (KFC 5. S47 A66 and KFC 5 .S46) under the bill number and subject headings such as: "Journal, Print in; Legislative Counsel; Reports; Roll call."
10. Legislative Counsel opinions.
a. Assembly Final History "List of Legislative Counsel Opinions" (KFC 14 .L43 A87). b. Senate Final History "Reports Received and Noted" (KFC 14 .L43 S46).
11. Continue search for reports and hearings.
a. Perform an author search in online catalog: "California, Legislature. Senate (or Assembly). Committee on [insert name of committee]"
b. Subject search in online catalog.
c. Hearings and Reports of the Committees of the California Legislature (KFC 20 .C35).
12. Check Review of Selected 19-- California Legislation (KFC 30.5 .C761), for articles written after 1970. Note: The same material is included in the Pacific Law Journal.
13. Trace development of law by reviewing earlier sessions of the legislature in the Legislative Index (KFC 12 .L43).
a. Search by topic in the Legislative Index. b. Search the "Table of Sections Affected" by code section.
14. Additional sources:
a. California Law Revision Commission (http://www.clrc.ca.gov/) (KFC 79 .A3) Reports. See I. C., above. b. Opinions of the Attorney General (KFC 780.5 .O61). c. California Code Commission. Perform author search in the CSU online catalog. d. Contact author of bill or legislative committee. See I. H., above. e. Contact the State Archives. See I. I., above. f. California Legislative Intent Service, 712 Main Street, Woodland, CA 95695, (800) 666-1917. This is a commercial service that compiles California legislative histories for a fee.
g. LRI Legislative Research Incorporated, 926 J. Street, Suite 1100, Sacramento, CA 95814
15. Do not forget to use traditional newspaper and periodical sources:
a. Sacramento Bee
b. Los Angeles Times
c. California Journal
d. California Lawyer
e. Other legal newspapers and journals
CONTACT A REFERENCE LIBRARIAN FOR FURTHER ASSISTANCE
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