California Legislative History Research: Step 2: Bill Info

Credits/History information on legislation affecting a code provision

Both annotated and unannotated versions of California codes show "Credits" (Westlaw) or "History" (Lexis+) directly after the text of the statute, or "enacted by" and/or "amended by" information at the top of a group of code sections and/or individually after the code section text.

• This shows the year (e.g., "Stats. 1992") that any chapter(s) (e.g., "c.162" or "ch. 162") were enacted that affected the current code provision.
• Often this string starts with "Enacted" or "Added by" information citing the original legislation that created the law, followed by subsequent acts that amended or otherwise affected the provision.
• Sometimes an earlier or original version is not reflected; if you are interested in legislative history pre-dating the first citation in the credit line, look for editorial historical notes in an annotated code, or consult a reference librarian.

Finding bill numbers

For recent code sections, the bill number will often be noted in parentheses after the citation to Statutes and Amendments to the Codes—e.g., "Stats. 1992 c. 162 (AB 2650)" indicates Assembly Bill 2650 from the 1991-92 session.

If the bill number for the legislation you are researching does not appear in the credits/history, either:

• online, try the Statute-to-bill-number conversion tool from the Witkin State Library (covers 1865-2023);
• in print or online, consult Statutes and Amendments to the Codes (South Reading Room, KFC25 .A24 or the Clerk of the Assembly's Archives: Statutes, 1850-2008): go to the year of the legislation, volume 1 for that year, find the Table of Laws Enacted at the beginning, and look up the chapter number to find the Senate or Assembly bill number it originated from;
• in print, consult the Summary Digest shelved (Stacks, KFC5) after the Bills volume(s) for each year.

If the statutory language you are researching derived from or was amended via a voter-initiated ballot measure or "Proposition" you may see in the Credits/History line something like—

• Adopted by voters, Prop. 2 § 3, effective November 5, 2008, operative January 1, 2015
• For such statutory changes there will be little legislative documentation available. Committee hearings and reports may exist, though these have limited value in determining the legislative intent of the electorate. See People v. Castro, 38 Cal. 3d 301, 311-12 (1985).
• For more details on researching information on ballot propositions, and particularly for finding documents (generated outside the Legislature) that bear on the intent of voter-initiated propositions, please refer to the guide on California Ballot Propositions.

If a Legislature-initiated ballot measure (also a numbered Proposition), or an Assembly- or Senate-initiated constitutional amendment, was involved you would see something like—

• Legislative proposition: Stats.2014, c. 850 (S.B.270), § 1, eff. Nov. 9, 2016 (Prop. 67, § 1, approved Nov. 8, 2016, eff. Nov. 9, 2016)
• Assembly constitutional amendment: Stats.2017, Res. c. 30 (A.C.A .5), § 1 (Prop. 69, § 1, approved June 5, 2018, eff. June 6, 2018)
• Senate constitutional amendment: Stats.1999, Res. c. 142 (S.C.A .11), (Prop. 1A, approved March 7, 2000, eff. March 8, 2000)
• For these types of legislative changes to a provision, more background and intent information about the Legislature's process in putting the measure to voter approval may be available, and can be found using the steps outline in this guide.

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