Proquest Legislative Insight—look up enacted legislation by popular name or by citation information to retrieve list of documents (bill versions, committee reports, excerpts of floor debate, and related bills including precursor bills from prior congressional sessions), then search within full text of those documents.
U.S. Federal Legislative History Library—look up by popular name or Public Law number to see if there is a compiled set of legislative documents; use Advanced Search to search within selected compilations, or open the compilation and click the magnifying glass button to do simple terms searches within the page, section, or volume you are viewing.
In contrast with federal legislative information, there are no comparable sources for compiled histories of California legislation. The California Legislative History Research guide lists several fee-based services (under "Professional help") that can compile custom histories or sell pre-compiled histories via their online store; one of them offers contact information for those seeking assistance in a pro bono matter.
Proquest Congressional—the collection from which Legislative Insight (above) draws full-text; PQC includes not only documents on enacted legislation but also failed on bills; use Advanced Search and set the search box to search only index information (the default setting) or include full text searching.
Westlaw U.S. Code Annotated—look up a code provision, click History and select Legislative History Materials for a list of available legislative materials associated with the act(s) that created, amended, or otherwise affected the specific code section you looked up; check the Content Types list to see if there are any Compiled History documents.
See the California Legislative History Research guide for tips on building your own legislative history of a California law. Also check the California Propositions Research guide if the law or amending provisions were created via a voter-initiated ballot measure (a California "proposition" like Prop. 24 (2020) that amended the CCPA).
California Consumer Privacy Act—legislative intent research on this law is complicated by the fact that the law started from a voter-initiated ballot measure, was replaced by a legislative revision, and then amended by a later ballot proposition. The following articles briefly describe process, including citations to some legislative documents:
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act—this law created the CFPB and amended portions of many of the Major Federal Statutes listed this guide: