California Legislative History and Advocacy

Histories list all actions take on a bill by date. They include the:

• Daily History: Produced at the end of each day, listing all actions taken on all bills introduced during the legislative session, as of the end of that day.
• Weekly History:  Produced at the end of each week, listing all actions taken on all bills introduced during the legislative session, as of the end of that week.
• Final History: Produced at the end of each legislative session, listing all actions taken on all bills during the legislative session.

Using Final Histories for Legislative History Research 

The Final History is the best starting point for legislative histories of bills before 1993, because it will provide you with the dates each bill was introduced, sent to and heard by committees, amended, debated and put up for vote on the floor, and signed or vetoed by the governor.

Before turning to the final history, first identify the chapter law on Lexis, Westlaw, or California LegInfo and then convert it to a bill number using the Table of Laws Enacted or Summary Digest in the session laws. 

To find the final history of a bill:

• Access the Final History for the legislative session when the bill was introduced. If the bill is a Senate Bill (SB), you'll need the Senate Final History. If the bill is an Assembly Bill (AB), you'll need the Assembly Final History. 
• Flip through the Final History to locate your bill number. Bills are listed in numerical order, starting with AB or SB 1.

Using Daily and Weekly Histories for Bill Tracking

The most recent Daily History and Weekly History can help you track bills during a legislative session.

The Assembly's Office of the Chief Clerk has produced two guides explaining how to read the Weekly Histories:

The complete Senate and Assembly Final Histories are readily available online for free:

The most recent Daily History and Weekly History are also readily available online for free:

The UCLA law library also has copies of the histories in print:

Lexis and Westlaw also provide Final Histories for bills but there's no particular advantage to using them, since the same information is more easily found on the California legislature's free website.