California Statutes are the acts of the California State Legislature

California State Legislature

The California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members...

 as approved according to the California Constitution

California Constitution

The document that establishes and describes the duties, powers, structure and function of the government of the U.S. state of California. The original constitution, adopted in November 1849 in advance of California attaining U.S. statehood in 1850, was superseded by the current constitution, which...

 and collated by the Secretary of State of California.

A bill

Bill (proposed law)

A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....

 is "chaptered" by the Secretary of State

Secretary of State (U.S. state government)

Secretary of State is an official in the state governments of 47 of the 50 states of the United States, as well as Puerto Rico and other U.S. possessions. In Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, this official is called the Secretary of the Commonwealth...

 once it passes through both houses of the California State Legislature and has either been signed by the Governor or has become law without the Governor's signature. The secretary of state assigns a sequential chapter number to all bills that become law. Statutes are cited by chapter and year, but legislative bills are also referred to by the bill number assigned by the Assembly or Senate when the bill is introduced.

California law

Since the 1950s, virtually all general laws enacted as part of the California Statutes have been drafted as modifications to the California Codes

California Codes

The California Codes are 29 legal codes enacted by the California State Legislature, which together form the general statutory law of the state of California. Due to tradition and inertia, they have never been consolidated into a single unified code, unlike the United States Code or codifications...

, so California lawyers rarely consult the California Statutes. The main reason nowadays for looking at the Statutes is to trace changes in important code sections over time.

California general statutes are placed in one of 29 Codes, each covering a general area of the law. One legislative bill may make changes in the statutes in a number of codes. For example, laws that relate to civil relations generally fall in the Civil Code; those relating to the rules of evidence in court proceedings generally fall in the Evidence Code; those relating to crimes and punishments generally fall in the Penal Code; etc. A bill that deals with automobiles could, for example, add or modify a section of the Vehicle Code dealing with registration of automobiles as well as add or modify a section of the Government Code dealing with how state agencies must account for revenues related to registration. A searchable database of all 29 Codes, as well as the California Constitution, is maintained by the California Legislative Counsel. Regulations adopted by California state agencies are generally codified in the separate California Code of Regulations

California Code of Regulations

California Code of Regulations contains the text of the regulations that have been formally adopted by state agencies. They are reviewed, approved, and made available to the public by the California Office of Administrative Law , and are also filed with the Secretary of State.The CCR consists of...

 (CCR).

External links

• California Statute search from the California Legislative Counsel
• California Statutes archive of the Chief Clerk of California State Assembly