are now available in HathiTrust, the home of scanned materials from research institutions and libraries. The new collection* is called “California Legislative Publications 1850-2009” and includes scanned versions of:
- bills,
- statutes (“Chapters”),
- bill histories,
- constitutional amendments,
- final calendars, and
- other materials.
These materials can supplement research into primary materials for the legislative history of California statutes, which we cover briefly in the “State Laws” section of our Research Guide to Legislative History. libguides.law.uci.edu/legislative_history/state
Legislative history can be a complex area to research, and librarians often suggest starting with a secondary source. In California, that can include the January issues of the University of the Pacific Law Review, where new state legislation has been summarized every year since 1971.
* See “Thousands of Historical California Legislative Publications Digitized and Openly Available Online!” at hathitrust.org/blogs/perspectives-from-hathitrust/thousands-of-historical-california-legislative-publications