
California Statutes (Cal. Stats., also cited as Stats. within the state) are the acts of the
California State Legislature as approved according to the
California Constitution and collated by the
Secretary of State of California.
A legislative
bill is "chaptered" by the
Secretary of State once it passes through both houses of the California State Legislature and has either been signed by the
Governor
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
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.
Codification
Since the 1950s, virtually all general laws enacted as part of the California Statutes have been drafted as modifications to one of the 29
California 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.
searchable databaseof 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 (CCR).
See also
* ''
California Codes''
*
Law of California
* ''
United States Statutes at Large''
External links
California Statute search(1993-current) from the
California Legislative CounselCalifornia Statutes archive(1850-2008) from the
Chief Clerk of the California State Assembly
Publications of the Government of California