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California Legislative History Research Guide: Step 3. Bill No.

Locate the Bill Number

Step 3. Identify the bill number for the chapter law.

After you determine which chapter law introduced or amended the statutory language you're researching, you need to identify the bill number for that chapter law.  For chapter laws enacted since 1994, you can find the bill number in the Credits/History that follow the text of the code section on Westlaw and Lexis.

For older enactments, you will need to use the chapter number to find the bill number. The Summary Digest ( KFC5 - 5th Floor Stacks) is a good place to locate the bill number, a summary of the bill’s text, and its effective date. Beginning in 1967, the Summary Digest is published in the last volume of Statutes and Amendments to the Codes, which is available online on the website of the Office of the Chief Clerk of the Assembly.

Prior to 1967, the first volume of every year's Statutes and Amendments to the Codes includes a chart called the Table of Laws Enacted, which  has a conversion chart for chapter number to bill number.

The Summary Digest [ KFC5 - 5th Floor Stacks] is available at UC Law SF for 1949-51 & 1960-2008.