Number of California Bills by Code

Number of California Bills by Code By Chris Micheli

            I have often wondered about the number of bills in the California Legislature each year that affect the twenty-nine different codes. California’s 29 Codes, beginning with the Business & Professions Code and ending with the Welfare & Institutions Code, contain over 156,000 statutes. So, how many bills affect these 29 Codes each Session?

            In the following chart, I look at the number of bills adding, amending, or repealing sections of California’s Codes each 2-year Session beginning with the 2015-16 Session and ending with the 2023 Session. The following chart contains those numbers:

 

Code

2023

2021 – 22

2019 – 20

2017 – 18

2015 – 16

Business & Professions

360

632

637

582

558

Civil

265

448

420

411

344

Civil Procedure

169

324

287

296

234

Commercial

10

22

23

27

27

Corporations

52

123

156

101

118

Education

370

588

618

630

575

Elections

83

125

149

164

144

Evidence

57

137

117

112

103

Family

103

195

172

165

155

Financial

35

105

101

85

76

Fish & Game

69

116

151

125

111

Food & Agricultural

75

152

137

139

140

Government

1,242

1,603

1,701

1,670

1,575

Harbors & Navigation

22

38

30

45

43

Health & Safety

694

1,082

1,083

959

889

Insurance

154

360

316

298

275

Labor

208

354

367

330

273

Military & Veterans

40

87

85

114

94

Penal

413

650

668

674

643

Probate

41

100

74

88

96

Public Contract

145

296

185

187

194

Public Resources

325

582

516

461

448

Public Utilities

174

309

351

307

324

Revenue & Taxation

227

448

449

496

430

Streets & Highways

74

127

139

139

157

Unemployment Insurance

61

174

139

124

84

Vehicle

163

300

320

359

318

Water

100

160

174

198

213

Welfare & Institutions

396

624

623

579

531

CMM 9/23/23


            Most interesting to me is the relative consistency each Session with the number of bills affecting the same Code. In other words, during the last decade, roughly the same number of bills each Session affect an individual Code. For example, during the last four, 2-year sessions, the number of bills affecting the Revenue & Taxation Code have been: 448; 449; 496; and, 430.

 

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