University of California Irvine Subject and Course Guides - California Government Information

Old Subject Guide 09/08

California Government Information

Data last updated on: Mar 05, 2008

•	Key California sites
•	How to do research on California government issues
		In-depth guides & instructional materials
•	How to find documents and books about California government issues
		ANTPAC and Melvyl

•	How to find articles on California government issues
•	How to find statistics on California
•	Legislation/laws/regulations/legislators
•	Voting and elections
•	Further research
		Finding in-depth & specialized California Government information

: UC Irvine Access only | How to connect from off-campus

Key California sites

•	California State Homepage To access a list of state agencies, click on State Agency Index under Quick Hits in the search bar to the right.
•		California On-line Directory (telephone book)
•	California Roster: Annual directory of state, county, and city officials.
•	State and Local Government on the Net Locates state, county, and city websites for the whole nation.

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How to do research on California government issues In-depth guides & instructional materials

•	ANTPAC The UCI Libraries on-line catalog to locate books, periodical titles, and government publications. Cataloged material can be located by searching ANTPAC by agency, publication title, author (if known), subject or the keywords or a topic or geographic name. A subject or keyword search can be narrowed by adding the word "California" (e.g., education and California). If you need further assistance consider using the ANTPAC government information tutorial.
•		ANTPAC Tutorial
•		ANTPAC government information tutorial
•	Melvyl Locates books, journal, government documents, and electronic resources throughout the UC Library system.
•	California State Library The State Library not only collects publications from state agencies, but has a variety of materials covering the history of California.
•	California Journal The Journal is the major political periodical for the state. It is indexed in Expanded Academic and PAIS. A paper copy of the journal is available since 1970. Call number: JK 8701 C35 Langson Library.
•	Description of the UCI Libraries California Collection California state publications comprise one of the collections in the UCI Libraries Government Information Department.

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How to find documents and books about California government issues ANTPAC and Melvyl

•	ANTPAC The UCI Libraries on-line catalog to locate books, periodical titles, and government publications. Cataloged material can be located by searching ANTPAC by agency, publication title, author (if known), subject or the keywords of a topic or geographic name. A subject or keyword search can be narrowed by adding the word "California" (e.g., education and California). If you need further assistance consider using the ANTPAC government information tutorial.
•		ANTPAC tutorial
•		ANTPAC government information tutorial
•	Melvyl Locates books, journal, government documents, and electronic resources throughout the UC Library system.
•	California State Library The State Library not only collects publications from state agencies, but has a variety of materials covering the history of California.

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How to find articles on California government issues

Databases available through the UCI Libraries Homepage - Article Databases will index journal articles, books, book chapters, and newspapers, which focus on California issues. When searching a topic by keyword or subject, include the word "California" to narrow your search.

Slected databases

•	Academic Search Complete Scholarly and news articles on a variety of topics
•	PAIS International This database indexes journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, microfiche, Internet material, and more, with an emphasis on political science and government.
•	LexisNexisTM - Academic Available the from the UCI Libraries homepage through Article Databases. Click on the "Search Abstracts" function in the left side search bar, compose a search on a topic as a keyword, and include California as keyword in the search boxes (e.g., housing and California).
•	News and Newspapers California newspapers provide very good sources for information on state issues.
•		Los Angeles Times Current issues for 3 months - Current Periodical Room 2nd Floor of UCI Langson Library. Microfilm 1881-present - Current Periodical Room 2nd Floor of UCI Langson Library.
•			Proquest 1985 - present: Indexing and fulltext articles
•		Sacramento Bee Current issues for 3 months - Current Periodical Room 2nd Floor of the Langson Library. Microfilm 1965 - present - Current . Periodical Room 2nd Floor of the Langson Library
•			Newsbank: 1984 - present: Indexing and fulltext articles -
•		Orange County Register Current issues for 3 months - Current Periodical Room 2nd Floor of the UCI Langson Library. Microfilm 1906-present - Current Periodical Room 2nd Floor of UCI Langson Library.
•			Newsbank: 1987 - present Indexing and fulltext articles
•	LexisNexisTM - Academic A search in the "News" or newspaper section of LexisNexisTM will yield articles from a variety of newspapers on California issues.

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How to find statistics on California

Printed and electronic resources

•	California Statistical Abstract Call number: HA 261 C3 Latest at the LL Ref Desk
•	California Criminal Justice Statistics Center - Publications Contains several publications that report crime statistics for the state and counties.
•	California Department of Finance: Demographic Research Unit Reports on estimated and projected population, and legal immigrations statistics to the county level.
•	California Employment Development Department. Labor Market Information A very good portal for significant current and historical (back to the 1980s) statistics on the state’s labor force, industries, occupations, and wages. Many of the statistical categories are recorded by county and a few a broken down to the city level.
•	California Department of Social Services Provides many reports on adoption, CALWORKS, and other forms of public assistance.
Statistical Databases

•	RAND California Provides a wide variety of statistics down to the county and city level. It is similar to Counting California.
•	FedStats Gateway to statistics from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies that can be categorized by state.
•	US Census Bureau Contains demographic and economic statistics down to the county level.
•	American Factfinder Provides online access to 1990 and 2000 census statistics, down to the block level when available.
•	LexisNexisTM - Statistical Choose the "Search Abstracts" method in the left side bar. A keyword or subject can be combined with "California" to perform a search.

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Legislation/laws/regulations/legislators

•	Official California Legislative Information For legislative action since 1993, this site is a great portal for daily events in the legislature, status of bills in the Senate and Assembly (Bill Information), online versions of the state constitution and statutes (California Law), finding your state representative (Your Legislature), and online versions of the Senate and Assembly Daily Journals, and other publications (Legislative Publications).
•		California legislative material in paper, and indexing to pre 1993 legislative actions:
•			Assembly final history Call number: J 87 C23 Langson Reference
•			Senate final history Call number: J 87 C321 Langson Reference
•			Legislative index and table of sections affected Call number: J 87 C323 Langson Reference
•			The current issues of the following titles are shelved uncataloged after call number J 87 C323 Langson Reference
•				Assembly weekly histories
•				Senate weekly histories
•				Legislative Index
•				Table of sections affected
•	State Constitution Paper copy: Call number: KFC 680 1879 A33 Langson Library Reference Desk.
•	California Statutes Paper copy: Call number: KA 224 Langson Reference. Bills passed during a legislative session that become law are given a chapter number. The statute volumes are arranged by year and chapter number.
•	California Code Paper copy: Call number KFC 30.5 W4 Langson Reference. UCI owns West’s California Code, which is arranged in alphabetical order by the title of the code.
•	California Code of Regulations Paper copy: KFC 35 1990 A22 Langson Reference. Many laws require regulations on how the law will be implemented. This is akin to the federal process of laws and regulations. The database can be searched by agency, regulation section, and keyword within the section.
•	Tracing California Legislation This is a generic guide for tracing California legislation. Some of the titles of publications may vary at UCI and the titles need to be searched in ANTPAC in order to find the UCI call numbers and locations. Particularly look at the "Guides" section for a quick overview and explanation of the legislative process.
•	LexisNexisTM - Academic - Legal Research California legal issues can be searched through State Case Law, State Codes, and state legal issues in Law Reviews in this database.
•	California Courts
•		Self-Help Center
•	Legislators
•		State
•		Federal
•			Senate
•			House of Representatives
•		Orange County (Elected officials)

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Voting and elections

•	California Secretary of State The Voting and Elections Division administers elections in the state, certifies candidates, ballot initiatives, election results, and provides proposition information.
•	Legislative Analyst’s Office: Provides analysis of propositions.
•	California Ballot Pamphlets Collection of full-text ballot pamphlets back to 1911 hosted by the Hastings Law Library.
•	California Ballot Proposition Database Database of historic California propositions back to 1911 hosted by the Hastings Law Library.
•	California Elections Data Archive (CEDA) The purpose of CEDA is to provide a single repository of local election data. CEDA summarizes candidate and ballot measure results for county, city, community college and school district elections in over 6,000 jurisdictions throughout California. Starting in 1995, three separate reports have been published annually. One summarizes candidate and ballot measure information for county elections. Another covers city elections, and the third, community college and school district elections
•	Fair Political Practices Commission Promotes the integrity of representative state and local government in California through fair, impartial interpretation and enforcement of political campaign, lobbying, and conflict of interest laws.
•	Smart Voter Nonpartisan election information provided by the League of Women Voters.
•	California Voter Foundation The California Voter Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization that applies new technologies toward public access to the information needed to participate in public life in a meaningful way.
•	Cal-Access California Automated Lobbying and Campaign Contribution and Expenditure Search System-Information goes back to 2000.

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Further research Finding in-depth & specialized California Government information

Selected agencies arranged by topic

•	State government
•		Governor’s Office Good launching point for current issues facing the state.
•			Office of Planning and Research Some of the activities of the office include: 1. Recommending and implementing state policies with regard to land use and growth planning. 2. Providing technical planning advice to local governments. 3. Advising project proponents and government agencies on provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act. 4. Operating the State Clearinghouse for environmental and federal grant documents. 5. Involvement in the Governor’s Task Forces for Energy Reliability, Clean Energy, U.C. Merced, Brownfields, and e-Government. 6. Anti-terrorism and homeland security.
•			Planning Tools Prepares guidelines for the development of general plans, and Local Area Formation Commissions. Publishes the California Planners’ Book of Lists (http://www.calpin.ca.gov/Archives/Default.asp). which is a directory of planning agencies and activiti
•				State Clearinghouse The State Clearinghouse is responsible for coordinating the state level review of environmental documents pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), to provide technical assistance on land use planning and CEQA matters, and to coordinate state review of certain federal grants.
•				CEQAnet Database Provides summaries of Environmental Reports (EIRs), Negative Declarations, Environmental Impact Statements (EISs), and other types of CEQA and NEPA documents.
•		Department of Finance This department provides fiscal advice to the governor, producing the following:
•			Governor’s Budget
•			Demographic statistics
•			Financial and economic data Includes the Economic Report of the Governor and California Economic Indicators.
•	Education
•		Department of Education Provides K-12 information on teaching, education laws, schools, and test data.
•		California Postsecondary Education Provides college and university information, current higher education issues, pertinent legislation, and reports.
•		Community Colleges Covers information about the community college system, current issues, and access to reports.
•	Employment and labor
•		Employment Development Department Some of the information provided by this website includes labor market tools, information on filing an Unemployment Insurance or Disability Insurance claim, the latest employment tax information and forms, a wide array of employment and training services and publications.
•			Labor Market Information A very good portal for significant current and historical (back to the 1980s) statistics on the state’s labor force, industries, occupations, and wages. Many of the statistical categories are recorded by county and a few a broken down to the city level.
•			California Occupational Guides The Guides are a series of about 300 information sheets covering individual occupations or groups of related occupations. They provide statewide information about job duties, working conditions, employment outlook, wages, benefits, entrance requirements, and training.
•		Department of Industrial Relations
•			Division of Labor Statistics and Research This site contains current prevailing wage determinations, occupational injuries, illnesses and deaths, and the California Consumer Price Index (Call number: HB 235 U6 C64 Langson Reference).
•	Environment
•		California Environmental Protection Agency The California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) was created in 1991. Its mission is to restore, protect and enhance the environment, to ensure public health, environmental quality and economic vitality. The six boards under this agency are:
•			Air Resources Board
•			Department of Pesticide Regulation
•			Department of Toxic Substances Control
•			Integrated Waste Management Board
•			Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
•			State Water Resources Control Board
•		California Resources Agency The mission of this agency is to restore, protect and manage the state’s natural, historical, and cultural resources for current and future generations using creative approaches and solutions based on science, collaboration, and respect for all the communities. Many departments, boards, commissions, and programs come under this agency. For example:
•		California Environmental Resources Evaluation System (CERES) CERES is an information system developed to facilitate access to a variety of electronic data describing California’s environment. The goal of CERES is to improve environmental analysis and planning by integrating natural and cultural resource information from multiple contributors.
•		Southern California Wetlands Inventory The Inventory is a database of information on 41 coastal wetlands that lie between Mexico and Pt. Conception in northern Santa Barbara County. It provides: 1. A map of the wetland’s historical extent. 2. A map of recent habitat distributions. 3. A brief description of ecological conditions, and land use and enhancement histories. The Orange County Collection in the UCI Government Information Department contains paper copies of all the reports referenced in the wetlands profiles. These documents can be found by searching ANTPAC.
•		Department of Fish and Games Manages state habitats and enforces the threatened and endangered species act.
•		Department of Water Resources The department provides oversight for the many state water issues.
•		California Geological Survey Part of the Department of Conservation and formerly the Department of Mines and Geology, it is responsible for preparing reports and maps on the geology and geologic hazards of California.
•			Seismic hazard maps
•	California Spatial Information Library This is the California Geographic Information Systems web portal. The Frequently Accessed Data contains data for a variety of subjects. This site also provides access to DRGs (digital raster graphics), DOQQs (digital Ortho Quarter Quads) and SPOT Imagery.
•	Health and Social Services
•		Health and Human Services Agency This department encompasses many agencies dealing with health care, social services, and public assistance. The search bar to the left provides links to many departments including:
•			Department of Aging
•			Department of Child Support Services
•			Department of Social Services
•	Justice and Crime
•		Office of the Attorney General and Department of Justice
•			Program and Services at a Glance
•			Publications: Provides access to crime statistics reports for the state.
•	Taxes
•		California Franchise Tax Board Provides income tax information and publications.
•		California State Board of Equalization Responsible for administering and reporting sales, use, property, and special taxes.
Related websites

•	UCI Social Science Data Archives Collects and disseminates, for academic research and instructional use, machine-readable data in a variety of formats. These formats include CD-ROMs and floppy disks. Data can also be accessed and downloaded via the Web.
•	California Association of Counties The purpose of the Association is to represent county government before the California Legislature, administrative agencies and the federal government. CSAC places a strong emphasis on educating the public about the value and need for county programs and services.
•	Statewide Database The Statewide Database (SWDB) is the redistricting database for the state of California.
•	INFOMINE Government Information This is a virtual library of Internet resources relevant to university level research. California government topics can be searched in the "Government Information" database. Other California issues can be searched in any of the other databases.
•	FirstGov Covers many government information issues. To begin search select "state" and "California".
•	University of California Gateway to Government Information Provides access to basic federal and California government information and the government information collections and services at other UC libraries.
•	UC Berkeley Institute for Government Studies California Local Government Information Website. Starting point for finding online information about California local governments.