Obtaining authenticated electronic California legal materials – Statutes, Constitution, Codes
As a follow-up, here are some research tips on the authentication of electronic legal materials 
now offered on the California State Legislature web site – leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. The subject was covered in The Advance Sheet‘s last post.
Note: The system works with Adobe Acrobat software. Researchers will need to have the free Acrobat Reader PDF viewing software uploaded on their computers to print or save authenticated documents.
Documents available for authentication include the sections of the California Code, the state Constitution, and chaptered bills or statutes. This service is not available for pending legislation. The availability of authenticated text of chaptered bills starts with the 2015 statutes.
First — the guidelines for chaptered bills. The steps for obtaining authenticated California Code documents follows in Section B.
A) Obtaining authenticated copies of chaptered bills/statutes (starting for the 2015 Legislative Session)
For this guide, we will search for the text of 2015 Cal. Stat. 1.
Access the California State Legislature legislative information web site – leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
Click on the link BILL INFORMATION. (CALIFORNIA LAW will take you to the screens for California Code sections.)
The Bill Search screen will appear. Look for the search fields for STATUTE YEAR and CHAPTER NUMBER.
Enter the year and the chapter number on the screen term field and click the search button.
The results screen will display. Look for the PDF link above the text box. Click on the link.
A pop-up screen with the Adobe PDF icon appears with the options to open or save the file using Adobe Acrobat.
The Legislative Information system will be using Adobe Reader to open or save a document as a PDF. It is this PDF version that will display a message of certification and the image – “State of California Authenticated” as part of the document image. Save or print the document as you wish.
The authenticated document will look like this:
B) Obtaining authenticated copies of California Code sections
Access the California State Legislature legislative information web site – leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
For authenticated copies of California Code sections, click on the CALIFORNIA LAW link. (BILL INFORMATION will move you to the pages for authenticated copies of chaptered legislation.)
The page with links to the various titles of the California Code will appear. For purposes of this guide, we will be retrieving section 300 of the Family Code – dealing with the validity of marriage.
Click on title of the Code you are interested in. Note: There is a link to the text of the California Constitution on this screen.
Using the links, click through until the text of your Code section appears.
On the text screen, look for the Code section number that appears as a blue link on the left at the beginning of each section of text. Click on the link.
A new screen appears displaying only the text of that individual section. Along the top of the text box, look for “PDF” above the text.
Click on the PDF link. A pop-up screen with the Adobe PDF icon appears with the options to open or save the file using Adobe Acrobat.
The Legislative Information system will be using Adobe Reader to open or save a document as a PDF. It is this PDF version that displays a message of certification and the image – “State of California Authenticated” as part of the document image. Save or print as you wish.
The authenticated document will look like this:
For more detailed information about this new service from the California Office of Legislative Counsel, read electronic_legal_ materials_ authentication_FAQ.
