Store Research
SENATE BILL 1117 (CUNNINGHAM – 1947)
CHAPTER 424, STATUTES OF 1947
Some bill research does not include the Governor's file because at the time we researched the bill, the sitting Governor had not released his chaptered bill file. If the Governor's file is not included with this particular research, please contact our office (1-530-666-1917 or quote@legintent.com) and we will be happy to provide this file at no charge if it is available. Please Note: Governor files did not exist prior to 1943.
Senate Bill 1117 was a California Code Commission bill that was introduced by Senators R.R. Cunningham and Burt W. Busch on January 31, 1947. (See Exhibit #1a) This bill was entitled:
An act to add Title 3 and Sections 500036 to 500040, inclusive, to the Government Code, to consolidate and revise the law relating to the organization, operation, and maintenance of a system of state and local government, and to repeal acts and parts of acts specified herein.
(See Exhibit #1b, page 1039)
Senate Bill 1117 was assigned to the Senate Committee on Local Government and the Assembly Committee on Municipal and County Government and the Senate Committee on Local Government where policy issues raised by the bill were considered. (See Exhibit #2) No amendments were made to Assembly Bill 243 during the legislative process. (Id.) Subsequent to legislative approval, Governor Earl Warren signed the bill on May 29, 1947 and it was recorded by the Secretary of State on that date as Chapter 424 of the Statutes of 1947. (See Exhibits #1b and #2)
Neither of the committees hearing this bill nor its author has left documentation surviving upon its consideration. Given these circumstances, we found that the post-enrollment legislative bill file for Governor Warren regarding this legislation provided the most useful documents. (See generally, Exhibit #4) Through the materials located in the Governor’s file we are able to gain some insight into the intent of the legislation. The information in these materials was presumably presented to the legislature by the writers who were participants in the legislative process. (Id.)
The Legislative Counsel analysis of Senate Bill 1117 indicated that Senate Bill 1117 was the “main portion of the codification program relating to the government of counties.” (See Exhibit #4, document PE-2)
This same analysis provided the following general description of the bill:
. . . This bill, prepared by the California Code Commission, assembles, codifies and consolidates the law relating to counties as such. It does not include the codification of statutes which are applicable alike to counties, cities, and districts.
It makes no substantive changes in existing law, but rearranges and restates in simplified language the substance of existing laws, and repeals obsolete and superseded statutes.
(See Exhibit #4, document PE-2)