CHAPTER 5. Enactment of Statutes and Adoption of Resolutions [9500. - 9517.]

Cal. Government Code - GOV 5.
in effect

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 9500. Section 9500.

As used in this chapter, “clerk” means the engrossing and enrolling clerk or the employee who performs the duties of engrossing and enrolling clerk when no employee is so designated by name.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 9501. Section 9501.

As used in this chapter, “committee” means the engrossing and enrolling committee of the house ordering the engrossing or enrolling of a bill or other document or the committee of such house which performs the duties of engrossing and enrolling committee when no committee is so designated by name.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 9502. Section 9502.

All bills and other documents ordered engrossed or enrolled by the Senate or Assembly shall be delivered by the Secretary of the Senate or Chief Clerk of the Assembly, as the case may be, to the clerk of the house ordering the engrossment or enrollment.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 9504. Section 9504.

The State Printer shall receipt for the bills or documents, and without delay engross or enroll (print) them in the order of their receipt by him. So soon as printed, at least one enrolled copy, with proper blanks for the signatures of the officers whose duty it is to sign enrolled bills and documents, shall be printed on bond paper.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 9505. Section 9505.

The State Printer shall deliver the engrossed or enrolled copy of the bill or document, with the original thereof, to the clerk from whom he received the original. The clerk shall carefully compare the engrossed or enrolled copy with the original. If correctly engrossed or enrolled, he shall report it back with the original to the committee.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 9506. Section 9506.

All bills and documents that have been printed shall be considered engrossed if no amendments have been made after being printed. The original bill or document shall be delivered to the clerk of the house where it originated. He shall compare the original with the printed bill or document, and forthwith deliver it to the committee for return to the house in the same manner as engrossed bills.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 9507. Section 9507.

If the enrolled copy of a bill or other document is found to be correct, the committee shall present it to the proper officers for their signatures. When the officers sign their names thereon, as required by law, it is enrolled.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 9508. Section 9508.

Enrolled bills shall be transmitted to the Governor for his approval. Until otherwise provided by the joint rules of the Legislature, enrolled constitutional amendments and enrolled joint and concurrent resolutions shall be transmitted to the Governor and then filed in the office of the Secretary of State.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 9509. Section 9509.

As soon as an enrolled bill is delivered to the Governor, it shall be endorsed as follows: “This bill was received by the Governor this ____ day of ____, 20__.” The endorsement shall be signed by the private secretary of the Governor or by any other person designated by the Governor whose designation has been reported to the Speaker of the Assembly and the President pro Tempore of the Senate.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 9510. Section 9510.

When the Governor approves a bill, he shall affix his name thereto, with the date of signing, and deposit it in the Office of the Secretary of State, where it becomes the official record. Upon the receipt of any such bill, the Secretary of State shall give it a number, to be known as the chapter number. He shall number each bill in the order in which it is received by him, and the order of numbering shall be presumed to be the order in which the bills were approved by the Governor.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 9510.5. Section 9510.5.

There shall be two series of bill chapter numbers for each two-year regular session of the Legislature. Bills deposited with the Secretary of State from the beginning of the two-year session through December 31 of the odd-numbered year shall be designated “Statutes of [odd-numbered year], Chapter ____.” Bills deposited with the Secretary of State after December 31 of the odd-numbered year shall be designated “Statutes of [even-numbered year], Chapter ____.” Concurrent resolutions, joint resolutions, and proposed constitutional amendments adopted by the Legislature shall be chaptered as resolution chapters with a different series of numbers than those assigned to bills but shall otherwise be numbered and designated in the same manner as bills enacted into law.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 9511. Section 9511.

If a bill presented to the Governor contains an item or several items of appropriation, he may object to one or more items while approving other portions of the bill. In such case he shall append to the bill, at the time of signing it, a statement of the items to which he objects, and the reasons therefor. If the Legislature is in session, the Governor shall transmit to the house in which the bill originated a copy of the statement. The items so objected to shall be separately reconsidered in the same manner as bills which have been disapproved by the Governor.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 9512. Section 9512.

When a bill has passed both houses of the Legislature and is returned by the Governor without his signature, and with objections thereto, or if it be a bill containing an item or several items of appropriation which is returned with objections to one or more items, and upon reconsideration the bill, item, or items pass both houses by the constitutional majority, the bill, item, or items shall be authenticated as having become a law by a certificate.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 9513. Section 9513.

The certificate shall be indorsed on or attached to the bill, or indorsed on or attached to the copy of the statement of objections. It shall be in the following form: “This bill having been returned by the Governor with his objections thereto, and, after reconsideration, having passed both houses by the constitutional majority, has become a law this ____ day of ____, ____”; or, “The following items in the within statement (naming them) having, after reconsideration, passed both houses by the constitutional majority, have become a law this ____ day of ____, ____.” A certificate signed by the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the Assembly is a sufficient authentication thereof.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 9514. Section 9514.

The bill or statement so authenticated shall then be delivered to the Governor, and by him deposited with the laws in the Office of the Secretary of State. Bills so deposited in the Office of the Secretary of State shall be given a chapter number in the manner provided in Section 9510.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 9515. Section 9515.

If on the day the Governor desires to return a bill without his approval and with his objections thereto the house in which it originated has adjourned for the day, he may deliver the bill with his message to the Secretary of the Senate if it originated in the Senate, Chief Clerk of the Assembly if it originated in the Assembly, or any member of the house in which it originated. Such delivery is as effectual as though returned when the house was meeting.

Cal. Government Code - GOV § 9516. Section 9516.

Except as otherwise provided in this section, every bill which has passed both houses of the Legislature, and has not been returned by the Governor within 12 days, thereby becoming a law, is authenticated by the Governor causing the fact to be certified thereon by the Secretary of State in the following form: “This bill having remained with the Governor 12 days, and the Legislature being in session, it has become a law this ____ day of ____, ____.” The certificate shall be signed by the Secretary of State and deposited with the laws in his office. Upon the receipt of such a bill and certificate, the Secretary of State shall assign a chapter number to the bill in the manner provided in Section 9510. Every bill which has been passed by the Legislature before September 1 of the second calendar year of the biennium of the legislative session, which was in the possession of the Governor on or after September 1, and which has not been returned by the Governor on or before September 30 of that year, thereby becoming a law, is authenticated by the Governor causing the fact to be certified thereon by the Secretary of State in the following form: “This bill having been passed by the Legislature before September 1 of the second calendar year of the biennium of the legislative session, having been in the possession of the Governor on or after September 1 of such year, and having remained with the Governor through September 30 of such year, it has become a law this ____ day of ____.” The certificate shall be signed by the Secretary of State and deposited with the laws in his office. Upon the receipt of such a bill and certificate, the Secretary of State shall assign a chapter number to the bill in the manner provided in Section 9510.
Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026

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