Terms & Conditions

The terms and conditions specified here govern the nature and scope of research services purchased from LRI.

Thoroughness of Research

LRI does not offer to provide every record ever produced that reflects on the enactment history of a bill, constitutional provision, rule or regulation. LRI is not aware of any commercial research service that does.

LRI does offer to apply its substantial experience, learning and skill, developed since 1983, to the task of assembling major, official, public sources of research that are publically available and that were generated during the enactment process by relevant public sources. (In some instances, unofficial, published sources may be consulted when the official record keeping is problematic.)

Since most of LRI’s research services relate to California legislative history, the following limitations are specified for that category.

California legislative history research is comprised primarily of separate research sources, including, but not limited to, governor files, committee files, bill versions, author’s files, partisan caucus files, and substantive, published Journal entries. Unfortunately, the availability and/or quality of many research sources varies widely, depending upon the year of enactment and other factors. For example:

Erratic file preservation practices. Unfortunately, the State of California’s official legislative record keeping practices have been erratic. Notable developments include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • The Governor’s Office only began preserving its Governor’s Chaptered Bill Files in 1943. Fortunately, taht collection has been uniformly maintained since then for all bills and all sessions.
  • However, other official legislative sources of records have a far more troubling track record. In particular, while legislative committee, author, partisan and floor offices have gradually contributed their collections to State Archives and other institutions over the years (well after 1943), the efforts have been sporadic. Similarly for state department bill file collections.
  • It was not until 1996 that the Legislative Open Records Act was amended at LRI’s behest to require legislative offices to preserve their legislative bill files, either at the State Capitol or at State Archives. Author’s files were not included, however, and other limitations apply. But overall, record keeping post 1996 has dramatically improved.
  • Records that were once available from the State Capitol may have fallen out of public circulation.
  • Sources of research may become available after a report has been completed.

Problems with bill books. Bill books are printed on acidic, nonarchival paper. This can result in crumbling pages and lost text. Also, amended bill versions are sometimes omitted in the binding process.

Journal searches for recent years must be ordered separately. It takes two to three years for Journal indices to be published. Also, online Journals are only searchable by date. Page by page searches must be ordered separately for later enacted bills that fall into this resource gap.

Legislative recordings must be ordered separately. LRI’s standard research reports do not include legislative recordings, which can be ordered separately. This is relevant for bills enacted after August 1990, when selected committee and all floor deliberations were recorded.

LRI’s Online Store of California Legislative History Research

LRI’s Online Store does not offer to provide all publically available, enactment era sources of legislative history records generated by relevant public sources for every bill.  However, in many instances, such will be the case.  That is because many, but not all, of the reports consist of the various source files taken from LRI’s precompiled, digital archives of Custom and Core research, and no additional sources have become available.  (Again, per above, recordings or their transcriptions are not included.  Neither are all Journal entries.)  Also, great portions of the database consist of records that were captured from public sources that have their own limitations, such as the occasional poor copies of originals, missing pages, and illegible originals.  LRI has not undertaken to correct the deficiencies. 

Online Store research is not presented in the same manner as LRI’s Custom or Core reports.  It is presented as a single report made up of one or more source files (e.g., and when available: Governor’s Chaptered Bill Files, author’s files, committee files, etc.)  A signed authentication and table of contents are not provided.  However, the public source of each file is specified and LRI is named as the provider. 

As with our Custom and Core reports, only some, not all, of the documents may be word-searchable. That is because some, not all, of the original, digital documents were word-searchable.  Nevertheless, the purchaser can independently run the reports through an optical character recognition program (OCR) to allow key word searches after purchase.

Non-exclusivity of Research

LRI preserves its right to provide its legislative history research reports to any client who requests them. LRI’s research reports are not provided on an exclusive basis.

Client Confidentiality Preserved

LRI keeps the identity of its clients confidential. Any case particulars that are shared with LRI’s staff are also kept confidential.

Not The Practice of Law

LRI’s research services do not constitute the practice of law and do not offer to create any attorney-client relationship.

Separate Analysis Not Included

LRI’s reports do not include an analysis or opinion regarding the various records and how they reflect on clients’ issues. The reports only provide a neutral assemblage of research.