Chart of Legislative Branch Support Entities

The LC serves as legal counsel to the Legislature and its members, as well as the Governor and his or her staff. The LC assists members of the Legislature in the drafting of legislative measures, provides legal opinions on various matters (including their constitutionality), and assists the Legislature and its committees regarding issues before them.  Legislation cannot be introduced unless it has been approved by the Legislative Counsel as being in proper bill form.

           The LAO is overseen by the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC). One of the most important responsibilities of the LAO has been to analyze the annual Governor’s budget and it prepares a series of analyses from the beginning to the end of the budget process on overarching fiscal issues, as well as specific departmental budget proposals and offered its recommendations for legislative action.

The BSA conducts audits at different levels of government based upon those audit requests approved by JLAC, which is comprised of an equal number of Assembly Members and Senators. All the audits and evaluations must be conducted in accordance with the Government Auditing Standards published by the Comptroller General of the United States and the standards of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

The CRB is an arm of the California State Library and it is involved in special projects and events with partners in the Legislature and various State agencies. The CRB regularly publishes new studies and reports about matters of current legislative or administration interest and it provides specialized library services to its clients.