What Are ‘Statutes Other Than Codes?’

If you review two of the main legislative publications produced by the Office of Legislative Counsel, you may come across a section of each of them titled, “Statutes Other Than Codes.” What are those?

Both the “Table of Sections Affected” and the “Statutory Record,” which are compiled by the Legislative Counsel’s Office, are important publications to track changes to California’s 29 Codes by measures each legislative session. In addition to tracking all the changes made to the Codes, these two publications also track changes to the state Constitution, budget line items, and “statutes other than codes.”

This is where the distinction between “codified” and “uncodified” statutes is important. Codified statutes are those statutes enacted by bills (or statutory initiatives) that are placed in one of the Codes that are organized by subject matter.

The other type of statute is for the uncodified laws affected by measures enacted by the Legislature. Both of these legislative publications have sections on the uncodified laws that are listed towards the end under the heading “Statutes Other Than Codes,” and are cited by year and chapter.

Uncodified laws are given a chapter number by the Secretary of State after the Governor signs the bill. A reader, however, will not find those uncodified statutes in one of the 29 Codes. So, “statutes other than codes” is another way of describing uncodified statutes that are enacted or amended each year by the Legislature.