The California Research Bureau is a part of the California State Library and it’s a hidden gem located on the fifth floor of the California State Capitol Annex. It has been around for over a quarter of a century and it provides independent research and analysis to the Legislature and the nine constitutional officers.

The Bureau, or CRB, has more than a dozen individuals on its research staff who explore issues, provide policy research, multi-state reviews, academic and media summaries, data analysis, fact checking, and much more. In addition, they provide weekly updates that are quite helpful.

The first is called Lunch with a Side of Research. It’s a free weekly email that lists all upcoming events in Sacramento that include both a free lunch and a public policy research discussion. It comes out every Monday morning at 8 am.

Studies in the News is a weekly roundup of high quality research and surveys on policy issues relevant to the state of California. The Research Bureau releases each new issue Wednesdays at 8 am.

The CRB also provides services that include fact finding and fact checking; review and assessment of third party data or research; analysis of data from other levels of government; media and news collection of various topics; summaries of scholarly research; investigative surveys; 50-state reviews; tracing of bills, regulations, and court decisions; in depth research; and other specific public policy topics requested by legislators or constitutional officers.

For the elected legislators and staff and the constitutional officers the Bureau can greatly assist in researching and analyzing public policy issues and measures that are being debated, and they can provide additional data to assist decision makers in their deliberations.

You can find a full transcript of today’s brief podcast here.