California General Law Counties

General Law counties:

• General Law counties adhere to state law as to the number and duties of county elected officials.

General Law Counties: Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Glenn, Humboldt, Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Lake, Lassen, Madera, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Merced, Modoc, Mono, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Plumas, Riverside, San Benito, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Trinity, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura, Yolo, Yuba

Two Types of California Counties

General Law is one type of California county. The other type is Charter. There are currently 45 general law counties. A county may adopt, amend, or repeal a charter with majority vote approval. A new charter or the amendment or repeal of an existing charter may be proposed by the Board of Supervisors, a charter commission, or an initiative petition. The provisions of a charter are the law of the state and have the force and effect of legislative enactments.

For Tourism and Travel Purposes, the State of California is also divided into 12 regions that conveniently represent geographic bounds of either counties or natural features such as deserts, mountains and bays. See the California Regions Map.

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