SENATE RULES COMMITTEE SR 119
Office of Senate Floor Analyses
(916) 651-4171
THIRD READING
Bill No: SR 119
Author: Caballero (D)
Amended: 6/25/26
Vote: Majority
SUBJECT: Paleontology
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This resolution celebrates the unique paleontological heritage of
California, including its diverse fossil sites, institutions, and ancient ecosystems
that these institutions have uncovered.
ANALYSIS:
Senate Floor Amendments of 6/25/26 make changes to this resolutions findings.
This resolution makes the following legislative findings:
1) According to the University of California Museum of Paleontology internet
website, paleontology includes the study of fossils and what they tell us about
the past, ecology, and evolution, incorporating knowledge from biology,
geology, ecology, anthropology, archaeology, and computer science.
2) The science of paleontology plays a critical role in predicting future climate
change, understanding the extent to which humans have impacted biodiversity,
contextualizing modern environmental challenges, and engaging students in
science; engaging students and the public as a gateway to science, serving as an
incubator for an interdisciplinary Science, Techology, Engineering, and
Mathematics (STEM) workforce, and creating a critical record of life’s past and
California’s natural history.
3) California dinosaur fossils from that time include the fragments of a meat-
eating theropod in the City of Rocklin and the state dinosaur, Augustynolophus
morrisi, an approximately three-ton “duck-billed” hadrosaur that ate plants and
was found in the County of Fresno.
 SR 119
Page 2
4) Marine reptiles hunted across California’s Cretaceous seaways in areas like the
County of Fresno’s Moreno Formation, which includes diverse, long-necked
elasmosaurids like Morenosaurus that resemble the Loch Ness Monster, while
the County of Shasta preserved the large ichthyosaur known as Shastasaurus
from the Late Triassic period.
5) California is also rich in fauna from many other times periods and localities,
including the marine mammals of the Pliocene Central Coast and the rugose
corals of the Devonian Death Valley region.
6) Sciences like paleontology face serious challenges, including the closure of
university programs and an unprecedented billions in science funding cuts from
the federal government.
This resolution recognizes the importance of paleontology as a critical record of
life’s past, a source of valuable scientific knowledge on ecology, evolution,
and our modern environmental challenges, a gateway to science for the public.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No
SUPPORT: (Verified 6/22/26)
None received
OPPOSITION: (Verified 6/22/26)
None received
Prepared by: Destiny Bustos / SFA / (916) 651-4171
6/26/26 9:38:01
**** END ****