LBExamSources
California contractor law, the sources
Everything the exam draws on, in one place. The paper is closed book, so this is reading to do now rather than on the day.
The Codes
Enacted law, reproduced in full where the publisher allows it. Where only part of a code is here, the page says which part.
-
Contractors State License Law
Business and Professions Code, Division 3, Chapter 9 (sections 7000 to 7191). Every Article of the chapter, ingested whole from the code-text page.
Read the text -
Civil Code Part 6: Works of Improvement
Sections 8000 to 9566: preliminary notice, mechanics liens, stop payment notices, payment bonds and prompt payment, in seventeen chapter pages.
Read the text -
Labor Code, declared subset
Sixteen chapter pages under one id: wages, hours, minimum wage, minors, public works, employer and employee, apprenticeship, workers' compensation, safety.
Read the text -
Financial Code: PACE program administrators
Sections 22680 to 22697, the whole chapter: PACE program administrators, solicitors, and the solicitor agents who sell PACE.
Read the text -
Civil Code: home solicitation contract cancellation
Sections 1689.5 to 1689.14: what a home solicitation contract is, the three-day right to cancel, and the notice a seller must attach.
Read the text -
Public Contract Code, declared subset
Six branch pages under one id: definitions, subcontractor listing, relief of bidders, awarding of contracts, state bids and state contract requirements.
Read the text -
Insurance Code, declared subset
Two branch pages joined under one id: the provisions a liability policy must contain, and what a workers' compensation policy says and how it is canceled.
Read the text -
Unemployment Insurance Code, declared subset
Division 1, Part 1, Chapter 4, in the declared ranges: what an employer contributes and at what rate, and the records, registration and reports it files.
Read the text -
Revenue and Taxation Code, declared subset
Three chapter pages joined under one id: the sales and use tax definitions, the seller's permit and resale certificate, and the use tax.
Read the text
The Regulations
Rules made under the codes above, reproduced in full where the publisher allows it. Where only part of a regulation is here, the page says which part.
-
Title 8: construction safety orders, subset
Cal/OSHA permit, construction, general industry and injury-recording sections, one committed file per section, as the department serves them.
Read the text -
California Code of Regulations, Title 16, Division 8
Board rules 810 to 890, reprinted in full at pages 448 to 565 of the board's 2026 Law Book and sliced out of it, so each rule has an anchor of its own.
Read the text
Guides
The regulator's own guidance and exam material. Guidance says how a rule is read; it is not the rule.
-
Law and Business Examination Study Guide
Form 13E-LAW (03-2026). The examination outline, its weights, its reference list and its three sample questions.
What it is and where to find it -
Contractors License Law and Reference Book 2026
2026 edition. The board's annual compilation of the license law, the regulations under it and the related statutes.
What it is and where to find it -
Get Licensed to Build
How an applicant qualifies, applies, sits the examinations and pays, as the board explains it.
What it is and where to find it -
Public Works Manual
Department guidance on prevailing wage and the duties of a contractor on a public work.
What it is and where to find it -
California Employer's Guide, DE 44
2026 edition, Rev. 52 (4-26). How an employer registers, withholds, deposits and reports the four California payroll taxes.
What it is and where to find it -
IRS Publication 15 (Circular E)
For use in 2026. How a federal employer withholds, deposits and reports employment taxes, and what sets the deposit schedule.
What it is and where to find it -
Maintain and Change Your License
The hub and its twelve subpages, joined under one id and read from each page's own content element.
Read it at the publisher -
Applying for a Contractor License
Seven pages joined under one id: the hub, applying, the examination and fingerprinting answers, the study-guide list, the fee list and reciprocity.
Read it at the publisher -
License Check, complaints and enforcement
Five pages joined under one id: License Check, filing a complaint, reporting unlicensed work, a consumer's legal options, and enforcement for building officials.
Read it at the publisher -
CSLB Industry Bulletins, 2025 and 2026
Every bulletin the board issued in 2025 and 2026, one document per bulletin. The board publishes them as PDFs, so this is a PDF set and not a set of pages; its index is the page named above.
Read it at the publisher -
Construction and Building Contractors, Publication 9
How the sales and use tax falls on a contractor: consumer or retailer, materials or fixtures, and what each kind of contract does to the answer.
What it is and where to find it -
IRS Publication 15-T, Withholding Methods
The withholding tables and the two methods an employer may use to work out federal income tax withholding on a wage payment.
What it is and where to find it -
IRS Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business
Accounting methods, business income, deductible expenses and self-employment tax, as the federal revenue service explains them to a sole proprietor.
What it is and where to find it -
IRS Publication 583, Starting a Business
Starting a business and keeping records: the identification number, the accounting method, the books to keep and how long to keep them.
What it is and where to find it -
FTB Publication 1060, Guide for New Corporations
The franchise tax, the minimum franchise tax and the filing duties of a corporation in its first years, as the state tax department explains them.
What it is and where to find it -
Construction contractors tax guide, CDTFA
The five pages of the department's construction contractors guide, joined under one id and read from each page's own content element.
Read it at the publisher -
EDD payroll tax pages for employers
Four pages joined under one id: registering as an employer, new hire reporting, the filing and deposit due dates, and the rates and wage limits.
Read it at the publisher
Manuals and reference documents
Not law: manuals, forms and industry material, read for how something is built or described. Named here and linked, never authority for what the law requires.
-
Licensing Examination Information Guide
The Law and Business candidate bulletin, reached through the testing organization's page for that examination and downloaded from the address that page links.
Read it at the publisher -
CSLB 2023 Sunset Review Report
The board's 2023 filing to the legislature, with the tables of license, examination and enforcement volumes and the appended consultant reports.
Read it at the publisher -
CSLB Accomplishments and Activities 2025
The newest annual report on the board's own reports page, and the report that carries the counts the 2023 sunset filing carried for its own period.
Read it at the publisher