File:Flag of California.svg

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Summary

Description

English: Flag of California. This version is designed to accurately depict the standard print of the bear as well as adhere to the official flag code regarding the size, position and proportion of the bear, the colors of the flag, and the position and size of the star.

ᏣᎳᎩ: ᎠᏕᎳᏧᏢᎢ ᎦᏓᏘ

Español: Bandera del Estado de California

Français : Drapeau de la Californie

Français cadien : Flag de la Californie

ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ : ⴰⵙⴻⵏⵢⴰⵍ ⵏ ⴽⴰⵍⵉⴼⵓⵕⵏⵢⴰ

Hawaiʻi: Ka hae Kaleponi

עברית: דגל מדינת קליפורניה

Italiano: Bandiera della California

Latina: Vexillum Californiae

Nederlands: Vlag van Californië

Diné bizaad: Ahééháshį́į́h Hahoodzo bidah naatʼaʼí

Deitsch: Faahne vun Kalifornien

Русский: Флаг Калифорнии. Соответствует официальному описанию пропорций размеров, положению звезды и медведя, а также оттенков цвета.

Српски / srpski: Zastava američke savezne države Kalifornije

Date

1953

Source

Own work

Author

Original: Donald Graeme Kelley
Vectorization: Devin Cook

Permission
(Reusing this file)

Insignia

This image shows a flag, a coat of arms, a seal or some other official insignia. The use of such symbols is restricted in many countries. These restrictions are independent of the copyright status.

This work was created by a government unit (including state, county, city, and municipal government agencies) that derives its powers from the laws of the State of California and is subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Government Code § 7920 et seq.). It is a public record that was not created by an agency which state law has allowed to claim copyright, and is therefore in the public domain in the United States.

Records subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act

Pursuant to the California Public Records Act (Government Code § 7920 et seq.) "Public records" include "any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics." (Cal. Gov't. Code § 7920.530.) notes that "[a]ll public records are subject to disclosure unless the Public Records Act expressly provides otherwise." County of Santa Clara v. CFAC California Government Code § 7923 et seq. lists categories of documents not subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act. In addition, computer software is not considered a public record, while data and statistics collected (whether collected knowingly or unknowingly) by a government authority whose powers derive from the laws of California are public records (such as license plate reader images) pursuant to EFF & ACLU of Southern California v. Los Angeles Police Department & Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and are not exempt from disclosure and are public records.

Although the act only covers “writing,” the Act, pursuant to Government Code § 7920.545, states: “Writing” means any handwriting, typewriting, printing, photostating, photographing, photocopying, transmitting by electronic mail or facsimile, and every other means of recording upon any tangible thing any form of communication or representation, including letters, words, pictures, sounds, or symbols, or combinations thereof, and any record thereby created, regardless of the manner in which the record has been stored.

Agencies permitted to claim copyright

California's Constitution and its statutes do not permit any agency to claim copyright for "public records" unless authorized to do so by law. The following agencies are permitted to claim copyright and any works of these agencies should be assumed to be copyrighted outside of the United States without clear evidence to the contrary:

County boards of education. See Education Code § 1044.
School districts. See Education Code § 35170.
Community college districts. See Education Code § 72207.
The Department of Toxic Substances Control. See Health & Safety Code §§ 25111, 25201.11.
The Health and Human Services Agency (as to certain specified deliverables relating to the health information exchange). See Health & Safety Code § 130251.15.
The Commission on Judicial Appointments (as to certain recordings). Commission on Judicial Appointments, Guideline 7.
The California Education Information System. See Education Code §§ 10601, 10603.
The State Fire Marshal (as to promotional examinations). See Health & Safety Code § 13159.8.

County of Santa Clara v. CFAC held that the State of California, or any government entity which derives its power from the State, cannot enforce a copyright in any record subject to the Public Records Act in the absence of another state statute giving it the authority to do so. This applies even if there is a copyright notice, so long as the State of California or one of its agencies (other than those listed above) is indicated as the copyright holder.

Note: Works that are considered "public records" but were not created by a state or municipal government agency may be copyrighted by their author; the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution prevents state law from overriding the author's right to copyright protection that is granted by federal law. For example, a state agency may post images online of the final appearance of a building under construction; while the images may have to be released by such agency since they are public records, their creator (eg. architecture/construction firm) retains copyright rights to these images unless the contract with the agency says otherwise. See: Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual: To what extent does federal law preempt state law regarding public inspection of records?.

Copyrightable Works by the State in the United States: Works published by agencies that are permitted to claim copyright per state law should be tagged with {{PD-US-GovEdict}} instead of this template due to the reasons listed on that template.

Disclaimer: The information provided, especially the list of agencies permitted to claim copyright, may not be complete. Wikimedia Commons makes no guarantee of the adequacy or validity of this information in this template (see disclaimer).

SVG development

The SVG code is valid.

This flag was created with a text editor.

It is easy to put a border around this flag image

:

[[File:Flag of California.svg|border|96x176px]]

Licensing

This work was created by a government unit (including state, county, city, and municipal government agencies) that derives its powers from the laws of the State of California and is subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Government Code § 7920 et seq.). It is a public record that was not created by an agency which state law has allowed to claim copyright, and is therefore in the public domain in the United States.

Records subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act

Pursuant to the California Public Records Act (Government Code § 7920 et seq.) "Public records" include "any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics." (Cal. Gov't. Code § 7920.530.) notes that "[a]ll public records are subject to disclosure unless the Public Records Act expressly provides otherwise." County of Santa Clara v. CFAC California Government Code § 7923 et seq. lists categories of documents not subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act. In addition, computer software is not considered a public record, while data and statistics collected (whether collected knowingly or unknowingly) by a government authority whose powers derive from the laws of California are public records (such as license plate reader images) pursuant to EFF & ACLU of Southern California v. Los Angeles Police Department & Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and are not exempt from disclosure and are public records.

Although the act only covers “writing,” the Act, pursuant to Government Code § 7920.545, states: “Writing” means any handwriting, typewriting, printing, photostating, photographing, photocopying, transmitting by electronic mail or facsimile, and every other means of recording upon any tangible thing any form of communication or representation, including letters, words, pictures, sounds, or symbols, or combinations thereof, and any record thereby created, regardless of the manner in which the record has been stored.

Agencies permitted to claim copyright

California's Constitution and its statutes do not permit any agency to claim copyright for "public records" unless authorized to do so by law. The following agencies are permitted to claim copyright and any works of these agencies should be assumed to be copyrighted outside of the United States without clear evidence to the contrary:

County boards of education. See Education Code § 1044.
School districts. See Education Code § 35170.
Community college districts. See Education Code § 72207.
The Department of Toxic Substances Control. See Health & Safety Code §§ 25111, 25201.11.
The Health and Human Services Agency (as to certain specified deliverables relating to the health information exchange). See Health & Safety Code § 130251.15.
The Commission on Judicial Appointments (as to certain recordings). Commission on Judicial Appointments, Guideline 7.
The California Education Information System. See Education Code §§ 10601, 10603.
The State Fire Marshal (as to promotional examinations). See Health & Safety Code § 13159.8.

County of Santa Clara v. CFAC held that the State of California, or any government entity which derives its power from the State, cannot enforce a copyright in any record subject to the Public Records Act in the absence of another state statute giving it the authority to do so. This applies even if there is a copyright notice, so long as the State of California or one of its agencies (other than those listed above) is indicated as the copyright holder.

Note: Works that are considered "public records" but were not created by a state or municipal government agency may be copyrighted by their author; the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution prevents state law from overriding the author's right to copyright protection that is granted by federal law. For example, a state agency may post images online of the final appearance of a building under construction; while the images may have to be released by such agency since they are public records, their creator (eg. architecture/construction firm) retains copyright rights to these images unless the contract with the agency says otherwise. See: Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual: To what extent does federal law preempt state law regarding public inspection of records?.

Copyrightable Works by the State in the United States: Works published by agencies that are permitted to claim copyright per state law should be tagged with {{PD-US-GovEdict}} instead of this template due to the reasons listed on that template.

Disclaimer: The information provided, especially the list of agencies permitted to claim copyright, may not be complete. Wikimedia Commons makes no guarantee of the adequacy or validity of this information in this template (see disclaimer).

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

	Date/Time	Dimensions	User	Comment
current	15:05, 9 November 2025	900 × 600 (162 KB)	HoosierMan1816	Corrected the colors. The Pantone colors are 200 red, 729C light brown, 462C brown, and 348 green. The correct RGB values for these colors are #BA0C2F, #B58150, #5C462B, and #00843D respectively.
	17:20, 15 January 2021	900 × 600 (162 KB)	Devetec	Changed the lettering font to California Gothic to more closely match the flag sketched in law.
	19:22, 24 April 2018	900 × 600 (154 KB)	Gutten på Hemsen	General cleanup. Removed watermark.
	23:32, 26 October 2012	900 × 600 (365 KB)	DevinCook	Updated plot. I had left out some grass between the first and second legs.
	07:12, 21 October 2012	900 × 600 (385 KB)	DevinCook	Changed the lettering again. The new lettering is designed to be both more readable and to look reminiscent of the defacto manufacturer appearance. Also, the letters were proportioned using 1/100 of the hoist as a base.
	01:16, 10 September 2012	900 × 600 (386 KB)	DevinCook	Cleaned up the lettering a bit. The leg shaded was updated to better reflect the official rendering. The grass plot was off just a bit.
	20:28, 23 August 2010	900 × 600 (418 KB)	DevinCook	Improved shading of chest using black and white rendering found in old copies of the California Blue Book.
	20:26, 25 April 2009	900 × 600 (520 KB)	DevinCook	Modified the star for better ratios. Removed extra points from bear (reduces file size). Modified white claws.
	18:34, 24 December 2008	900 × 600 (611 KB)	DevinCook	Recreated the red star. The spoke ratio was off very slightly in the last version.
	17:48, 24 December 2008	900 × 600 (612 KB)	DevinCook	Reverted to version as of 08:15, 24 December 2008