Designed as a resource tool to aid the California State Senate in making the policy decisions defining the mission and future of California's community colleges, this report provides a historical introduction to the community college system and detailed information on programs, student populations, governance policies, faculty and staff, and funding mechanisms. Following an executive summary, chapter I traces the historical development of the community colleges considering their role between 1900 and 1930 as extensions of secondary schools, between 1930 and 1950 as junior colleges, between 1950 and 1970 as community colleges, and between 1970 and the present as community learning centers. Chapter II discusses the mission of the community colleges, and considers their programs and courses in terms of the course classification system and workload in credit and non-credit courses. Chapter III focuses on community college students, providing information on admissions and enrollments, and analyses of student characteristics. After chapter IV examines the roles of local governing boards and state agencies in college governance, chapter V provides information on faculty and administrators, including data on demographic characteristics and salaries. Finally, chapter VI presents information on financial policy, revenues, expenditures, and reserves. A bibliography is appended. (AYC)