The California Chapter was founded in 1993 to provide an official organization to speak at the state level for college educators on issues that affect reading and learning. The charter meeting was held at the 1993 national CRLA conference in Overland Park, Kansas. It was decided that the President and President-Elect should come from different parts of the state. Gretchen Cupp (Yuba College) was elected President, Kathie Engstrom (Fullerton College) was elected President-Elect, and Tom Dayton (American River College) was elected Recorder-Treasurer. Membership was expanded the following year at the national meeting in San Diego.

Based on its charter to serve as a mouthpiece for college educators in California, the California Chapter has sent statements to Sacramento. In 1993, Gretchen Cupp, spent much time informing members of the proposed changes in the community college minimum requirements for faculty in the Reading Discipline and served as spokesperson to the California Community College Academic Senate in challenging the proposed changes in standards. In the same year, Kathie Engstrom began the newsletter, alerting members to the pending changes and, for the first time, creating a united support effort.

More recently, in 1999, Anne-Marie Schlender sent all members notices about hearings to again review these standards. Members then were able to attend and voice their concerns.

In 1993, Tom Dayton, serving as the Secretary-Treasurer, put together the first membership directory for the California Chapter. This inaugural directory was made up of the names of all CRLA members who resided in California. The directory was mailed to everyone and included an invitation to pay California Chapter dues. Directories in subsequent years have included only the names of members who have paid their dues within two years of the directory's publication.

The California Chapter is required to meet twice annually-first, at the national meeting, the second time to be determined by the members. Initially, this second meeting occurred at the Northern California Reading Association Conference in November of each year. In 1997, when CRLA moved the national meeting to November, this no longer was feasible. In 1998, the California Chapter began holding the second meeting in the spring.

	President	President-Elect	Recorder/Treasurer
2008	Diane Eisenberg Chapman University	Tera Martin Cabrillo College	Christiane Fuller-Woerner Long Beach City College
2007	Elizabeth Boretz UC-Merced	Diane Eisenberg CSU-Long Beach	Christiane Fuller-Woerner Long Beach City College
2006	Jan Bagwell CSU, Fullerton	Elizabeth Boretz UC, Merced	Donna Padgett CSU, Fullerton
2005	Melinda Gunning Fresno Pacific University	Jan Bagwell CSU, Fullerton	Donna Padgett CSU, Fullerton
2004	Bailey Smith University of La Verne	Melinda Gunning Fresno Pacific University	Jan Bagwell CSU, Fullerton
2003	Julie Hanks Cabrillo College	Bailey Smith University of La Verne	Jan Bagwell CSU, Fullerton
2002	Rick Stepp-Bolling Mt. San Antonio College	Julie Hanks Cabrillo College	Jan Bagwell CSU, Fullerton
2001	Roger Rezarri-Elrod Santa Clara University	Rick Stepp-Bolling Mt. San Antonio College	Jan Bagwell CSU, Fullerton
2000	Kathryn Bartle Angus CSU, Fullerton	Roger Rezarri-Elrod Santa Clara University	Jan Bagwell CSU, Fullerton
1999	Anne-Marie Schlender CSU, Hayward	Kathryn Bartle Angus CSU, Fullerton	Bruce Henderson DeAnza College
1998	Karen Lim San Diego City College	Anne-Marie Schlender CSU, Hayward	Marian Wronsky DeAnza College
1997	Shirley Sloan Evergreen Valley College	Karen Lim San Diego City College	Marian Wronsky DeAnza College
1996	Dennis Spare Mira Costa College	Shirley Sloan Evergreen Valley College	Tom Dayton American R. College
1995	Lonna Smith San Jose State	Dennis Spare Mira Costa College	Tom Dayton American R. College
1994	Kathie Engstrom Fullerton College	Lonna Smith San Jose State	Tom Dayton American R. College
1993	Gretchen Cupp Yuba College	Kathie Engstrom Fullerton College	Tom Dayton American R. College