 It is one of seventeen such statutes granted, in various forms and capabilities, to the different autonomous communities of Spain since the Spanish transition to democracy of the 1970s.On 18 June 2006 a referendum altering the statute to expand the authority of the Catalan government was approved; it became effective on 9 August 2006.Catalonia first obtained a Statute of Autonomy in 1932, during the Second Spanish Republic.