Micheli Files
In California, as in most states, a statute is presumed to operate prospectively. Quarry v. Doe I (2012) 53 Cal.4th 945, 955. In construing statutes, there is a presumption against retroactive application unless the Legislature plainly has directed otherwise by means of express language of retroactivity or other sources that provide a clear and unavoidable implication that the Legislature intended retroactive application of the statute.
Micheli Files
In reviewing gubernatorial signing messages over the past two decades, I compiled the following chart of bills that have signing messages. The chart includes the session year, the Governor, the bill number and author, and the subject of the bill. This chart includes 19 years’ worth of signing messages by three Governors.
Micheli Files
MICHELI FILES: Despite no constitutional provision allowing them (or prohibiting them), many California Governors have used “signing messages” to accompany a Governor’s signature on a bill. U.S. Presidents also have long used signing messages.
Micheli Files
MICHELI FILES: Resorting to legislative history is generally appropriate only where statutory language is ambiguous. As the California Supreme Court has said, “Our role in construing a statute is to ascertain the Legislature’s intent so as to effectuate the purpose of the law.
Micheli Files
MICHELI FILES – Hearings are a regular part of life in the California Legislature. But as with all things under the dome, nothing is a one size fits all. There are, in fact multiple types of hearings in the effort to educate legislators and staff about the subject matter at hand.
Micheli Files
MICHELI FILES: For purposes of statutory construction, the courts and bill drafters use a series of “canons” to guide them. These include textual canons (intrinsic aids), linguistic presumptions and grammatical conventions, substantive canons, and extrinsic aids. It is impossible to list them all, but there are some common canons, and those are most useful for legislative drafting.
Micheli Files
MICHELI FILES: It is not the role of the legislative or executive branches of government to determine a statute’s constitutionality. Rather, that role is reserved to the third branch of government – the judicial branch.
Micheli Files
MICHELI FILES: As a general rule (sometimes referred to as a “custom and practice”), the California Legislature prefers not to enact legislation that specifically makes a determination one way or the other regarding ongoing litigation that is pending at the same time that a piece of legislation is being considered.
Micheli Files
MICHELI FILES: In talking with former staff from the Department of Finance (DOF) the past few weeks, the following are the key practical tips that were shared with me for those working with the staff members of the Governor’s Finance Department. While some of these recommendations may seem obvious, many of them bear repeating.
Micheli Files
Many Capitol observers are aware of the single subject rule. Some know that the California Constitution, in Article II, Section 8(d), provides that “an initiative measure embracing more than one subject may not be submitted to the electors or have any effect.” But does a similar rule exist for bills considered by the California Legislature?
California law, image by Vitalii Vodolazskyi
