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.
News
In the weeks and months leading up to the election, Sacramento-area Democrats phone banked, fundraised and sent postcards in support of two Democrats running for the Virginia state legislature, helping Dems secure majorities in both houses of the state legislature and sending a sharp rebuke to Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who had been gunning for GOP control to enact his agenda (and maybe to raise his national profile for a last-minute presidential run).
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s Conference on Education Policy which was held in Sacramento on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. This is Panel 2 – THE ROLE OF SCHOOL BOARDS.
Rising Stars
For Cynthia Alvarez, chief of staff to Sen. Lena Gonzalez, has had an affinity for helping people since her childhood growing up in Inglewood.
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.
News
Special interests paid firms more than $77 million to lobby California state government in the third quarter of 2023, according to a Capitol Weekly analysis of lobbying firm reports, representing roughly a 4 percent increase in spending over the second quarter of 2023 and a 9 percent increase over the first quarter.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s Conference on Education Policy which was held in Sacramento on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. This is Panel 1 – TEACHER SHORTAGE AND OTHER CHALLENGES.
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.
News
The chief executive officer of California’s $12 billion stem cell and gene therapy program, Maria T. Millan, resigned abruptly this week, leaving what is the largest such state research effort in the nation without even an interim leader. Millan’s departure comes as the agency faces major challenges. They include expansion of an embryonic effort to assure the affordability of CIRM’s potential treatments that could cost millions of dollars. Some of the directors are also behind a move to sharpen its focus and reset its priorities.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Loretta Lynch, the former President of the California Public Utilities Commission is sounding the alarm on a proposed change to California’s commercial electricity providers’ rate structure that, she says, will dramatically increase rates for electricity customers. Now, Lynch and others are urging the CPUC to intervene before it’s too late.
California law, image by Vitalii Vodolazskyi
