Image by bangolandCalifornia Government Code Section 11350 provides that any interested person may obtain a judicial declaration regarding the validity of any regulation or order of repeal by bringing an action for declaratory relief in superior court in this state in accordance with the Code of Civil Procedure.
The judicial branch of government has its own unique language. The purpose of this glossary is to provide a listing of terms and phrases related to the judicial branch of California state government for those who work in and around the State Capitol.
California law, image by Vitalii VodolazskyiIn 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.
Image by Ritu Manoj JethaniMICHELI 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.
Image by MehaniqMICHELI 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.
OPINION – The exclusive right to operate bank card games is constitutionally guaranteed to tribal nations as a path to re-establish our sovereignty and rebuild many of our tribal nations which were torn down by years of oppression and injustice. It is a right we take seriously, and a right we depend on to support our people.
California's lady justice, image by BreizhAtaoANALYSIS – According to the courts, the purpose of the constitutional reenactment rule, which prohibits amending a section of statute unless the section is reenacted as amended, is “to avoid enactment of statutes in terms so blind that legislators themselves are deceived in regard to their effect.”
Capitol and flag, by Karin Hildebrand LauANALYSIS – Around the country, and at the federal level, there is an ongoing debate among legislative lawyers whether a severability clause must be included in legislation.
One method to help ascertain the legislative intent behind a specified measure is a letter that is published in the Assembly Daily Journal or the Senate Daily Journal by the bill’s author. These letters, for which there are many each year, may be used by the bill’s author to explain an ambiguity in the bill or explain the purpose of particular changes in the law as done by the bill.
Inmate firefighters head to the Colleen Fire in the Santa Teresa Foothills near San Jose. (Photo: Jaden Schaul, via Shutterstock)The law that offers wildfire-fighting inmates a chance to clean up their records in hopes of civilian careers got off to a slow start last year as administrators crafted rules for the procedure, but now, with those rules in place, the prison-to-profession pipeline is starting to take shape.