Single staircase apartment building. Image by Cebas. Numerous fire departments expressed opposition to relaxing building codes in a California Fire Marshal report, published Monday, that examines the safety of multifamily-unit buildings three or more stories tall.
Compostables. Image by BPI.OPINION – California is a global leader in forward-thinking climate and environmental solutions. Derailing the state’s ambitious goals by failing to allow compostable products to be clearly labeled is not an option.
Lobbyists crowd around video screen to watch the floor votes on the last night of the Legislature's session. (Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, AP)What should your lobby day participants know about California government before they embark on their lobby day at the State Capitol in Sacramento? This article sets forth those key items for them to get acquainted with regarding the Legislature and the legislative process.
California's lady justice, image by BreizhAtaoWhen the California Legislature includes certain statements in legislation that is ultimately enacted, I believe these enacted statements should guide California courts. What am I talking about? These statements include legislative findings and declarations, intent statements, and related statutory language.
Image by Dadan. Urgency statutes, fiscal emergency statutes, right of public access, local or special statutes, and reimbursement disclaimers utilize explanatory statements. Several of these three types of measures are actually required to do so by the state Constitution.
Image courtesy of California State Parks Foundation. OPINION – As Prop 4 moves forward, a key priority for our state leaders must be to ensure these funds are additive to the state budget; they should not be used to backfill and replace General Fund appropriations. To put this more simply, California voters approved Prop 4 with the expectation that these funds would add resources to the state’s climate efforts — not replace existing commitments.
The California state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Karin Hildebrand Lau, via Shutterstock)While textualists want to only focus on the actual text of the statute, the purpose of statutory interpretation, in my opinion, is to ascertain the intent of the Legislature, which is charged with the lawmaking function.
California's historic Capitol dome. Image by :WallentineA trio of proposed ballot measures are cleared to begin signature gathering, more AI battles and a few coming and goings around the Capitol community.
California law with court gavel and stack of documents.The more I delve into statutory interpretation, the more I am confronted from a legislative drafting perspective whether interpretive guidance should be provided to the courts in this state by placing additional directives in statute. The California courts already use a number of judicial principles when interpreting ambiguous statutes.
Legislation. Image by tumsasedgarsWhy do I think our state should publish its bill drafting manual? I believe it would enhance the ability of the state’s judiciary to better interpret statutes.