California, like most other states, uses sunset dates or sunset clauses in their legislation. It has the effect of making the law, what’s enacted, to expire on a specified date unless the Legislature enacts another bill to either extend
CAP·impact
A Resource for Understanding and Shaping California Law and Policy
CAP·impact, published by the University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law, focuses on legislative and regulatory processes in California. The blog covers topics such as pilot projects and sunset dates in state legislation, California's Standardized Regulatory Impact Analysis (SRIA) process, effective lobbying strategies within the state, and analysis of gubernatorial veto patterns. It also provides statistical insights into legislative sessions, including bill introductions, passage rates, and veto statistics. The content is aimed at understanding the intricacies of California's public law, policy-making, and administrative regulations, reflecting McGeorge's emphasis on public law and advocacy.
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Use of Definitions in Legislation
Definitions can play an important role in legislation. Defining words or phrases is done to provide the reader of the legislative text with clear guidance regarding how these words or phrases are to be understood and used in the…
Making Legislation More Readable
One of the issues that is often discussed in legislative drafting is how to make legislation more readable. In other words, how to make the text of legislative measures easier to understand by those who are reading it, those…
Gender-Neutral Legislative Drafting
Like many other states, California requires the office of the Legislative Counsel to draft measures – including bills, resolutions, and constitutional amendments – in a gender-neutral manner.
In 2018, California adopted Assembly Concurrent Resolution 260. According to the language…
Severability Clauses in California Legislation
On occasion, a bill reader may come across a severability or savings clause contained in a California bill. Basically, the severability clause is a statement by the Legislature that if a part of a law that’s enacted is subsequently…
Drafting Considerations for a California Constitutional Amendment
Today we’ll take a look at some things that legislative drafters need to consider when drafting legislative constitutional amendments in California.
As you know, in the California Legislature there are constitutional amendments that can be introduced in either the…
Considerations for Drafting Resolutions
As you know, there are three types of resolution in the California Legislature – House, Joint, and Concurrent. Two of these types of resolution – Concurrent and Joint – require adoption by both houses of the Legislature before they…
The Role of the Bill Drafter
In the California Legislature all types of legislative measures – bills, resolutions, constitutional amendments, and amendments to all those kinds of measures – can only be introduced or processed at the Assembly and Senate desks if they are in…
Drafting a Bill’s Title
Pursuant to Article IV, Section 9 of the California State Constitution, each bill must have a title. In fact, the State Constitution specifically states, “A statute shall embrace but one subject which shall be expressed in its title. If…
The Seven C’s of Legislative Drafting
During this pandemic, I’ve been researching and reading quite a bit about legislative drafting and studying some of the materials on the subject that are available to the public. One of these is the Seven C’s of Legislative Drafting,…