Today we’ll take a look at the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, also known as OES. OES is established in the California Government Code, Title II Division 1 Chapter 7, Article 5 – way down there. It covers sections 8585 to 8589.7 and pursuant to section 8585, OES is established in state government within
Prop 54 was enacted by the voters in the November 2016 general election. It adopted two constitutional amendments and two statutory changes dealing with public access to legislative proceedings, recordings of legislative proceedings, bill amendments, and voting on those bill amendments.
The first constitutional amendment enacted by Prop 54 added two, extensive, new provisions
One area of bill drafting worth studying is the use of transitional or savings provisions. What are the differences between the two and how are they used?
All transitional provisions come into play when new legislation amends or repeals existing law. For example, they address the issue of how activities or rights begun under
Like other forms of drafting legislation, when you prepare to amend or repeal existing statutes, there are several steps for the bill drafter to take. According to the Graduate Degree in Legislative Drafting program from Athabasca University, there are three steps – research, plan, and draft.
Research begins with researching the topic and existing
There are many who don’t realize that the highly trained attorneys in the California Office of Legislative Counsel will actually draft an initiative for the statewide ballot for members of the public. Basically, under existing state law, attorneys in the Legislative Counsel Bureau will assist in the preparation of drafting an initiative measure when
Both the California Constitution and the California Government Code describe in detail state mandated local programs. As a result of the constitution and the statutes in the Government Code, a California bill is identified as mandating or not mandating a local program.
If a mandated local program is going to be required, then the
In California, as in most states, a statute is presumed to operate prospectively. When construing statutes, there’s a general presumption against retroactive cases unless the Legislature plainly has directed otherwise. So how might the Legislature plainly direct otherwise? Generally it’s by means of express language of retroactivity or some sort of information that provides
Drafting penal code statutes is an important undertaking for any bill drafter because of the consequences for those who violate such statutes, which can include imprisonment as well as financial penalties, and because the courts at both the state and federal levels generally strictly construe these types of statutes. As a result, those who
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 or eliminate the sunset date.
Generally, we see sunset dates running from one to three
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 forthcoming legislation.
Where there are multiple definitions, they are most often found near the beginning