Designating ‘Spot’ Bills in the California Legislature

It is easy to identify a “spot” bill that is introduced in the California Legislature. The first place to look is in the Legislative Counsel’s Digest. The second place, naturally, is to look at the text of the bill.

As described by the Legislative Counsel, a “spot bill” is one that does not make any substantive change to existing law, “and would not otherwise affect the ongoing operations of state or local government.” On the other hand, an “intent bill” is one that merely makes a statement of legislative intent.

In the Digest, the reader will find one of the following three statements after the explanation of existing law in the Digest (following the paragraph that begins with “Existing law…):

“This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to ….”

“This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to ….”

“This bill would make nonsubstantive changes and reorganize various provisions relating to the …”

In the text of the bill, the reader will find a nonsubstantive change to an existing statute, such as the following:

Section 3274 of the Civil Code is amended to read:

3274. As a general rule, compensation is the relief or remedy provided by the law of this State state for the violation of private rights, rights and the means of securing their observance; and specific observance. Specific and preventive relief may be given in no other cases than those specified in this Part of the Civil Code part.