Common ‘Plus’ Sections in California Legislation

As readers may recall, at the end of bills in the California Legislature, there may be “plus sections,” which are uncodified provisions that may do a number of things, such as expressing legislative intent, making legislative findings and declarations, or explaining why a bill may have a certain designation, such as a special statute or an urgency statute. Probably the most common plus section is the state-mandated cost disclaimer language.

Many bills in the California Legislature do not contain any plus sections. When bills do contain them, there is usually just one plus section, but sometimes a reader might see two or even three of these sections. The following are the main “plus sections” used in California bills:

• Special statute
• Reimbursement mandate disclaimer for SMLP
• Statewide concern (not municipal affair)
• Intent
• 2011 Realignment Legislation
• Tax levy
• Urgency
• Severability
• CRTC Sections 2229 and 2230 waivers
• CRTC Section 41 findings
• Public access to records and meetings
• Findings and declarations for amending statutory initiative measure
• Rulemaking exemption
• Contingent enactment
• Double-jointing
• Appropriation / No appropriation
• Bill related to the budget bill
• Public funds disclaimer
• Retroactivity
• Submission of measure to voters