General Guidelines for Drafting Regulations

The following are some guidelines for the drafting of regulations in California:

Rules of Punctuation

Punctuation is an important part of drafting regulations and the punctuation rules should be used consistently and properly. The regulatory drafter should know these rules as courts will look at regulations with those rules in mind. As such, the drafter needs to follow these standard rules of punctuation and even conform existing regulations if necessary.

Internal References

In referring to other parts of a regulations, the drafter should refer to specific sections. Avoid references such as “herein,” “hereinbefore,” “hereinafter,” “preceding,” “above,” and “following,” since these references can create ambiguity.

Definitions

As a general rule, a regulatory drafter should place a definitions section that applies to an entire title, chapter or article in a separate code section at the beginning of that title, chapter or article. Place the definitions in alphabetical order. Words used in their ordinary senses do not need definitions. In addition, a definition that is restrictive is usually followed by the word “means.” On the other hand, a definition that is extensive is usually followed by the word “includes.”

Synonyms

As a general rule, a regulatory drafter should avoid the use of synonyms. A change in wording may be construed to convey a change in meaning, which is likely to cause confusion for an executive agency or a court when interpreting the language.

Acronyms

As a general rule, a drafter of regulations should avoid the use of acronyms. An acronym may be used as an abbreviation of a scientific, medical, or technical term if the acronym is defined and is otherwise commonly known (e.g., “AIDS”).

Quotation Marks

As a general rule, periods and commas do not appear inside quotation marks unless the punctuation is part of the quoted material. Do use quotation marks when defining a term.

Parentheses

As a general rule, do not use parentheses to mark off explanatory or qualifying remarks; instead, use commas instead of parentheses or put them in a separate sentence. However, the regulatory drafter should use parentheses to set off the identifying numbers or letters of subsections and subdivisions. 

Numbers

As a general rule, the regulations drafter should write numbers as both words and numerals. Enclose the numerals with parentheses.

Commas

As a general rule, in a series separated by commas, always use a comma before the conjunction. Also, a subordinate clause at the beginning of a sentence is followed by a comma, and a subordinate clause in the middle of a sentence is enclosed with commas.

Possessives

In order to form the possessive of a common singular word ending in “s”, add an apostrophe and “s” unless the next word begins with an “s”, in which case add just the apostrophe.

Avoiding Ambiguity

Often ambiguity is the result of unclear sentence structure or poor placement of words or phrases. In addition, the combinations of nouns and their modifiers are often a cause of trouble.

Length of Sentences

Sentences in the law are often long and they seem to grow longer. Sometimes the longer the sentence, the more likely it is that the regulation reader will have to ask questions about which words modify other words or which parts of the sentence go together? To avoid confusion for readers of regulation, then regulatory drafters should write short sentences when possible and, if long sentences must be used, then make the structure clear.

Establishing a Condition

Sometimes a regulation sets forth a simple, general proposition that is subject to certain conditions and exceptions. Conditions and exceptions are often added by amendment and, the more conditions and exceptions that apply, then generally the longer and more complex the statute becomes. As a result, the regulatory drafter needs to organize the regulation so that the general proposition remains clear while the conditions and exceptions are provided later.

In General

Use short, familiar words and phrases that best express the intended meaning and avoid long words, especially when a short word will convey the same message. In addition, if it is possible to omit a word and still maintain the meaning of the sentence, then the bill drafter should omit the word. Be consistent in your word usage and structure of the statute. And, if possible, state a requirement directly rather than by use of exceptions.