How Prevalent Are Policy Statements in Statute?

Readers of bills and statutes will regularly come across statements of legislative intent, such as paragraphs that usually begin with either “It is the intent of the Legislature to …” or “The Legislature finds and declares that …” On other occasions, readers may come across statements that “it is the policy of the state.” Both are expressed opinions or state desires of the Legislature.

For example, a plus section at the end of a bill recently provided:

It is the policy of this state that all state agencies, boards, and commissions shall utilize their authorities in furtherance of the biodiversity conservation purposes and goals of Executive Orders B-54-18 and N-82-20.

OR

It is the policy of this state that public agencies shall not approve projects as proposed that are inconsistent with or would impair the successful implementation of the strategies required by subdivision (b).

These two examples attempt to establish a policy of the state. This leads to the question of whether there is any legal distinction or other significance between “intent” and “policy” statements used in California statutes. Unfortunately, neither term is defined in state law. However, based upon the historical usage of these two terms, we have a general idea of how they are used in statutes.

In some ways, statements of intent and policy are similar and, of course, they are both made by the Legislature, even though policy statements generally do not include an introductory statement like intent ones do.

So, how prevalent are statements setting forth the policy of the State in California bills? The following chart provides the number of bills that contain a “policy of the state” provision during the specified Legislative Session: