For legislative drafters, there are important standards to follow when putting together legislative sentences that will make up bills, resolutions, or constitutional amendments. Some of these guidelines are obvious as they are used to compose any sentences in writing. Nonetheless,...
California, like most other states, uses sunset dates in legislation, which has the effect of making the law, once enacted, expire on a specified date. Unless the Legislature enacts another bill to either extend or eliminate the sunset date, the...
Like many of the states, California has adopted and therefore requires the Office of the Legislative Counsel to draft measures (bills, resolutions, and constitutional amendments) in a gender-neutral manner. What does that mean? How does it work? Specific to California...
Are there rules of punctuation when drafting legislation? As a general rule, the answer is no because general rules of English grammar, including punctuation, usually apply to legislative drafting. However, there are some instances when special rules do apply, including...
In the California Legislature, the Members of the Assembly and Senate have the ability to place a constitutional amendment before the statewide electorate for consideration. The Legislative Counsel defines a constitutional amendment as “a resolution proposing a change to the...
In the California Legislature, Members of the Assembly and Senate can introduce three types of resolutions. What are the component parts of a resolution? In terms of its anatomy, a resolution contains the following provisions: Legislative Session. At the top...
In the California Legislature, pursuant to Article IV, Section 8(b)(1), “the Legislature may make no law except by statute and may enact no statute except by bill.” As a result, a bill is what enacts a statute. The Legislative Counsel...