AB 370 is intended to help protect privacy of online users. In 2003, California enacted the Online Privacy Protection Act (CalOPPA), requiring operators of commercial Web sites to post online privacy policies and adhere to their requirements. Among other things, CalOPPA requires a Web site operator's privacy policy to identify the categories of personally identifiable information collected about individual consumers who use or visit the Web site, as well as to disclose the categories of third-party persons or entities with whom the operator may share that personally identifiable information. In the ten years that have elapsed since CalOPPA ... Read More >
Nov 23
California’s new Olive Oil Commission
When Gov. Brown signed Senate Bill 250 in 2013 into law, he enacted California's Olive Oil Commission and with it all of the accompanying bureaucratic components, such as membership, board of directors, and creation of quality standards. California produces 99% of the olives grown in the United States. According to the California Olive Oil Council, there are over 400 growers on approximately 30,000 acres dedicated to the production of olive oil. With over 50 varieties of olives grown in California, it is estimated that the 2013 harvest will produce over 2.4 million gallons of oil. According Senator Wolk, California's olive oil industry ... Read More >
Nov 23
2013 Compendium of Notable California Legislation
LIS has published its annual Compendium of notable California legislation for 2013 at https://www.legintent.com/legislation/legislation2013.pdf The Compendium is not exhaustive, but it does reflect some of the major bills that were reported on in our California newspapers and were supported or opposed by some of California’s more established stakeholders, such as the League of California Cities, the California Teachers Association, California Manufacturers and Technology, the Consumer Attorneys of California, and the California State Bar. California has been enacting laws since 1850, when it became a state, and at Legislative Intent ... Read More >
Oct 16
Crack Tough Cases with Legislative Intent
Did you know that, according to Guinness World Records, one of the longest running civil cases by an individual spanned more than 34 years? Legislation can be incredibly complex, and courts often spend an inordinate amount of time speculating about, and further researching, unclear laws. When is it appropriate for judges and courts to question laws, and what steps can courts take when legislation is undeniably ambiguous, especially in California? What is Legislative Intent? Legislative intent is a fairly broad term. Simply put, courts explore legislative intent when state or federal laws and statutes are not clear-cut. Sometimes, ... Read More >
Sep 10
IT’S BACK TO SCHOOL TIME
Mid-August signals the return of many American students to public school classes. Over the next few years, states will be implementing a new standard for public school education. The Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI) was created in 2009 to identify and develop a common set of core knowledge and skills master in two topics, mathematics and English language arts, that every American high school graduate should master to succeed in college or a career. With teachers, parents and community leaders weighing in, the CCSSI is intended to develop academic standards that would be: Common: the standards would be the same across ... Read More >
Aug 1
“DOG DAYS” OF SUMMER FEDERAL LEGISLATION
Throughout these “dog days” of summer, Congress continues to attract media attention and headlines with a few interesting and controversial bills, such as these following measures: HR 2397: “Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2014,” introduced on June 17, 2013 by Rep. Bill Young to appropriate funds for FY2013 for the Department of Defense (DOD) for: (1) military personnel; (2) operation and maintenance (O&M), including for the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, environmental restoration, overseas humanitarian, disaster, and civic aid, former Soviet Union cooperative threat reduction, and the DOD Acquisition ... Read More >
Jul 3
LEGISLATIVE INTENT AND U.S. SUPREME COURT DECISION
Among the controversial opinions published last week by the Supreme Court, we found that the Court’s opinion in the case of Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, 570 U.S. ____ (2013), referred to legislative history materials. A baby girl who was classified as a native American Indian because of her biological father’s Cherokee heritage, was removed from her adopted family when the baby girl was a few months old because her father, who had attempted to relinquish his parental rights and had no prior contact with the child, asserted his parental right under the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA), 25 USC § § 1901 through 1963. The ICWA was ... Read More >
Jun 5
Tracing your statute’s language — Yes, you can!
A statute’s language may have a fairly complicated history and the annotations accompanying the major code books published may not provide you with the specific changes that were legislated for each of the bills identified in the annotations for the statute. At this point, it becomes necessary to “trace” your language to find out which one legislative measure brought in your language of interest within the statute in question. The Statutes at Large for California go back to 1850 and you should be able to find these chapter books at your local law library. When the governor signs any bill into law, the secretary of state will assign a ... Read More >
May 17
CA Assembly Bill 188 of 2013 affects commercial property change of ownership under Proposition 13
Assembly Bill 188 proposes to revise California Proposition 13’s circumstances under which a “change in ownership” of real property owned by a legal entity is deemed to have occurred by closing a commercial property tax loophole to more accurately reflect when change of ownership takes place, thus recovering lost tax revenue. On May 13th, the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxationplaced this bill in suspense, perhaps stalling it permanently. This Committee’s analysis noted the following statements by the author of Assembly Bill 188, Assembly member Tom Ammiano: “California's current system for assessing and taxing property, as ... Read More >
May 9
California Minimum Wage Annual Adjustment – CA AB 10 of 2013
An increase to the minimum wage is being proposed by California Assembly Bill 10, authored by Assembly member Luis Alejo of Salinas, CA. Assembly member Alejo seeks to increase the current $8.00 per hour minimum wage to not less than $8.25 per hour. Furthermore, this bill would increase the minimum wage after January 1, 2015 to not less than $8.75 per hour. Finally, on January 1, 2016, California Assembly Bill 10 would increase the minimum wage to not less than $9.25 per hour. The adjustment would begin on January 1, 2017 and these minimum wage increases would continue annually thereafter. The existing federal law under the Fair Labor ... Read More >