It can be pretty difficult to understand the legislative intent of any particular legal statute for a variety of reasons. First of all, many legal statutes are written in Legal English, a dialect of lawyers in English-speaking countries that's loaded with obtuse jargon, syntax, and odd punctuation choices. Secondly, some legal statutes are so old that they've lost their context. This means that the issues they were meant to rectify have since been resolved, rendering the legal statutes obsolete despite the fact that they remain on the books. For these two reasons, you may come across certain legal statutes in your legislative history ... Read More >
Jul 29
Dividing the state: An old idea is new again
You may have heard about it: Silicon Valley billionaire Tim Draper wants to divide California into six separate states, and he wants Californians to vote on the issue. Earlier this year, supporters of the proposed ballot measure got the go-ahead to collect signatures for a new initiative, one Draper calls “Six Californias.” Supporters say they submitted 1.3 million signatures to the California Secretary of State on July 15. The measure qualifies for the November 2016 ballot if 807,615 of those signatures are deemed valid. Prior attempts to split California are nothing new because as it turns out, even a few of those ... Read More >
Jul 24
Frequently asked question: Can Legislative Intent Service, Inc. locate California Legislative Counsel Opinions?
FAQ: Can Legislative Intent Service, Inc. locate California Legislative Counsel Opinions? Answer: Yes, when the Opinion is part of the legislative history of a proposed, failed or chaptered bill. Our expertise at Legislative Intent Service, Inc. includes: • Determining the legislative history of state and federal statutes; • Identifying the bills most likely to be of interest to your issue; • Locating and analyzing the materials related to these bills; • Providing the materials in pdf form. This process can lead to locating Legislative Counsel Opinions. First, some background on the California Office of the Legislative ... Read More >
Jul 10
Retroactive v. Prospective Application of New Laws
Our California clients ask us about retroactive application of enactments or amendments in bills that affect their statutes of interest and which could adversely affect their claims or litigation strategy. We understand their concerns and as we review the legislative history materials or the bill itself, we look for any indication that there was legislative intent for retroactive application of the proposals in the bill. When there is no express statement or declaration concerning retroactivity in any bill, this can make it difficult to make any absolute determination as to the retroactivity of the provisions of that bill. The general ... Read More >
Jul 10
States’ criminal justice systems embrace DNA testing
Multi-State DNA Laws: The use of DNA [“deoxyribonucleic acid”] as evidence in criminal trials was brought to the public’s intense and graphic attention 20 years ago during the O.J. Simpson trial. Over the next two decades, its prominence as an evidentiary tool has gained a strong and broad foothold in states’ criminal justice systems because DNA testing in today's forensic genetics laboratories is highly automated, highly reproducible, and the variation detected is capable of potentially matching the DNA profile at a crime scene to one individual in the world with significant statistical probability. DNA is also very tough stuff – it ... Read More >
Jun 30
Four Weird Laws That People Still Have to Deal With
Let's be honest for a minute. Tons of old, legal statutes are pretty difficult to understand. They're written in a dialect of English known as Legalese, which uses complicated jargon stemming from Latin and often lacks punctuation. However, what makes these legal statutes most baffling is their seeming lack of legislative intent. Though they might have made sense in the past, the issues they were created to rectify are no longer problematic to our society, and so these archaic legal statutes remain on the books as quirky old relics. What's interesting about these laws is how governments deal with them. Some simply ignore them, some ... Read More >
May 28
Three of the Most Bizarre Driving Laws You’ll Ever Hear About
Did you know that in Russia it's illegal to have a dirty car? Or that in France, every driver must legally carry a personal breathalyzer in their vehicle? Or how about the fact that in Japan, you can get fined $65 if you accidentally splash a pedestrian as you drive through a puddle? Don't laugh too hard, though. The United States isn't entirely innocent of having weird driving laws. Here are just a few such odd legal statutes from across the nation. California The sunshine state's books are full of weird legal statutes. In Glendale, action heroes could face a fine for jumping out of cars speeding in excess of 65 miles per hour. In ... Read More >
Feb 14
CALIFORNIA STATE LIBRARY GRAND RE-OPENING – We were there!
The attorneys and staff at LIS attended the February 11, 2014 reopening ceremony commemorating the California State Library moving back into the newly renovated Stanley Mosk Library and Courts Building. The library is located across the street from the state’s historic State Capitol. Enjoy the photos below -- sorry about the stamped date on my camera being 12 hours behind! Maria The renovations took four years of dedicated hard work by master architects, engineers, and technology experts to bring the 1928 neo-classical library building up to the 21st Century. The building now showcases murals and intricately painted ... Read More >
Feb 11
Four Helpful Documents for Determining Legislative Intent
The field of law covers so much ground, it can often be difficult to understand what one law or piece of legislation is attempting to communicate. For this reasons, legislative intent is a particularly tough nut to crack, as they say. If you tried to, however, the breakdown would be a bit like this. Laws are sometimes difficult to interpret for a number of reasons, most often because of the language that's been used to express them. Despite the legal profession's efforts to use precise wording and syntax via "legalese," not every law and statute reads perfectly and clearly to folks in later generations. When such a situation arises -- when ... Read More >