"Sacramento Capitol" by Sascha Brück - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons With the Legislature on its summer recess, now is a good time to look back at some of the proposals that have died or stalled this legislative session. AB 213 was all about LED bulbs. It would have prohibited the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission from adopting a color rendering index value greater than that set by the federal EPA’s Energy Star Program. As the Lighting Research Center tells us, the color rendering index, or the CRI, is “a measure of a light source’s ability to show object colors ... Read More >
Jul 9
Somebody is Cutting Internet Cables!
Somebody is Cutting Internet Cables! On Tuesday, many individuals and businesses in San Francisco and the Sacramento area experienced widespread Internet outages for most of the day. It turns out this may be the latest in a string of severed fiber optic cables being investigated by the FBI in the San Francisco bay area. This type of vandalism involving Internet cables was just addressed last year in California. Following a string of cut Internet cables in Northern California, Assembly member Chesbro introduced Assembly Bill 1782 in 2014 to increase the maximum fine from $500 to $10,000. According to the author, “Dependable ... Read More >
Jun 29
3 Facts About the Constitution You Probably Didn’t Learn in High School History Class
There are many different things that make the United States, one of the most important of which is the Constitution. Though you may have learned quite a bit about it in your high school history class, there are some seriously fun facts about this important document that were probably left out. Here are just a few. It Almost Had Some Weird Amendments. In the 200 years since the Constitution was first created, there have been a total of 27 amendments, but there were almost more than that. In 1893, one amending legal statute was proposed, which would have changed the name of the country to the United States of Earth. In 1916, it was proposed ... Read More >
Jun 11
Legislative Intent Service Attorneys Giving Back!
One of our attorneys, Heather Thomas, is very active with Sacramento’s Wiley W. Manuel Bar Association (WMBA) and helped coordinate a volunteer day with Habitat for Humanity. On February 28, Heather and other members of the WMBA helped put finishing touches on a 1,200 square foot home in Sacramento. The home is for a single mother and her two children, who had bene previously living in a small apartment. You can read more in the current issue of Sacramento Lawyer here: Sac Lawyer Way to go, Heather! ... Read More >
May 29
Three Constitutional Amendments You Won’t Believe Legislators Actually Proposed
It's been more than 200 years since the Founding Fathers created the constitution. To date, there have been a total of 27 constitutional amendments, and thankfully, those are the only ones. In the two centuries since its creation, Americans have tried to pass some rather strange amendments. Luckily, after a proposed amendment makes it through Congress, it needs to be ratified by three-fourths of the states, so none of these bizarre legal statutes have made it through. Here are just a few of the ones that almost did. The Council of Three Amendment. In 1878, there was a proposed constitutional amendment to replace the president with an ... Read More >
May 22
Legislating Animals
LEGISLATING ANIMALS: Since before a New York court decided Pierson v. Post, animals have been a source of interest in legal circles because they provide sport, companionship … and food. As a staff member for an Oregon legislator, I heard all about the childless constituent who was lobbying desperately to stop the ban on the ownership of exotic pets. The photos of her and her capuchin monkey were pretty cute, but ultimately, the legislature directed the Department of Agriculture to not issue any additional permits. Every now and then, we here at Legislative Intent Service, Inc. get to research fascinating and emotionally-charged animal ... Read More >