If you've ever been in a courtroom, or if you are just addicted to legal television shows and courtroom dramas, you may have heard the term anti-SLAPP. SLAPP laws, or strategic lawsuits against public participation, are exactly what they sound like -- lawsuits designed not to right a wrong, but to intimidate or suppress public action, usually speech. Because corporations usually have the financial resources to fund lawsuits and pay endless legal fees, simply filing a lawsuit against an ordinary citizen is enough to silence them. Looking for more information on SLAPP lawsuits and anti-SLAPP laws? Legal research websites such as Legislative ... Read More >

The United States government officially shut down at midnight on Friday, January 19. It's not the first time the federal government has shutdown in the 21st century, and unless there are some radical changes in Washington, D.C., it won't be the last time either. As is traditional during government shutdowns, both parties believe the opposing party is 100% responsible for the shutdown. Republicans in the House of Representatives passed a short-term continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the government for four weeks, but the Senate failed to agree on a spending bill. The disagreement resulted in a government shutdown. In any ... Read More >

Often we may characterize our government as being slow to react to various needs. Well, we have an example in 1928 of this not being the case. On August 16, 1928, California Governor C.C. Young convened a special session of the Legislature due to “a most serious fiscal problem which involves [the state’s] financial stability…” The issue came about through the Tax Commission’s discovery that California’s method of bank taxation from 1910 had become a “dead letter” due to its conflict with recent United States Supreme Court decisions. Governor Young concluded that the only way to remedy this situation quickly was through a constitutional ... Read More >

Twelve California states are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to disband one of their federal laws that currently requires any eggs sold there to come from hens who have space to stretch out within their cages. Missouri Atty. Gen. Josh Hawley plans to file a lawsuit on behalf of the states. Allegedly, since the law took effect in 2015, it has cost consumers $350 million nationwide due to higher egg prices. The lawsuit will argue that California's requirements violate the U.S. Constitution's interstate commerce clause and are prevented by federal law. California produced about 5 billion eggs in 2012 and imported an additional 4 billion from ... Read More >

Rumor has it that a California legislator is considering introducing legislation in 2018 to investigate the idea of the state having its own flood insurance program.  This appears to be in response to research from late last year out of the University of California, Davis, concluding that California should consider leaving the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), a federal program established by the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968. According to the Report of the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency, which accompanied Senate Bill No. 3497 of 1968, the Flood Insurance Act sought to provide a national program: . . . to ... Read More >