BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  ACR 98
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          Date of Hearing:   April 25, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    ACR 98 (Wagner) - As Amended:  April 12, 2012 

          Policy Committee:                              
          JudiciaryVote:10-0 (Consent)

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This resolution:

             1)   Authorizes the California Law Revision Commission (CLRC) 
               to:

             a)   Continue its study of 21 topics that the Legislature 
               previously authorized or directed the commission to study. 

             b)   Conduct a review of the Fish and Game Code and related 
               statutory law.

             2)   Removes the commission's authority to study special 
               assessments for public improvement. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  


          Absorbable costs to the commission. (The commission's proposed 
          budget for 2012-13 totals $666,000, and includes funding for 
          five staff positions.)


           COMMENTS  

              1)   Purpose  . The commission was created in 1953 and was 
               given the responsibility to substantively review 
               California's statutory and case law. The commission seeks 
               to discover deficiencies in existing law and makes related 
               recommendations to the Legislature for needed reforms. The 
               commission may only study matters referred to it by 








                                                                  ACR 98
                                                                  Page  2

               concurrent resolution of the Legislature. Since its 
               creation, the Commission has made 389 reform 
               recommendations, ranging from the creation of entire codes 
               to the repeal of a single section. More than 90% of those 
               recommendations have been enacted in whole or in 
               substantial part, affecting more than 24,000 sections of 
               the California codes.

              2)   Retraction of One Study  . According to the Commission, 
               that authority to study special assessments for public 
               improvement was added to allow the Commission to develop a 
               unified statute to replace the existing multiplicity of 
               special assessment statutes. The Commission has concluded 
               that, while there would probably be some benefit from a 
               broad technical cleanup of the special assessment statutes, 
               there is not enough evidence that the existing statutory 
               scheme is causing problems sufficient to justify the large 
               investment of resources required for this study.

              3)   Added Study  . The Chairs of the Assembly Water, Parks, & 
               Wildlife and Senate Natural Resources & Water Committees 
               have asked the CLRC to review the Fish and Game Code for 
               suggestions to update, clarify, and improve this Code, as 
               well as to review of the mandates and responsibilities of 
               the Department and Fish and Game Commission, in particular 
               any overlap in responsibilities and programs lacking in 
               identified funding. 
           
           Analysis Prepared by :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081