BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
ACR 98 (Wagner and Gorell)
As Amended July 3, 2012
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |73-0 |(April 30, |SENATE: |38-0 |(August 20, |
| | |2012) | | |2012) |
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Original Committee Reference: JUD.
SUMMARY : Authorizes the California Law Revision Commission
(CLRC or Commission) to study specific topics. Specifically,
this resolution :
1)Reauthorizes the CLRC's study of specified topics (listed
below).
2)Removes authority to study special assessments for public
improvement.
3)Adds authority to conduct a substantial review of the Fish and
Game Code.
4)Adds authority to study the relationship between mediation
confidentiality and attorney malpractice.
5)Requires that, in addition to submitting a detailed
description of the scope of work to the Chairs and Vice Chairs
of the Assembly and Senate Judiciary Committees before
commencing work on any project within the calendar of topics
authorized or directed for study by the Legislature, the
Commission shall also submit notification to the Chair and
Vice Chair of any policy committee that has jurisdiction over
the subject matter of the study. Any major change to the
scope of work would also require notification.
6)Invites staff of the Commission to appear and testify at any
committee hearing of a bill to implement a Commission
recommendation, for the purpose of explaining the
recommendation and answering questions posed by committee
members, provided that the staff may not advocate for the
passage or defeat of the legislation.
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7)Invites the Commission to provide a copy of a Commission
recommendation to each member of a policy committee that is
hearing a bill that would implement the recommendation.
The Senate amendments authorize the CLRC to study the
relationship between mediation confidentiality and attorney
malpractice and add Assembly Member Gorell as a joint author.
EXISTING LAW authorizes the CLRC to study topics approved by
concurrent resolution of the Legislature.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar
to the version approved by the Senate.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : The California Law Revision Commission was created in
1953 and given the responsibility for a continuing substantive
review of California statutory and decisional law. The
Commission studies the law to discover defects and anachronisms
and recommends legislation to make needed reforms. The
Commission's enabling statute recognizes two types of topics the
Commission is authorized to study: 1) those that the Commission
identifies for study and lists in the Calendar of Topics that it
reports to the Legislature; and, 2) those that the Legislature
assigns to the Commission directly, by statute or concurrent
resolution. In the past, the bulk of the Commission's study
topics have come through the first route - matters identified by
the Commission and approved by the Legislature. Once the
Commission identifies a topic for study, it cannot begin to work
on the topic until the Legislature, by concurrent resolution,
authorizes the Commission to conduct the study. Direct
legislative assignments have become much more common in recent
years. Many of the Commission's recent studies were directly
assigned by the Legislature.
The CLRC currently has a list of 21 topics that the Legislature
has previously authorized for study. This measure would
reauthorize the CLRC to study the following topics:
1)Creditors' Remedies
2)Probate Code
3)Real and Personal Property
4)Family Law
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5)Discovery in Civil Cases
6)Rights and Disabilities of Minors and Incompetent Persons
7)Evidence
8)Arbitration
9)Administrative Law
10)Attorney's Fees
11)Uniform Unincorporated Nonprofit Association Act
12)Trial Court Unification
13)Contract Law
14)Common Interest Developments
15)Legal Malpractice Statutes of Limitation
16)Coordination of Public Records Statutes
17)Criminal Sentencing
18)Subdivision Map Act and Mitigation Fee Act
19)Uniform Statute and Rule Construction Act
20)Place of Trial in Civil Cases
21)Implications of treating a charter school as a public entity
This resolution would remove authority to study special
assessments for public improvement. According to the
Commission, that authority was added to allow the Commission to
develop a unified statute to replace the existing multiplicity
of special assessment statutes. The Commission never began work
on that topic, due to higher priority work. While there would
probably be some benefit from a broad technical cleanup of the
special assessment statutes, the Commission has concluded that
there is not enough evidence that the existing statutory scheme
is causing problems to justify the large investment of resources
that the study would require. Therefore, removal of
authorization is appropriate.
Per AB 2376 (Huffman), Chapter 424, Statutes of 2010, the
California Natural Resources Agency is currently developing a
strategic vision for the Department of Fish and Game and the
Fish and Game Commission that addresses specified matters
relating to state fish and wildlife resource management. This
process has involved convening a state executive committee, blue
ribbon commission, and broad stakeholder input. One of the
recommendations out of this process is the need for a
substantive review and updating of the Fish and Game Code to
identify obsolete, inconsistent or duplicative sections. At the
request of the Chairs of the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife
and Senate Natural Resources and Water Committees, this
resolution adds authority for the CLRC to study the Fish and
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Game Code. The Chairs have specifically asked the CLRC to
review the code for suggestions to update, clarify, and improve
the code as well as a review of the mandates and
responsibilities of the Department and Fish and Game Commission,
in particular to identify any overlap in responsibilities and
programs lacking in identified funding.
Furthermore, this resolution authorizes the CLRC to study the
relationship under current law between mediation confidentiality
and attorney malpractice and other misconduct, and the purposes
for, and impact of, those laws.
Additionally, this resolution will provide that prior to
commencing work on any project within the list of topics
authorized or directed for study by the Legislature, the CLRC
shall submit a detailed description of the scope of work to the
Chairs and Vice Chairs of the Senate and Assembly Judiciary
Committees (which was in previous resolutions) as well as the
Chair and Vice Chair of any policy committee that has
jurisdiction over the subject matter of the study, and if during
the course of the project there is a major change to the scope
of work, submit a description of the change.
Given the limited resources of the Commission which has suffered
budget cuts in past years, early communication to the
Legislature of proposed topics of study would allow legislative
input on whether a particular proposed topic would likely be
controversial and thus perhaps avoided by the Commission so that
it may devote its limited resources to other, more productive
studies.
Since its creation in 1953, 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. Major enactments include: the Evidence Code, the Family
Code, the Probate Code, the Government Claims Act (also known as
the "Tort Claims Act"), the Enforcement of Judgments Law, the
Trust Law, the Power of Attorney Law, the Durable Power of
Attorney for Healthcare, the Guardianship-Conservatorship Law,
the Marketable Title Act, the Eminent Domain Law, implementation
of Trial Court Unification and Restructuring, Administrative
Adjudication, recodification of Deadly Weapons Law, and the
recodification of Mechanics Lien Law.
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Analysis Prepared by : Drew Liebert / JUD. / (916) 319-2334
FN: 0004465