BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



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          Date of Hearing:  June 4, 2015 


                             ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON RULES


                                Richard Gordon, Chair


          ACR 76  
          (Jones) - As Introduced May 19, 2015


          SUBJECT:  Magna Carta: 800th anniversary.


          SUMMARY:  Commemorates the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta.  
           Specifically, this bill:  makes the following legislative  
          findings:


          1)In response to the accumulation of grievances, heavy taxation,  
            and unsuccessful wars, a group of rebellious barons forced  
            King John of England to agree to limitations on royal power  
            and submit to the rule of law by affixing his seal to a  
            charter of liberties known to posterity as Magna Carta, Latin  
            for the Great Charter, on June 15, 1215, at a meadow beside  
            the river Thames called Runnymede, near Windsor.


          2)Magna Carta is an early milestone along the path toward  
            freedom and constitutional government, followed by the  
            development of Parliament in the 1260s, the 1606 First Charter  
            of Virginia, the 1620 Mayflower Compact and other colonial  
            charters, the 1628 Petition of Rights, the 1679 Habeas Corpus  
            Act, and 1689 English Bill of Rights, the 1776 American  
            Declaration of Independence, the 1787 United States  
            Constitution, the 1789 United States Bill of Rights, and the  
            1948 United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.








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          3)In too many parts of the world, the right to jury trial,  
            habeas corpus, the rule of law, fair legal procedures,  
            reasonable taxation, and the proposition that no government is  
            above the law, principles either enshrined or foreshadowed by  
            Magna Carta, remain goals yet to be attained.


          4)For as long as people celebrate freedom under law, Magna Carta  
            will remain an inspiring example of a people's ability to  
            resist tyranny and arbitrary government and will remain "the  
            Great Charter" of liberties.


          FISCAL EFFECT:  None


          REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:




          Support


          None on file




          Opposition


          None on file












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          Analysis Prepared by:Nicole Willis / RLS. / (916) 319-2800