BILL ANALYSIS Ó
ACR 148
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Date of Hearing: May 4, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
ACR
148 (Chau) - As Introduced March 3, 2016
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|Policy |Judiciary |Vote:|10 - 0 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This resolution authorizes the California Law Revision
Commission (CLRC) to:
a)Continue its study of 23 topics that the Legislature
previously authorized or directed the commission to study.
b)Further examine the California Public Records Act (CPRA) to
determine whether it should be amended in a non-substantive
manner to reduce its length and complexity.
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FISCAL EFFECT:
Absorbable costs to the commission. (The commission's proposed
budget for 2016-17 totals $872,000, and includes funding for
five staff positions.)
COMMENTS:
Purpose. The CLRC 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 concurrent resolution of the
Legislature. In the past, the CLRC has provided hundreds of
recommendations, ranging from the creation of entire codes to
the repeal of a single section.
The CLRC currently has a list of 23 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
5. Discovery in Civil Cases
6. Rights and Disabilities of Minors and Incompetent
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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
22. Fish and Game Code
23. The Legal Doctrine around Mediation Confidentiality and
Attorney Malpractice
In addition to the 23 topics of study, this measure authorizes
the CLRC to further study the CPRA.. The CPRA, signed into law
in 1968 as a general record keeping law, allows the public to
monitor government activity. Since the enactment of the CPRA,
it has been amended multiple times to exempt certain records.
Due to the multiple changes to the statute, the CPRA has become
difficult for the public to understand.
Given the CLRC's experience and expertise, this resolution asks
the CLRC to also review the CPRA to determine whether it should
be revised in a non-substantive manner to reduce its length and
complexity, avoid unnecessary cross-references, and eliminate
duplicative provisions.
Prior CLRC Resolutions:
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SCR 83 (Monning, 2014)
SCR 53 (Padilla, 2013)
ACR 98 (Wagner, 2012)
ACR 49 (Evans, 2009)
ACR 35 (Evans, 2007)
SCR 15 (Morrow, 2006)
SCR 42 (Campbell, 2005)
SCR 4 (Morrow, 2003)
ACR 123 (Wayne, 2002)
SCR 13 (Morrow, 2001)
ACR 17 (Wayne, 1999)
SCR 65 (Kopp, 1998)
SCR 3 (Kopp, 1997)
SCR 43 (Kopp, 1996)
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
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