BILL ANALYSIS Ó
ACR 148
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
ACR
148 (Chau)
As Amended May 26, 2016
Majority vote
--------------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: |78-0 |(May 9, 2016) |SENATE: |38-0 |(August 15, |
| | | | | |2016) |
| | | | | | |
| | | | | | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Original Committee Reference: JUD.
SUMMARY: Re-authorizes the California Law Revision Commission
(CLRC) to study specific topics. Specifically, this resolution:
1)Re-authorizes the CLRC's study of specified topics, as
provided.
2)Authorizes the CLRC to 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, avoid unnecessary cross-references, and eliminate
duplicative provisions.
3)Requires that, before commencing work on any project within
the calendar of topics the Legislature has authorized or
directed the commission to study, the CLRC shall submit a
detailed description of the scope of work to the chairs and
ACR 148
Page 2
vice chairs of the Assembly Committee on Judiciary and the
Senate Committee on Judiciary, and any other 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.
4)Invites staff of the CLRC 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.
5)Requests the CLRC 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 make technical and clarifying changes.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Creates the California Law Revision Commission. (Government
Code (GOV) Section 8280 et seq. Unless stated otherwise, all
further statutory references are to the Government Code.)
2)Requires the CLRC, unless provided otherwise, to examine the
common law and statutes of California and judicial decisions
for the purpose of discovering defects and anachronisms in the
law and recommending needed reforms. (GOV Section 8289.)
3)Allows the CLRC to recommend, from time to time, such changes
in the law as it deems necessary to modify or eliminate
antiquated and inequitable rules of law, and to bring the law
of this state into harmony with modern conditions. (Ibid.)
ACR 148
Page 3
4)Requires the CLRC to study any topic that the Legislature, by
concurrent resolution or statute, refers to it for study.
(GOV Section 8293.)
5)Establishes the CPRA. (GOV Section 6250 et seq.)
6)Provides that, under the CPRA, public records are open to
inspection at all times during the office hours of the state
or local agency and every person has a right to inspect any
public record, except as provided. (GOV Section 6253 et seq.)
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 was given the responsibility of substantively reviewing
California statutory and decisional law. The CLRC studies the
law in order to discover defects and anachronisms, and makes
recommendations to the Legislature on needed reforms.
The CLRC's enabling statute recognizes two types of topics the
CLRC is authorized to study: 1) those that the CLRC 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 CLRC directly by statute or concurrent resolution. In the
past, the bulk of the CLRC's review has come through the first
type: matters identified by the CLRC and approved by the
Legislature. Once the CLRC identifies a topic for study, it
cannot begin to work on the topic until the Legislature, by
concurrent resolution, authorizes the CLRC to conduct the study.
In recent years, the CLRC's topics have come directly from the
Legislature.
Similar to previous CLRC-reauthorizing resolutions, this measure
resolves that the CLRC send its recommendations to the
Legislature's policy committees, specifically including this
Committee, and invites CLRC staff to testify at hearings to
ACR 148
Page 4
explain recommendations and answer questions from Members of the
Legislature.
Reauthorization of topics previously authorized for study. 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 Persons
7)Evidence
8)Arbitration
9)Administrative Law
10)Attorney's Fees
11)Uniform Unincorporated Nonprofit Association Act
12)Trial Court Unification
ACR 148
Page 5
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
Given the CLRC's experience in clarifying the law without
affecting its substance, a request to reduce the complexity of
the California Public Records Act seems appropriate. 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,
ACR 148
Page 6
it has been amended multiple times to exempt certain records.
These exemptions include health care records, public safety
officers' personnel files, and domestic violence survivors'
personal information. Due to the multiple changes to the
statute, the CPRA has become difficult for the public to
understand.
In the past, the CLRC has provided hundreds of recommendations,
ranging from the creation of entire codes to the repeal of a
single section. Given the CLRC's experience and expertise in
clarifying the law while maintaining the Legislature's intent,
it appears reasonable and consistent with the CLRC work that the
Legislature 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.
Analysis Prepared by:
Eric Dang / JUD. / (916) 319-2334 FN: 0003739