Chris Micheli

What Is a “Loophole” in California Tax Laws?  By Chris Micheli             For years around the State Capitol, and this year in particular, we have heard the claim of tax increase proponents in the Legislature or proposed initiatives on the ballot are simply “closing a tax loophole.” So, what exactly is a “loophole” in the tax laws?             According to a dictionary definition: loop·hole /ˈlo͞opˌ(h)ōl/ noun an ambiguity or inadequacy in the law or a set of rules. Similarly, according to Wikipedia, “A loophole is an ambiguity or inadequacy in a system, such as a law or security, which can be used to circumvent or otherwise avoid the purpose, implied or explicitly stated, of the system.” Other observers have defined a loophole as “basically a technicality that allows one to escape violating the law through some activity.” My takeaway from these definitions...

 A n All-encompassing Legislative Statement  By Chris Micheli             As a legislative geek, in reading provisions of the California Fish and Game Code, I came across the following section of interest: 1850. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that it would be beneficial to identify species and habitat conservation initiatives at a regional scale, including actions to address the impacts of climate change and other wildlife stressors, in order to guide voluntary investments in conservation, and compensatory mitigation for impacts to ecological resources, including impacts to threatened and endangered species, other sensitive species, natural communities, ecological processes, and wildlife corridors. (b) The purpose of this chapter is to promote the voluntary conservation of natural resources, including biodiversity and ecological processes, and to enhance resiliency to climate change and other thre...

There Is More to Lawmaking than Passing Bills  By Chris Micheli Yes, Article IV, Section 1 of the California Constitution grants the lawmaking power to the legislative branch of state government (which it actually shares with the People through direct democracy). Nonetheless, I think lawmaking does not just mean passing bills and creating new laws. It also means oversight and accountability, as well as constituent services. This is not a partisan stance, nor does it matter who is in office in either the legislative or executive branches of state government. Instead, it is based upon a strong belief that a key responsibility of the Legislature is to evaluate existing laws and determine their effectiveness. This is especially true in tough budget times when the state cannot afford to be wasteful or duplicative in providing critical services. While California continues to face a myriad of public policy issues that demand attention by the Legislature, simply enacting additio...

Should California Codify Additional Interpretive Directives?  By Chris Micheli The more I delve into statutory interpretation, the more I am confronted from a legislative drafting perspective whether interpretive guidance should be provided to the courts in this state by placing additional directives in statute. The California courts already use a number of judicial principles when interpreting ambiguous statutes. As a general rule, our courts rely upon the plain meaning of the statutory language. However, when there is ambiguity, the judiciary will turn to the goal of determining the intent of the Legislature. As a result, it raises with me whether the Legislature should codify this goal and others for the courts to follow when interpreting an ambiguous statute (i.e., when statutory language is susceptible to more than one reasonable interpretation). In other words, should California have in statute this goal, as well as other interpretive directives for the state judges and...

Volume of Daily Journal Letters Submitted by Bill Authors – 2025 Update  By Chris Micheli             One of the main avenues for California legislators to clarify their bills or, most often, to express their intent behind their legislation, is to submit a formal letter to the Assembly Chief Clerk for Assembly Bills or the Senate Secretary for Senate Bills. Once approved by their respective houses, these letters are published in the Assembly Daily Journals for ABs and the Senate Daily Journals for SBs.             Having reviewed legislative records for the past two decades to locate all of these letters, I wanted to examine their frequency over the last twenty years and therefore compiled the following chart that shows the number of letters published in the respective Daily Journals in the two houses by year for the past 23 years:   YEAR AS...