A Different Type of Legislative Statement?

A Different Type of Legislative Statement? By Chris Micheli

            In reading sections of the California Military and Veterans Code, I came across statutory language that is similar to legislative findings and declarations, which are common throughout California’s 29 Codes. In addition to codified findings, there are thousands of instances in which legislative findings and declarations are in uncodified statutes.

            However, the language contained in Section 1830 of the Military and Veterans Code does not use the standard “findings and declarations” language. Instead, Section 1830 provides, in part: “the Legislature recognizes all of the following” and then lists five statements similar to what a reader would see in findings and declarations, such as “(d) Nine hundred family members of Vietnam era POW/MIAs reside in California.”

            How common are these statements of legislative “recognitions”? Turning to a quick search of the use of this phrase, there are actually 13,585 code sections in which “the Legislature recognizes…” How does that compare?

In turning to a search of more familiar phrase, “the Legislature finds and declares…,” there are 15,902 code sections in which this phrase is used. Obviously, then, the statement of “recognizes” is almost as common as findings and declarations language used in California’s 29 Codes. Hence, this different type of legislative findings language is actually not that unique.

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