Chris Micheli

Automatic Repeal of State Agency Reports  By Chris Micheli             Are you aware that California law requires the automatic repeal of certain state agency reports? In the California Government Code, Title 2, Division 2, Part 2, Chapter 1, Article 2, there are specified duties on the Legislative Counsel. These provisions were added to state law in 2010 by AB 1585 and effective on February 26, 2010.             Government Code Section 10231.5(a) provides:   A bill that, as introduced or amended in either house of the Legislature, would require a state agency to submit a report on any subject to either house of the Legislature generally, a committee or office of either house of the Legislature, or the Legislative Counsel Bureau shall include a provision that repeals the reporting requirement, or makes the requirement inoperative, no later than a date four year...

Why Do California Bills Contain Reimbursement Disclaimers That Can Be Ignored?  By Chris Micheli             A common provision that readers may notice while reading a California bill is that, at the end of the Legislative Counsel’s Digest, there are four “Digest Keys,” which identify the vote required for passage of the bill, whether the bill contains an appropriation, whether the bill will be re-referred to a fiscal committee, and whether the bill contains a mandated local program. This last bill key will appear as either “ Local Program:  no” or “Local Program: yes.”             To begin, what is a mandated local program? Both the California Constitution and the California Government Code describe in detail a state-mandated local program. As a result of these laws, a California bill is identified as mandating or not mandating a local program that may require rei...