Another Legislative Statement in Bills

Another Legislative Statement in Bills By Chris Micheli

I was reading a bill over the Recess and came across what I believed was a new legislative statement: “It is the preference of the Legislature for the County of San Mateo to opt into the district.”

We are all familiar with statements of legislative intent, as well as legislative findings and declarations. But I had not seen a legislative “preference” before. By the way, this preference statement in the bill follows a statement of legislative intent. That made it even more intriguing to me and why it was being used.

Thereafter, in a search of the Codes, I found one existing statute using this “preference” phrase. It reads, in part, “it is the preference of the Legislature that priority be given to viral cultures, clinical trials, and the administrative and laboratory support services necessary to conduct the trials.”

So, there is at least one existing code section using the “preference” statement. Perhaps there will be more. However, I think we should keep these statements to a minimum and try to use the same language throughout the Codes. None of them have the force or effect of law – they are simply statements by the Legislature. Stating a “preference” seems even less desirable to me.

            Later in my Recess reading, when reviewing an existing code section, I came across this phrase: “The Legislature hereby declares that it serves a public purpose, and is of benefit to the state, to encourage and facilitate…” Usually, a declaration is combined with a finding, and this statute additionally makes the statement about “serv[ing] a public purpose” and is “of benefit.”

            This type of legislative statement is not found often in the Codes. More common is declaring just a “purpose,” rather than serving a “public purpose.”

            I previously wrote that there are also “recognition” statements in statute. For example, in Section 1830 of the Military and Veterans Code, it 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 “recognition”? Turning to a quick search of the use of this phrase in California Codes, there are actually 13,585 code sections in which “the Legislature recognizes…” How does that compare to the other legislative statements?

In turning to a search of the more familiar phrase, “the Legislature finds and declares…,” there are 17,317 code sections in which this phrase is used. The other familiar phrase, “It is the intent of the Legislature to…” appears in 14,177 code sections. Obviously, then, the statement of recognition is almost as common as the usual two legislative statements used in California’s 29 Codes.