Chris Micheli

The Life Cycle of a California Regulation  By Chris Micheli             This article is intended to provide a step-by-step instruction detailing how a regulation becomes effective in the California rulemaking process. Rulemaking Bodies             To begin, California has over 200 State agencies, departments, boards, and commissions (referred to as rulemaking bodies) that make public policy through their authority to adopt regulations. A list of State agencies that have adopted regulations can be found on the website of California’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL), which is found at www.oal.ca.gov . What a Regulation Can Do             A regulation can be added, amended, or repealed. Regulations are found in the California Code of Regulations (CCR), which is organized under various subject matter titles, of...

The Life Cycle of a Bill in the California Legislature  By Chris Micheli             This article is intended to provide a step-by-step instruction detailing how a bill becomes law in the California Legislature, sometimes referred to as the “life cycle” of a bill. Statutes Need Bills Whether a statute is added, amended or repealed, that process must be done by a bill being passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor (unless he or she allows it to become law without a signature). According to the California Legislature, “the process of government by which bills are considered and laws enacted is commonly referred to as the legislative process.”             We begin the life cycle journey with the California Constitution, Article 4, Section 8(b)(1): “The Legislature may make no law except by statute and may enact no statute except by bill.” Bill Idea A pi...

Public Testimony and the Suspense Files  By Chris Micheli             With the 2026 Suspense Files being considered on May 14, several colleagues have asked about public testimony on these items.             When I first began lobbying, legislators presented their bills regardless of whether the measures were slated for the Suspense Files. In fact, there were many Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees that lasted most of the day as authors, witnesses, and committee members debated the fiscal and policy implications of a bill that was presented for consideration.             Over the last two decades, bills slated for the respective Suspense Files have almost always had no author presentation. In fact, some fiscal committee chairs in the past have openly discouraged authors from presenting their bills that ...

Certain Bill Statements Are Not Opinions  By Chris Micheli What is the point of legislative intent statements and findings and declarations in California bills? To me, these are separate, distinct words included in a statute. Findings and declarations provide the foundation or basis for the bill. What is the factual basis for the new statute being proposed or the amendments to an existing statute? How do those fact-based statements justify the proposed law changes in the bill? Statements of legislative intent should express the desired outcome to be achieved by the proposed law changes. No commentary or explanation is necessary or appropriate. Rather, what is the stated goal or desired outcome that the Legislature would like when these law changes are in effect? To me, I do not believe these statements are opinions or unsubstantiated statements. When in a bill, whether ultimately codified or uncodified, they will become the law of the State of California. As such, they...

Should There Be Blanket PRA Exemptions in Bills?  By Chris Micheli             Have you seen this provision while reading bills in the California Legislature?   Contracts, grants, and related information created or obtained pursuant to this provision shall not be made public and are exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code).              What is the meaning of this language? It provides an outright exemption from the requirements of California’s Public Records Act (PRA), which is intended to allow public access to government records and documents.             By way of background, the PRA covers “public records” of public agencies, including state and local government (the Legislature has its own law...

Legal Standing of Associations to Sue  By Chris Micheli What is “legal standing”? Sometimes known by the Latin term, locus standi , it is the right of a person or entity to file a lawsuit or participate in a legal proceeding in state or federal court. It is essentially a legal threshold that must be met before a court can consider the merits of the lawsuit that has been filed.             As a general rule, in the federal court system, there is a requirement that a “case or controversy” exist. On the other hand, in California, no such requirement exists because the California Constitution does not contain a “case or controversy” requirement and the courts do not consider public interest standing to violate the California Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine in Article III, Section 3. Nonetheless, similar to the federal “case or controversy” requirement, California’s standing requirement serves “to ensure that the ...

Introduction to Regulatory Drafting  By Chris Micheli             What is regulatory drafting? Regulatory drafting or regulations drafting is the work done by state executive branch officials in agencies, departments, boards, commissions, and bureaus that have rulemaking authority under the California Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Of course, regulations can also be drafted by attorneys, lobbyists, interest groups, and others who want to propose the addition, amendment, or repeal of regulations in the California Code of Regulations (CCR).             As opposed to legislative drafting of bills, resolutions, and constitutional amendments to be considered by the Legislature, regulatory drafting concerns the lawmaking that is done by the executive branch of government in California. There are more than 200 state entities that have authority to adopt regulations. ...

Courts Removing Statewide Measures from the Ballot  By Chris Micheli Have courts removed measures from the statewide ballot in California? The answer is yes. In fact, the judicial branch has done so recently in three instances. The most recent example was in 2024, when the qualified measure for the statewide ballot, called the California Two-Thirds Legislative Vote and Voter Approval for New or Increased Taxes Initiative, was removed by the California Supreme Court, which ruled that the proposed measure amounted to an impermissible revision of the state Constitution and therefore could not go before the voters. This measure was prevented from being placed on the ballot despite having obtained the requisite number of voter signatures to qualify. In 2018, the California Supreme Court removed a measure from the statewide ballot. It was Prop. 9, called the Three States Initiative. It was removed because the court determined that “the potential harm in permitting the measure to re...

Specific Guidance for Drafting Regulations  By Chris Micheli The following are some specific drafting principles I have found in the drafting manuals of other states, which appear to apply in California based upon my review of regulations over the years: ·        If a department is defined, then all subsequent references in the regulations should be to "the department." The department's full name need not be written out, except when confusion would result from references to other departments. ·        Use lower case for titles of public officials. ·        Capitalize short titles of acts. ·        Express numbers in the text with words followed by numerals in parentheses. ·        Hyphenate numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine. ·        Write dates in the form of "month" then "day." When a...

Instructing the Courts on Interpretation  By Chris Micheli             In reviewing some recent legislation in the 2026 California Legislative Session, I have come across several bills that contain “liberally construe” language, as well as one that used “liberally interpret” language. In other words, this language is directed at state agencies and the judicial branch that the statute in review should be liberally construed or liberally interpreted.             This raised the question with me: Which is the better language to use? First, I wanted to research the use of these phrases in state statutes. I found that there are thousands of California statutes that use the standard language “liberally construed.” However, there are also many state statutes that use the less common “liberally interpreted.” How many of each appear in state law? ·     ...

Guidance for Drafting Regulations in the Active Voice B y Chris Micheli             In California, drafters of regulations and bills are instructed to use the active voice, rather than the passive voice. This is a change in the historical manner of drafting that previously included lots of passive voice language in state laws.             As a result, many examples of the passive voice remain in California regulations and statutes. The following examples of passive versus active voice changes to state statutes are contained in bills recently enacted into law in this state:   …provide comments to the department on all proposed projects funded from the Big Game Management Account to help ensure that the requirements of this section  have been  are  met.                   Nothing in this chapter shal...

Some Notes on Bills Declaring Existing Law  By Chris Micheli As we near the end of the California Legislative Session, we see more bills that claim to make changes to statutes, and those amendments are claimed to be "declaratory of existing law." How is that done and how do California courts view those types of legislative proclamations?             To begin, in most instances, legislation applies prospectively, meaning after the law has been enacted and takes effect. Nonetheless, there are times when the Legislature desires statutes to be applied retroactively, and sometimes they also specify a prospective application date.             The following is an example of specific language contained in a bill that is intended to apply retroactively:   The requirement to provide COVID-19 supplemental paid sick leave as set forth in this section shall take effect 10 d...

Have Courts Struck Down Voter-Approved Ballot Measures?  By Chris Micheli             The short answer is yes. And the courts have done so more than once in the State of California. There are a number of recent examples of the state and federal courts doing so, as well as a few historical instances in which statewide, voter-approved ballot measures have been invalidated by the judicial branch, even though they were approved by the statewide electorate.             The following are several of those examples:             After the November 2008 election, Prop. 8 (Definition of Marriage Constitutional Initiative), which was approved by 52% of the voters, was invalidated by the United States Supreme Court.             After the November 2000 election, Prop. 22 ...