Late last legislative session, California lawmakers resuscitated a statute that had been dead for about 20 years. While the statute has been dormant, however, the area it dealt with is not: Bad faith and frivolous lawsuits. Last fall, Assembly Bill 2494 reinstated Code of Civil Procedure § 128.5, with some amendments, effective January 1, 2015. If you have an older codebook, you’ll note the former version of the statute is still in there, but as subdivision (b)(1) stated, it pertained “only if the actions or tactics arise from a complaint filed, or a proceeding initiated, on or before December 31, 1994.” Section 128.5 was put to rest ... Read More >
Jul 28
Coming In Peace: 3 Weird Legal Means of Preparing For Encounters of the Third Kind
Although the Earth has not made contact with any extraterrestrial yet, it doesn't mean governments haven't started preparing for it. Don't believe it? Consider the following. The Extra-Terrestrial Exposure Law. On July 16, 1969, the U.S. would send some of its bravest to the moon for the first time. One of the many different challenges associated with the Apollo 11 mission was the return. Who knew if the astronauts might bring back unknown microorganisms or germs? To prepare for such a scenario, the government adopted Title 14, Section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations, also known as the "Extra-Terrestrial Exposure Law." This had the ... Read More >
Jul 23
LIS looks at some failed and stalled bills
"Sacramento Capitol" by Sascha Brück - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons With the Legislature on its summer recess, now is a good time to look back at some of the proposals that have died or stalled this legislative session. AB 213 was all about LED bulbs. It would have prohibited the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission from adopting a color rendering index value greater than that set by the federal EPA’s Energy Star Program. As the Lighting Research Center tells us, the color rendering index, or the CRI, is “a measure of a light source’s ability to show object colors ... Read More >
Jul 9
Somebody is Cutting Internet Cables!
Somebody is Cutting Internet Cables! On Tuesday, many individuals and businesses in San Francisco and the Sacramento area experienced widespread Internet outages for most of the day. It turns out this may be the latest in a string of severed fiber optic cables being investigated by the FBI in the San Francisco bay area. This type of vandalism involving Internet cables was just addressed last year in California. Following a string of cut Internet cables in Northern California, Assembly member Chesbro introduced Assembly Bill 1782 in 2014 to increase the maximum fine from $500 to $10,000. According to the author, “Dependable ... Read More >
Jun 29
3 Facts About the Constitution You Probably Didn’t Learn in High School History Class
There are many different things that make the United States, one of the most important of which is the Constitution. Though you may have learned quite a bit about it in your high school history class, there are some seriously fun facts about this important document that were probably left out. Here are just a few. It Almost Had Some Weird Amendments. In the 200 years since the Constitution was first created, there have been a total of 27 amendments, but there were almost more than that. In 1893, one amending legal statute was proposed, which would have changed the name of the country to the United States of Earth. In 1916, it was proposed ... Read More >
Jun 11
Legislative Intent Service Attorneys Giving Back!
One of our attorneys, Heather Thomas, is very active with Sacramento’s Wiley W. Manuel Bar Association (WMBA) and helped coordinate a volunteer day with Habitat for Humanity. On February 28, Heather and other members of the WMBA helped put finishing touches on a 1,200 square foot home in Sacramento. The home is for a single mother and her two children, who had bene previously living in a small apartment. You can read more in the current issue of Sacramento Lawyer here: Sac Lawyer Way to go, Heather! ... Read More >