SECTIONS 8280-8298 - California Statutes

GOVERNMENT CODE

SECTION 8280-8298

8280. There is created in the State Government the California Law
Revision Commission.

8281. The commission consists of one Member of the Senate appointed
by the Committee on Rules, one Member of the Assembly appointed by
the Speaker, and seven additional members appointed by the Governor
with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Legislative Counsel
shall be an ex officio member of the commission.
The Members of the Legislature appointed to the commission shall
serve at the pleasure of the appointing power and shall participate
in the activities of the commission to the extent that the
participation is not incompatible with their respective positions as
Members of the Legislature. For the purposes of this article, those
Members of the Legislature shall constitute a joint interim
investigating committee on the subject of this article and as a joint
interim investigating committee shall have the powers and duties
imposed upon those committees by the Joint Rules of the Senate and
Assembly.
The members appointed by the Governor shall be appointed for a
term of four years and shall hold office until the appointment and
qualification of their successors. The terms of the members first
appointed shall not commence earlier than October 1, 1953, and shall
expire as follows: four on October 1, 1955, and three on October 1,
1957. When a vacancy occurs in any office filled by appointment by
the Governor, he or she shall appoint a person to the office, who
shall hold office for the balance of the unexpired term of his or her
predecessor.

8282. (a) The members of the commission shall serve without
compensation, except that each member appointed by the Governor shall
receive fifty dollars ($50) for each day's attendance at a meeting
of the commission.
(b) In addition, each member shall be allowed actual expenses
incurred in the discharge of his or her duties, including travel
expenses.

8283. The commission shall select one of its members chairperson.

8284. The commission may appoint an executive secretary and fix his
or her compensation, in accordance with law.

8285. The commission may employ and fix the compensation, in
accordance with law, of such professional, clerical and other
assistants as may be necessary.

8286. The material of the State Library shall be made available to
the commission. All state agencies, and other official state
organizations, and all persons connected therewith shall give the
commission full information, and reasonable assistance in any matters
of research requiring recourse to them, or to data within their
knowledge or control.

8287. The Board of Governors of the State Bar shall assist the
commission in any manner the commission may request within the scope
of its powers or duties.

8288. No employee of the commission and no member appointed by the
Governor shall, with respect to any proposed legislation concerning
matters assigned to the commission for study pursuant to Section
8293, advocate the passage or defeat of the legislation by the
Legislature or the approval or veto of the legislation by the
Governor or appear before any committee of the Legislature as to such
matters unless requested to do so by the committee or its
chairperson. In no event shall an employee or member of the
commission appointed by the Governor advocate the passage or defeat
of any legislation or the approval or veto of any legislation by the
Governor, in his or her official capacity as an employee or member.

8289. The commission shall, within the limitations imposed by
Section 8293:
(a) Examine the common law and statutes of the state and judicial
decisions for the purpose of discovering defects and anachronisms in
the law and recommending needed reforms.
(b) Receive and consider proposed changes in the law recommended
by the American Law Institute, the National Conference of
Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, any bar association or other
learned bodies.
(c) Receive and consider suggestions from judges, justices, public
officials, lawyers, and the public generally as to defects and
anachronisms in the law.
(d) Recommend, from time to time, such changes in the law as it
deems necessary to modify or eliminate antiquated and inequitable
rules of law, and to bring the law of this state into harmony with
modern conditions.

8290. The commission shall recommend the express repeal of all
statutes repealed by implication, or held unconstitutional by the
Supreme Court of the state or the Supreme Court of the United States.

8291. The commission shall submit its reports, and its
recommendations as to revision of the laws, to the Governor and the
Legislature, and shall distribute them to the Governor, the Members
of the Legislature, and the heads of all state departments.

8292. The commission may, within the limitations imposed by Section
8293, include in its report the legislative measures proposed by it
to effect the adoption or enactment of the proposed revision. The
reports may be accompanied by exhibits of various changes,
modifications, improvements, and suggested enactments prepared or
proposed by the commission with a full and accurate index thereto.

8293. The commission shall file a report at each regular session of
the Legislature that shall contain a calendar of topics selected by
it for study, including a list of the studies in progress and a list
of topics intended for future consideration. The commission shall
confine its studies to those topics set forth in the calendar
contained in its last preceding report that have been or are
thereafter approved for its study by concurrent resolution of the
Legislature. The commission shall also study any topic that the
Legislature, by concurrent resolution or statute, refers to it for
study.

8294. The reports, exhibits, and proposed legislative measures
shall be printed by the State Printing Office under the supervision
of the commission. The exhibits shall be so printed as to show in the
readiest manner the changes and repeals proposed by the commission.

8295. The commission shall confer and cooperate with any
legislative committee on revision of the law and may contract with
any committee for the rendition of service, by either for the other,
in the work of revision.

8296. The commission may cooperate with any bar association or
other learned, professional, or scientific association, institution
or foundation in any manner suitable for the fulfillment of the
purposes of this article.

8297. The commission may, with the approval of the Director of
General Services, enter into, amend and terminate contracts with
colleges, universities, schools of law or other research
institutions, or with qualified individuals for the purposes of
research.

8298. The commission may study and recommend revisions to correct
technical or minor substantive defects in the statutes of the state
without a prior concurrent resolution of the Legislature referring
the matter to it for study.