Chapter 3.5. Law Reform of California Government Code >> Division 1. >> Title 2. >> Chapter 3.5.

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

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.

(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.

The commission shall select one of its members chairperson.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.