California State Laws

State Constitution

The California Constitution is the document that establishes and describes the duties, powers, structure and function of the government of the U.S. state of California. The original constitution, adopted in November 1849 in the U.S. territory of California prior to California's attaining U.S. statehood in 1850, was superseded by the current constitution, which was ratified on May 7, 1879.

Unlike most state constitutions, the California Constitution is quite long at 110 and 1/2 pages. The length has been attributed to a variety of factors, such as lack of faith in elected officials and the fact that most initiatives take the form of a constitutional amendment. Several amendments involved the authorization of the creation of state government agencies, including the State Compensation Insurance Fund and the State Bar of California; the purpose of such amendments was to insulate the agencies from being attacked as an unconstitutionally broad exercise of police power.

Unlike other state constitutions, the California Constitution strongly protects the corporate existence of cities and counties and grants them broad plenary home rule powers.[9] By specifically enabling cities to pay counties to perform governmental functions for them, Section 8 of Article XI resulted in the rise of the contract city.

Many of the individual rights clauses in the state constitution have been construed as providing rights broader than the Bill of Rights in the federal constitution.  Two excellent examples are the Pruneyard Shopping Center case, and the first decision in America in 1972 finding the death penalty unconstitutional, California v. Anderson, 6 Cal. 3d 628, which also noted that under the state constitution, a stronger protection applies than the U.S. Constition's 8th Amendment, which prohibits punishments which are cruel and unusual, the state constitution prohibits punishments which are cruel or unusual.

Civil Code

The California Civil Code, more formally known as "The Civil Code of the State of California" is a collection of civil law statutes for the State of California. The code is made up of statutes which govern the general obligations and rights of persons within the jurisdiction of the State of California.

California's Civil Code is divided into four divisions: "the first relating to persons", "the second to property", "the third to obligations", while "the fourth contains general provisions relating to the three preceding divisions."  Division One contains laws which govern personal rights while Division Two contains laws which govern property rights. Division Three codifies the substantive contract law of the State of California as well as various regulations relating to agency, mortgages, unsecured loans, extensions of credit, and other areas of California law. Division Four defines remedies available in lawsuits, what constitutes a nuisance, the maxims of jurisprudence, and other miscellaneous provisions which relate "to the three preceding divisions."

State Legislature

The California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members.  The State Legislature meets in the California State Capitol in Sacramento.

A bill is a proposal to change, repeal, or add to existing state law. An Assembly Bill (AB) is one introduced in the Assembly; a Senate Bill (SB), in the Senate.  Bills are designated by number, in the order of introduction in each house. For example, AB 16 refers to the sixteenth bill introduced in the Assembly. The numbering starts afresh each session. The name of the author, the legislator who introduced the bill, becomes part of the title.  The legislative procedure, is divided into distinct stages:

1. Drafting. The procedure begins when a Senator or Assembly Member decides to author a bill. A legislator sends the idea for the bill to the California Office of the Legislative Counsel, where it is drafted into bill form. The draft of the bill is returned to the legislator for introduction.
2. Introduction or First Reading. A bill is introduced or read the first time when the bill number, the name of the author, and the descriptive title of the bill are read on the floor of the house. The bill is then sent to the Office of State Publishing. No bill except the Budget Bill may be acted upon until 30 days have passed from the date of its introduction.
3. Committee hearing. After introduction, a bill goes to the rules committee of the house, where it is assigned to the appropriate policy committee, appropriate to the subject matter, for its first hearing. During the committee hearing the author presents the bill to the committee, and testimony may be heard in support or opposition to the bill. The committee then votes on whether to pass the bill out of committee, or that it be passed as amended. Bills may be amended several times. It takes a majority vote of the committee membership for a bill to be passed and sent to the next committee or to the floor.
4. Fiscal committee. If the bill which contains an appropriation or has financial implications for the state.
5. Second reading. A bill recommended for passage by committee is read a second time on the floor of the house. Ordinarily there is little or no debate. If a bill is amended at this stage, it may be referred back for another committee hearing.
6. Floor vote. A roll call vote is taken. An ordinary bill needs a majority vote to pass . An urgency bill or a bill with fiscal implications requires a two-thirds vote.
7. Second house. If it receives a favorable vote in the first house, a bill repeats the same steps in the other house. If the second house passes the bill without changing it, it is sent to the governor's desk.
8. Resolution of Differences (concurrence or conference). If a measure is amended in the second house and passed, it is returned to the house of origin for consideration of amendments. The house of origin may concur with the amendments and send the bill to the governor or reject the amendments and submit it to a two-house conference committee. If either house rejects the conference report, a second (and even a third) conference committee can be formed. If both houses adopt the conference report, the bill is sent to the governor.
9. Governor's action. Within 12 days after receiving a bill, the governor may sign it into law, allow it to become law without his/her signature, or veto it.
10. Overrides. A vetoed bill is returned to the house of origin, where a vote may be taken to override the governor's veto; a two-thirds vote of both houses is required to override a veto.
11. California Law and effective date. Each bill that is passed by the Legislature and approved by the Governor is assigned a chapter number by the Secretary of State. These chaptered bills are statutes, and ordinarily become part of the California Codes. Ordinarily a law passed during a regular session takes effect January 1 of the following year. A few statutes go into effect as soon as the governor signs them; these include acts calling for elections and urgency measures necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety.

State Courts

Superior Courts

The  of California are the superior courts in the U.S. state of California with general jurisdiction to hear and decide any civil or criminal action which is not specially designated to be heard in some other court or before a government agency. Each of the 58 counties in California has a superior court.

Until 1998, each California county had a municipal court as well. In that year, Proposition 220 was approved by the state's voters, amending the state's Constitution to allow judges in each county to decide whether or not to retain municipal courts. By 2001, every California county had consolidated its municipal courts into the superior courts.

The superior courts are the lowest level of state courts in California holding general jurisdiction on civil and criminal matters. Above them are the six California Courts of Appeal, each of which hold jurisdiction over several counties, and the Supreme Court of California. As of 2007, the Superior Courts of California consisted of over 1,500 judges, and make up the largest part of California's judicial system, which is in turn the largest in the United States. Judges are elected by each county's voters to six-year terms. Vacancies on the court are filled by appointments made by the Governor.

Courts of Appeal

The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is divided into six appellate districts based on geography. The decisions of the Courts of Appeal are binding on superior courts, and they in turn are bound by the Supreme Court of California. Notably, all published California appellate decisions are binding on all trial courts, unlike the federal court system, where each trial court is bound only by the appellate decisions from the particular circuit in which it sits, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court. Decisions by a Court of Appeal panel are not binding on other panels. When there is a vacancy on the Supreme Court of California, or if a Supreme Court justice recuses him or herself from a case, a Court of Appeal justice is assigned to hear each Supreme Court case requiring such assignment. When there are vacancies on the Court of Appeal, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court assigns a judge from the superior court to sit as a court of appeal justice. Most Court of Appeal opinions are not published and have no precedential value; the opinions that are published are included in the California Appellate Reports.

Supreme Court of California

The Supreme Court of California is the state supreme court in California. It is headquartered in San Francisco, and regularly holds sessions at its branch offices in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Its decisions are binding on all other California state courts.

The court consists of one Chief Justice and six Associate Justices who are appointed by the Governor of California for 12-year terms. New justices are subject to a retention vote by the public at the next general election after their appointment, and each 12 years thereafter. The electorate has occasionally exercised the power not to retain justices, removing Chief Justice Rose Bird and Associate Justices Cruz Reynoso and Joseph Grodin in 1986.

According to the California Constitution, to be considered for an appointment, a person must be an attorney admitted to practice in California or have served as a judge of a California court for 10 years immediately preceding the appointment.

The court currently sits as a whole (all seven together) when hearing appeals. When there is an open seat on the court, or if a justice recused himself or herself on a given case, justices from the California Courts of Appeal are assigned to join the court for individual cases, on a rotational basis. Prior to the 1960s, the court reviewed the vast majority of appeals in three-judge panels (like the federal Courts of Appeals).

The court has direct mandatory appellate jurisdiction in all California state death penalty cases. It has discretionary appellate jurisdiction over all cases reviewed by the California Courts of Appeal.