Message from the Chair

David Lederman

What we do: Legislation Spotlight

The new legislative season is off to a great start. Our Legislation Chair, Dorie Rogers out of Orange County, has already tagged forty-eight bills for tracking. Dorie and her team track all of the legislation coming out of Sacramento and identify those that do or may impact the practice of family law. Dorie then assigns each of these bills to an Executive Committee member to "work up." The work-up process requires the assigned member to reach out to the legislator’s office to determine the intent of the legislation, get an idea as to how it is expected that the legislation will develop, get the facts sheets regarding the bill, identify the "stakeholders," analyze the bill, and recommend a position for the Executive Committee to take on the proposed legislation. The last day for a legislator to introduce a bill was February 17^th However, the last day to amend a bill is September 8^th, 2017. Many of the bills introduced by February 17^th are "spot bills," or placeholders, that will be amended over the next few months. Our first legislative business meeting was March 10^th to review and discuss the pending legislation and at least take an initial position. To follow the legislation being tracked by the section, please see www.calbar.ca.gov/AboutUs/Legislation/BillTrackingSection-sandCommittees.aspx.

Update: State of the Bar