Appellate Courts Section
Legislative Sponsorship Policy

Periodically, the Appellate Courts Section (the “Section”) is asked to sponsor, promote or favor a proposal to change or create California regulations, rules or statutes. This sponsorship policy is designed to guide the Officers and Executive Committee of the Section in deciding whether the Section should agree to such a sponsorship or promotion. This policy is not intended to draw an absolute line between what legislative sponsorship changes are appropriate, but rather to list various procedures and factors that should weigh into the decision.

The final sponsorship decision will be made by the Section’s Executive Committee upon the recommendation of the Section’s Officers. Two-thirds of the Executive Committee members voting must agree for such a sponsorship to pass.

Here are the guiding factors:

• The rule, regulation or statute should generally involve an issue affecting appellate law, procedure or practice.
• The proposed new or amended rule should be generally neutral in terms of plaintiff vs. defendant, prosecution vs. criminal defendant, or spousal category.
• The Section should generally not support a proposal that is opposed by most California appellate Justices.
• When time constraints permit, the Officers will circulate the proposal for comment by Section members. That member input will not be binding on the Executive Committee decision, but the Committee will pay heed if a sizable percentage of the total Section members oppose sponsorship.

Any sponsorship will clearly be expressed as being by the Section, rather than by the parent Los Angeles County Bar Association.