Assignment 4 Statutory
Assignment #4
Statutory Research Exercise
Email to XXXXXXXXXX
(Approximately XXXXXXXXXXWords/Approximately 3-5 pages double-spaced)
The purpose of this Assignment is to familiarize you with how to research California
legislation using available information on the California Legislature’s website and the internet.
Throughout the semester, we have discussed the housing crisis and the Legislature’s efforts to
emove local discretion to encourage housing. I thought it would be useful to learn more about
these concepts and use it as a class exercise to conduct statutory research.
The instructions for the assignment are as follows:
1. Go to: http:
leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/
2. Click on the second “Bill Information” tab.
3. For Session Year enter XXXXXXXXXX
4. In keywords enter “housing”
5. There should be 686 bills listed with the words “housing.” Keep in mind that these are
all bills including bills that have passed and become law, i.e. signed by the Governor or
vetoed by the Governor and bills that were introduced and not passed. Scroll through the
ills and look at few to get an idea of the housing-related bills that have been introduced
in the XXXXXXXXXXlegislative year You are looking for SB 9 relating to the Land Use.
“SB” stands for Senate Bill meaning it was introduced by a Senator. “AB” or Assembly
Bill means it was introduced by an Assembly Member. To Find SB 9 enter it under Bill
Number in the Bill Search Tab. It should be the first bill,
6. Click on SB 9. You should notice that at the top of the page it indicates “Approved by
Governor September 16, XXXXXXXXXXThis means that SB 9 is now law.
7. Read the Legislative Counsel’s Digest which is about 14 paragraphs at the top of the
page. This will explain the purpose of the new law, as well as how it changes the existing
law. Whenever you want to understand the basics of any new law, start with the
legislative counsel’s digest. Read the text of the new proposed law itself (after the
Legislative Counsel’s summary). I recognize that reading the new law is challenging but
give it a shot. It will give you context of how laws are written.
8. Click on the Bill Analysis Tab at the top of the page. You can find this at:
https:
leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces
illNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB9
These analyses are prepared by staff to the various committees within the legislature.
They are very helpful in understanding how the bill changed from start to finish and to
understand who was in favor of or against the bills.
9. Click on the 4/12/21 Senate Housing Analysis and read the Bill Analysis. This was the
first committee analysis.
10. Click on the 8/28/21 Senate Floor Analysis and read the Bill Analysis. This was the latest
committee analysis before it was voted upon.
mailto: XXXXXXXXXX
http:
leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
https:
leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces
illNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB9
11. Google “Senate Bill 9 California” and click on News tab.
12. Read at least 5 articles discussing SB 9. Based upon my search you should be able to
locate and read 2 in favor of the bill and 2 opposing just by looking at the headlines.
Now that you have completed the above, please write an approximately XXXXXXXXXXword (3-5
page double-spaced paper) that analyzes the bill from your perspective and addresses almost all
of following questions or other questions that you believe are relevant. Feel free to add your
own thoughts and analysis.
1. What organizations were in favor of the bill and who opposed and why were these groups
in favor or opposed?
2. What problem is the bill trying to solve?
3. How does the bill propose to solve the problem?
4. How well do you think it will solve the problem? If you think it will solve the problem,
why do you think it will solve it? If you think it won’t solve it, why not? What problems
might the bill cause?
5. Was the newspaper coverage of the bill accurate? What did you find interesting about the
coverage?
6. As a planner, how would you have revised the bill to make the bill more effective or
would you propose a different bill?
7. Do you have any other thoughts about this assignment, either the research or the bill?
8. If you were Governor Newsom would you sign or veto the bill?
Thanks. Please contact me with questions!