For Points and Authorities on Using legislative documents, definitions of legislative terms,discussion on the legislative process and other information regarding legislation, visit:
http://www.legislativeintent.com/Web/Free.Library/
Nature of the research relationship
We provide research upon projects as defined by each client. Within the scope of each defined project we endeavor to find and provide all relevant publicly available documents without regard to the interpretative goal of the client. No attorney-client relationship is created when we undertake our research, and we remain at all times available to do similar research for other requesting parties, as they define their project. However, we consider our research confidential and do not divulge any information about a project to any third party without client consent. It is further our opinion that our work for individual clients is protected as work product to the extent it involves custom research on a project defined by the client.
Scope of the research
In putting a report together we will focus on substantive documents to keep the report concise and minimize the time you must spend developing an understanding of the history of the enactment on adoption. This means we will not forward some documents. Examples of documents we may not forward could include fiscal analyses, simple letters of support or opposition, documents reflecting legislative procedure or background documents from files. We will give you notice of the existence and nature of significant documents not forwarded so you can request them in the future if you believe they may be significant. If you would prefer to receive all documents initially, please let us know when you request the research.
In general the search will focus on documentary sources of information. To the extent recordings are available we can arrange for copies to be forwarded, or to have transcripts created, but those services are not ordinarily anticipated or included in our fee quotes.
Transcripts/Recordings of Proceedings for California Legislation
When formal hearing transcripts are available pertinent excerpts will be included. However, the California Legislature historically has not regularly recorded and/or transcribed committee or floor proceedings addressing individual bills, so such transcripts are extremely rare.
Prior to the mid 1960’s the California legislature regularly conducted hearings on particular subject matters in the interim period between sessions. These hearings generally addressed broader policy areas rather than the subject matter of specific bills. We always endeavor to identify and include provisions of any interim hearing transcript that is pertinent to the subject matter of our research.
In recent decades individual committees have sporadically recorded, and in some cases transcribed committee proceedings. In addition a select few committee, and many floor proceedings since the early 1990’s are available on videotape. Beginning in the 2003-2004 session an effort has been made to record almost all legislative proceedings in either audio or video format, although the effort is informal rather than mandated by legislative rules and procedures. These recordings available in all media are uniformly difficult and time consuming to access. In the vast majority of cases the comments on a particular bill at these proceedings are simplistic and general broad policy statements rather than the more detailed discussion found in the documentary history of the bill. Therefore our reports are generally compiled using documentary sources only. However if you would like to supplement the documentary history with a search for recorded proceedings applicable to the bill, please call.
Delivery and Binding Options
Our default delivery format, as well as other delivery options we offer are:
For our initial report, the default option is PDF delivered electronically. Other options could include fax or express delivery of hard copy upon request. We recommend you review our initial report before making a decision on what to authenticate and the format for authentication. For authenticated reports, the default option is a declaration with documents you seek to authenticate attached in pdf format delivered electronically. We can also forward this declaration in hard copy by Fed-Ex. Please let us know if you would prefer to use your firm’s Fed-Ex account number for any Fed-Ex delivery. We can also do a declaration that simply authenticates the link we forwarded. Our default binding format for hard copy of paper documents is plastic binding, as it is compact and easy to work with, yet is still permanent, which simplifies authentication for judicial notice purposes. However, if you would prefer an unbound report, we will be happy to accommodate your preference.
