Legislative Update

We have a tendency to rail against the “activist judiciary” and state they are overstepping their authority. One of the purposes of the judiciary is statutory interpretation.

Statutory interpretation is defined as the process by which courts interpret and apply legislation. Some amount of interpretation is often necessary when a case involves a statute.Sometimes the words of a statute have a plain and a straightforward meaning. But in many cases, there is some ambiguity in the words of the statute that must be resolved by the judge. To find the meanings of statutes, judges use various tools and methods of statutory interpretation, including traditional canons of statutory interpretation, legislative history, and purpose. In common law jurisdictions, the judiciary may apply rules of statutory interpretation both to legislation enacted by the legislature and to delegated legislation such as administrative agency regulations

One of the ways the improper interpretation can be mitigated is to require the sponsor of a bill to add “legislative intent” along with the bill. That way there is no mistaking what the bill's actual intention is. As a “textualist” when it comes to the law, I can logically read a statute and interpret it by exactly what it says. Although I have seen a legislator come back and state, “well that wasn't my intention when I wrote that”.

No matter what side of the aisle you personally are, it's always a good thing to know what a bill is intending to do. That way, we “activist voters” can help get it passed or killed.

There are a few states that require this from their legislators. It might be something to think of in Arizona. Until next time...

Be good to one another.

Mike Infanzon
Legislative Director