Law Commons^™

Systemic Compliance Complaints: Making Idea's Enforcement Provisions A Reality, Monica Costello

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Since the passage of what is now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA") in 1975, this country has recognized the importance of providing appropriate educational services to students with disabilities. When a school district fails to provide these services, an organization can file a compliance complaint with the state's designated education agency to investigate the violation. This Note uses California as a case study and argues that state education agencies should be required to investigate systemic violations, even when the names of affected students are not provided. To effectively protect the rights of students with disabilities and …

No Exceptions: How The Legitimate Business Justification For Unconscionability Only Further Demonstrates California Courts' Disdain For Arbitration Agreements, Thomas H. Riske

Journal of Dispute Resolution

In Davis v. O'Melveny & Myers, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals considered whether an arbitration agreement adopted by a law firm and distributed to its employees was enforceable. When interpreting an arbitration agreement, how the contract doctrine of unconscionability should be applied by state courts, is an essential element of this case. While the Federal Arbitration Act ("FAA") has been interpreted to preempt any state law in conflict with it, state laws governing the necessary foundation to revoke a contract remain unaffected. In considering these principles, state courts have applied the doctrine of unconscionability to arbitration agreements in the …

Slides: Adapting Western Water Policy For Resilience Under Climate Change, Bonnie G. Colby

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Dr. Bonnie G. Colby, Professor of Resource Economics & Hydrology, University of Arizona Department of Agriculture & Resource Economics

22 slides

Slides: Linking Growth, Land Use And Water, Jim Holway

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Jim Holway, Global Institute of Sustainability, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Arizona Water Institute, Arizona State University

29 slides

Slides: Water Needs And Strategies For A Sustainable Future, Shaun Mcgrath

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Shaun McGrath, Program Director, Western Governors’ Association

25 slides

Slides: Threats To Biological Diversity: Global, Continental, Local, J. Michael Scott

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: J. Michael Scott, U.S. Geological Survey, Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Idaho

38 slides

Slides: Protecting Biodiversity Through Ecosystem Services, Barton "Buzz" Thompson

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Barton “Buzz” Thompson, Perry L. McCarty Director, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University Law School

14 slides

Bridging The Governance Gap: Strategies To Integrate Water And Land Use Planning, Sarah Bates Van De Wetering, University Of Montana (Missoula). Public Policy Research Institute

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

16 pages.

Includes bibliographical references

"2007"

"Collaborative Governance Report 2"

Slides: Fuel Choice Determines Transmission, Doug Larson

Shifting Baselines and New Meridians: Water, Resources, Landscapes, and the Transformation of the American West (Summer Conference, June 4-6)

Presenter: Doug Larson, Western Interstate Energy Board

26 slides

Information Generation And Use Under Proposition 65: Model Provisions For Other Postmarket Laws?, Carl Cranor

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium: Missing Information: The Scientific Data Gap in Conservation and Chemical Regulation, held on March 24, 2006 at Indiana University School of Law- Bloomington.

A Proposed Revision Of California's Procedural Statutes And Rules For Seeking Prevailing-Party Attorney Fees, Charles S. Treat

Charles S Treat

California’s procedural statutes and rules governing claims for attorney fees are a mess. They create confusing and contradictory procedural requirements; they are incomplete in carrying out California’s policy of mandatory bilaterality in contractual fee provisions; and they irrationally stymie carrying out the parties’ contractual intent in some regards. This article surveys the evolution and present state of these statutes and rules, analyzes what needs fixing, and proposes amendments to fix the problems.

Reforming The Electorial College One State At A Time, Thomas W. Hiltachk

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

The genius of our United States Constitution is the delicate balance our Founding Fathers struck between empowering a national government and preserving the inherent sovereignty of individual states. Any proposed governmental reform that would interfere with that balance should be looked upon skeptically. Recent proposals to do away with the Electoral College in favor of a national popular vote for President deserve such careful examination. But that does not mean that reform is out of reach. We have only to look to the Constitution itself to find that the answer lies in the self-interest of each state. I am an …

Awarding Presidential Electors By Congressional District: Wrong For California, Wrong For The Nation, Sam Hirsch

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

The unfairness of the proposed California Presidential Election Reform Act is obvious: in a close election, the Act virtually assures that California’s fifty-five electoral votes, which would be expected to go entirely to the Democratic presidential candidate under the traditional statewide-winner-takeall system, will instead be split, with more than a third of them going to the Republican candidate. Implementing this “reform” in the nation’s largest Democratic state, but not in any of the large Republican states (like Texas), is roughly the equivalent of handing over to the Republicans the state of Illinois. What is less obvious is that the Act …

Ceqa Rules For Agency Actions Affecting Climate Change, Paul Stanton Kibel, Barry H. Epstein, Sara N. Pasquinelli

Paul Stanton Kibel

No abstract provided.

A Chinese American Seat At The Table: Examining Race In The San Francisco Unified School District, Cynthia Der

University of San Francisco Law Review

This Comment is a case study, examining the collective experience of Chinese American students with the SFUSD and its current diversity index plan. The Comment also considers the future face of the public school system in San Francisco as legal and social interests merge.

Democratic Principle And Electoral College Reform, Ethan J. Leib, Eli J. Mark

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

The Electoral College is a relic from another time and is in tension with the modern constitutional command of “one person, one vote.” But the Electoral College is, nevertheless, ensconced in our Constitution—and, as a result, we would need to amend the document to alter or abolish it from our political fabric. Still, some states are toying with state-based Electoral College reforms. Thus, irrespective of whether voters in those states favor the abolition of the Electoral College through a federal constitutional amendment, they must critically examine the democratic merits of these statebased reform options. Categorically rejecting all state-based reform is …

Direct Democracy And The Electoral College: Can A Popular Initiative Change How A State Appoints Its Electors?, Michael Mclaughlin

Fordham Law Review

This Note explores the constitutionality of a proposed popular initiative in California that would direct the manner in which the state appoints presidential electors. Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution gives the state legislature the power to direct the manner in which the state appoints its presidential electors. The issue presented in this Note is whether a popular initiative qualifies as a “state legislature” under Article II, Section 1, Clause 2. To answer this question, this Note first examines the history of the Elector Appointment Clause, with respect to the Electoral College and in light of …

The California Greenhouse Gas Waiver Decision And Agency Interpretation: A Response To Galle And Seidenfeld, Nina A. Mendelson

Articles

Professors Brian Galle and Mark Seidenfeld add some important strands to the debate on agency preemption, particularly in their detailed documentation of the potential advantages agencies may possess in deliberating on preemption compared with Congress and the courts. As they note, the quality of agency deliberation matters to two different debates. First, should an agency interpretation of statutory language to preempt state law receive Chevron deference in the courts, as other agency interpretations may, or should some lesser form of deference be given? Second, should a general statutory authorization to an agency to administer a program and to issue rules …

California's Dueling Harmless Error Standards: Approaches To Federal Constitutional Error In Civil Trials And Establishing The Proper Test For Dependency, Meehan Rasch

Meehan Rasch

For forty years, California appellate courts generally have applied one discrete harmless error test for federal constitutional error in criminal cases and another for civil proceedings. In appeals from convictions in California state criminal cases, errors rising to a federal constitutional dimension are governed by the standard of Chapman v. California, which requires that these errors be proven by the state to be harmless beyond any reasonable doubt. The more lenient standard (for the trial court) of People v. Watson, which holds errors of state law and procedure harmless unless there is a reasonable probability that such error prejudiced the …

The Evolution Of Women's Rights In Inheritance, Kristine Knaplund

Kristine Knaplund

No abstract provided.