Comments sought on proposed revisions to Rule of Court 976

As I previously reported, the Supreme Court has convened an Advisory Committee on Rules for Publication of Court of Appeal Opinions whose charge is to "review the publication practices that exist within the Court of Appeal districts and their divisions" and to "consider whether the existing publication rules could be amended to better assist the courts in making their initial determination of whether to certify an opinion for publication." On October 19, the Committee released its Preliminary Report and Recommendations on Rules for Publication of Court of Appeal Opinions, including a proposal to amend Rule of Court 976. Public comments have been requested and are due by January 6, 2006. The preliminary report has a lot of interesting tidbits, such as the fact that a publication request by a party carries far more weight than a publication request by a non-party.