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A hint on statute drafting

The AZ case on retroactivity of the castle doctrine law brings to mind a principle I've always followed in drafting a bill (which I wind up doing from time to time):

ALWAYS put in a clause at the end on retroactivity. If it affects anything that might happen in court, say specifically whether it only applies to conduct occurring after its date, or applies to cases brought after its date (even if the underlying conduct occurred before the statute's effective date), or applies to all cases then pending in trial courts, or applies to all cases, period. That way the courts don't have to puzzle out what the legislature meant to do. Given that the statute of limitations on criminal cases is about five years, and on civil cases about two (depends on the legal theory and the state), there is always a lot of room for situations where the conduct occurred before the statute and the litigation after. GIven that it takes years for litigation and appeal, there's lots of room for cases to be brought before the statute but still be pending when enacted. (There are of course some due process issues involved with retroactivity).