Existing law authorizes the plaintiff, in an action for the breach of an obligation not arising from contract, where it is proven by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant has been guilty of oppression, fraud, or malice, to recover damages for the sake of example and by way of punishing the defendant in addition to the actual damages. This bill would provide, in a case involving injury or harm allegedly caused by a product, that the manufacturer, distributor, or seller of the product shall not be guilty of oppression, fraud, or malice if, at the time of manufacture, distribution, or sale, the product, or the aspect, component, warning, or absence of warning contained in or accompanying the product that allegedly caused the injury or harm, was either approved by, or in material compliance with, a statute or the standards, rules, regulations, requirements, or specifications of, a federal or state agency responsible for regulating, evaluating, or approving the product, except as specified.
Sponsored bills
The Vehicle License Fee Law, in lieu of any ad valorem property tax upon vehicles, imposes an annual license fee for any vehicle subject to registration in this state in the amount of 1% of the market value of that vehicle, as provided, for a specified amount of time. Existing law, operative until June 30, 2011, also imposes an additional tax to the vehicle license fee equal to 0.15% of the market value of specified vehicles, as determined by the Department of Motor Vehicles, to be deposited in the General Fund and transferred to the Local Safety and Protection Account, a continuously appropriated fund. This bill would appropriate $506,400,000 from the General Fund to be deposited in the Local Safety and Protection Account, as specified. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires state and local agencies to make their records available for public inspection and, upon request of any person, to provide a copy of any public record unless the record is exempt from disclosure. Existing law authorizes the Governor, upon leaving office, from restricting access to certain records, as specified, except that the Governor is prohibited from imposing any restriction whatsoever with respect to certain files, including, among others, writings relating to applications for clemency or extradition in cases which have been closed for a period of at least 25 years. This bill would, instead, prohibit the Governor from imposing any restriction whatsoever on public access to writings relating to applications for clemency. This bill would require the Governor, prior to making any materials relating to an application for clemency public, to redact the home address, telephone number, and e-mail address of a victim of crime, or a family member of a victim of crime, from the materials.
The Joint Exercise of Powers Act authorizes two or more public agencies, if each is authorized by their respective legislative bodies, to enter into an agreement to jointly exercise any power common to those two agencies. The Ralph M. Brown Act requires that meetings of the legislative body of a local agency, including a joint powers authority, be open and public, with specified exceptions authorizing closed sessions for specified purposes. Existing law permits a joint powers agency to include in its joint powers agreement provisions authorizing (1) any member of the legislative body of a member local agency to disclose information obtained during a closed session of the joint powers agency that has direct financial or liability implications for that member local agency to that agency's legal counsel or to other members of that agency's legislative body, as specified, or (2) any designated alternate member of the legislative body of the joint powers agency that is also a member of the legislative body of a member local agency, who is attending in lieu of that agency's regularly appointed member, to attend closed sessions of the joint powers agency, as specified. This bill would repeal and recast those provisions to additionally authorize a joint powers agency to include in its joint powers agreement provisions authorizing (1) any designated alternate member who is attending in lieu of the appointed member to attend closed sessions of the joint powers authority, or (2) any appointed or designated alternate member of the local agency to disclose information obtained during a closed session of the joint powers authority that has direct financial or liability implications for that member local agency to that agency's legal counsel, or to those persons who are present in a closed session of that member local agency. This bill would also make various, nonsubstantive, conforming changes.
Existing law provides that no handgun ammunition vendor, as defined, shall sell, offer for sale, or display for sale, any handgun ammunition in a manner that allows that ammunition to be accessible to a purchaser without the assistance of the vendor or employee thereof. Existing law requires, subject to exceptions, commencing February 1, 2011, that handgun ammunition vendors obtain a thumbprint and other information from ammunition purchasers, as specified. Existing law provides, subject to exceptions, that commencing February 1, 2011, the delivery or transfer of ownership of handgun ammunition may only occur in a face-to-face transaction, with the deliverer or transferor being provided bona fide evidence of identity of the purchaser or other transferee. Violations of any of the above provisions are misdemeanors, some with specified penalties. This bill would repeal these provisions and make related conforming and technical changes.
Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to identify toxic air contaminants that are emitted into the ambient air of the state, and requires the state board to designate those substances listed as hazardous air pollutants pursuant to federal law. Existing law authorizes the state board and local air quality management districts to adopt regulations to impose monitoring requirements, establish procedures for issuing, reissuing, and enforcing permits, and take any other action that may be necessary to establish, implement, and enforce programs for the regulation of hazardous air pollutants that have been listed as toxic air contaminants, and to enforce specified requirements of the federal Clean Air Act. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this authorization.
Existing law provides that expenses authorized and necessarily incurred in the preparation for and conduct of elections are to be paid from the county treasuries, except as specified. This bill would provide that expenses authorized and necessarily incurred on or after January 1, 2009, and before April 19, 2011, for elections proclaimed by the Governor to fill a vacancy in the office of Senator or Member of the Assembly, or to fill a vacancy in the office of United States Senator or Member of the United States House of Representatives, shall be paid by the state. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, as amended by Proposition 21, adopted March 7, 2000, and by Proposition 83, adopted November 7, 2006, provides for a list of crimes called "violent felonies" and "serious felonies." Other existing law provides specified enhancements to the punishments of certain repeat, state-prison bound offenders with prior violent or serious felony convictions. The initiative statutes provide that any amendment of these provisions by the Legislature shall require a 23 vote of the membership of each house. Existing law defines battery as any willful or unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another. Existing law provides that battery committed against a custodial officer, firefighter, emergency medical technician, lifeguard, process server, traffic officer, or animal control officer engaged in the performance of his or her duties, as specified, is punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony. Existing law provides that battery against a peace officer, as specified, is punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony. This bill would add felony battery against the above-named persons to the list of "serious felonies" and to the list of "violent felonies." Existing law specifies, for purposes of the sentence enhancements specified above, that the statutes comprising the lists of violent and serious felonies be interpreted as they existed at the time the provisions were enacted, including amendments made to those statutes during the 2005–06 Regular Session of the Legislature, as specified. This bill would likewise require those statutes to be interpreted as they would be amended following the enactment of this bill for purposes of sentence enhancements. By expanding the punishments for existing crimes, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
This measure would designate that January 16, 2012, be observed as the official memorial of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birth, commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Civil Rights Movement in changing public policy in California and in the United States of America.
Existing law sets the minimum schoolday in a high school, except certain schools, including a regional occupational center, and except for pupils enrolled in a work experience education program, at 240 minutes. Existing law, until July 1, 2012, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to compute an amount of funding for each pupil concurrently enrolled in regular secondary school classes and classes operating pursuant to a joint powers agreement that became effective prior to January 1, 2008, for the period of time the pupil attends classes pursuant to the joint powers agreement, by performing specified calculations. Existing law requires, for these pupils, that a 180-minute schoolday be computed and reported as attendance for 34 of the full 240-minute schoolday for purposes of those calculations. Existing law requires that the number of hours of instruction at regional occupational centers or programs that are claimed for funding pursuant to these provisions be used, in addition to specified hourly rates, in the computation of the average daily attendance of the regional occupational center or program. Existing law, until July 1, 2012, makes the Center for Advanced Research and Technology, operating pursuant to a joint powers agreement between the Clovis Unified School District and the Fresno Unified School District, ineligible to receive charter school funding. This bill would extend to July 1, 2017, the provisions regarding the ineligibility of the Center for Advanced Research and Technology for charter school funding and the computation of attendance for pupils concurrently enrolled in regular secondary school classes and classes operating pursuant to a joint powers agreement that became effective prior to January 1, 2008.