(1) Existing law, the Fair Debt Buying Practices Act, regulates the practice of buying charged-off consumer debt, as defined, sold or resold on or after January 1, 2014, for collection purposes and prescribes the circumstances pursuant to which the debt buyer may bring suit. The act prohibits a court from entering a default or other judgment in an action initiated by a debt buyer against a debtor unless business records, authenticated through a sworn declaration, are submitted by the debt buyer to the court to establish the facts required to be alleged, as specified. This bill would permit a person to serve and file a notice of motion and motion to set aside a default or default judgment and for leave to defend an action relating to debt, if service of a summons did not result in actual notice to the person in time to defend an action brought by a debt buyer and a default or default judgment has been entered against the person in the action. The bill would require the person to make this service and filing within 6 years after entry of the default judgment or 180 days of the first actual notice of the action, whichever is earlier, except in cases of identity theft or mistaken identity, in which case the service and filing is to be made within 180 days of the first actual notice of the action. The bill would prescribe requirements regarding documents to be submitted to a court in instances of identity theft or mistaken identity. The bill would prescribe requirements for the filing, which would include an affidavit submitted to the court under oath stating that the person's lack of actual notice in time to defend the action was not caused by his or her avoidance of service or inexcusable neglect. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would permit a court to set aside the default or default judgment on whatever terms as may be just and allow the party to defend the action. The bill would apply to a judgment entered on and after January 1, 2010, except as specified. (2) 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.
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The Wage Garnishment Law prescribes the procedure for withholding an employee's earnings for purposes of paying a debt. The law requires that a levy of execution upon the earnings of an employee be made by service of an earnings withholding order upon the employer. An earnings withholding order is issued by a levying officer upon receiving an application submitted by a judgment creditor, as specified. Existing law prohibits the amount of an individual judgment debtor's weekly disposable earnings subject to levy under an earnings withholding order from exceeding the lesser of 25% of the individual's weekly disposable earnings or the amount by which the individual's disposable earnings for the week exceed 40 times the state minimum hourly wage in effect at the time the earnings are payable, as specified, unless an exception applies. An employer is required, except as otherwise provided by statute, to withhold the amounts required by an earnings withholding order from all earnings of the employee payable for any pay period of the employee which ends during the withholding period. This bill would, commencing July 1, 2016, reduce the prohibited amount of an individual judgment debtor's weekly disposable earnings subject to levy under an earnings withholding order from exceeding the lesser of 25% of the individual's weekly disposable earnings or 50% of the amount by which the individual's disposable earnings for the week exceed 40 times the state minimum hourly wage, or applicable local minimum hourly wage, if higher, in effect at the time the earnings are payable.
Existing law makes it a crime, punishable as an infraction, for a person to commit certain acts on or in a facility or vehicle of a public transportation system, including disturbing another person by loud or unreasonable noise on the facilities, vehicles, or property of the public transportation system, in specified circumstances. This bill would revise the unreasonable noise provision so that it would apply to a person failing to comply with the warning of a transit official related to disturbing another person by loud and unreasonable noise, and also to a person playing unreasonably loud sound equipment on or in a public transportation system facility or vehicle. The bill would also make it an infraction for a person on or in a facility or vehicle of a public transportation system to fail to yield seating reserved for an elderly or disabled person if the public transportation agency enacts an ordinance to that effect, after a public hearing. The bill would also expand the definition of a facility or vehicle of a public transportation system for these purposes to include a facility or vehicle of a rail authority, whether owned or leased, as specified. By expanding the definitions of existing crimes and creating new crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law also authorizes a public transportation agency to adopt an ordinance to impose and enforce civil administrative penalties for certain passenger misconduct, other than by minors, on or in a transit facility or vehicle in lieu of the criminal penalties otherwise applicable, with specified administrative procedures for the imposition and enforcement of the administrative penalties, including an initial review and opportunity for a subsequent administrative hearing. This misconduct includes playing sound equipment on or in a system facility or vehicle. Existing law requires the ordinance to include the statutory provisions governing the administrative penalties. This bill would apply these administrative penalties to a person failing to comply with the warning of a transit official related to disturbing another person by loud and unreasonable noise, to a person playing unreasonably loud sound equipment on or in a system facility or vehicle, and to a person failing to yield seating reserved for an elderly or disabled person. The bill would authorize the administrative penalties to be applied to minors and would delete the requirement for the ordinance to include the statutory provisions. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 99580 of the Public Utilities Code, proposed by AB 869 and by AB 6 and SB 5 of the Second Extraordinary Session, that would become operative only if this bill and one or more of those bills are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2016, and this bill is enacted last. 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.
(1) The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020 and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum, technologically feasible, and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The act requires all state agencies to consider and implement strategies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. An executive order establishes a climate action team consisting of specified ex officio members and requires the team to make a specified biannual report to the Legislature and Governor. This bill would establish the Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program to be administered by the Office of Planning and Research to coordinate regional and local efforts with state climate adaptation strategies to adapt to the impacts of climate change, as specified. The bill also would require, within one year of an update to the Safeguarding California Plan, the Office of Emergency Services, in coordination with the Natural Resources Agency, the Office of Planning and Research, and relevant public and private entities, to review and update, as necessary, the Adaptation Planning Guide, as specified. The bill would establish an advisory council, as specified, to support the goals of the Office of Planning and Research as identified by the bill. The bill would require the Office of Planning and Research to establish a clearinghouse for climate adaptation information, as specified. (2) The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, with specified exceptions, requires that meetings of a state body be open and public and that all persons be permitted to attend. Existing law establishes the Strategic Growth Council and requires the council, among other things, to identify and review the activities and funding programs of member state agencies that may be coordinated to improve air and water quality. Existing law also requires the council's meetings be open to the public and subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act. This bill would specify certain council meetings that are not subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.
The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act contains various provisions regulating the application for, the issuance of, the suspension of, and the conditions imposed upon, alcoholic beverage licenses by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. Existing law provides for various annual fees for the issuance of alcoholic beverage licenses, depending upon the type of license issued. This bill, the Craft Distillers Act of 2015, would authorize the department to issue a craft distiller's license to manufacture distilled spirits, subject to specified conditions, including that the licensee manufacture no more than 100,000 gallons of distilled spirits per fiscal year, excluding brandy the craft distiller manufactures or has manufactured for them. The bill would allow the craft distiller's licensee to sell distilled spirits to specified consumers, to own interests in on-sale retail licenses, and to sell beer, wines, brandies, and distilled spirits to consumers for consumption on the premises of a bona fide eating place, as provided. The bill would impose an original fee and an annual renewal fee for the license, which would be deposited in the Alcohol Beverage Control Fund. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act authorizes a licensed distilled spirits manufacturer to conduct tastings of distilled spirits produced or bottled by, or produced or bottled for, the licensee, on the licensed premises, under specified conditions, including that tasting not be given in the form of a cocktail or mixed drink. This bill would extend that authorization to a licensed craft distiller and would revise the tasting conditions by allowing a tasting to be given in the form of a cocktail or mixed drink. Existing law prohibits a distilled spirits manufacturer's or distilled spirits manufacturer's agent's license from being held by a person that holds any ownership or interest in any distilled spirits wholesaler's, rectifier's, or retailer's license, as specified. This bill would additionally prohibit a distilled spirits manufacturer's or distilled spirits manufacturer's agent's license from being held by a person that holds any ownership or interest in a craft distiller's license.
Existing law authorizes an adult to give an individual health care instruction and to appoint an attorney to make health care decisions for that individual in the event of his or her incapacity pursuant to a power of attorney for health care. This bill, until January 1, 2026, would enact the End of Life Option Act authorizing an adult who meets certain qualifications, and who has been determined by his or her attending physician to be suffering from a terminal disease, as defined, to make a request for a drug prescribed pursuant to these provisions for the purpose of ending his or her life. The bill would establish the procedures for making these requests. The bill would also establish specified forms to request an aid-in-dying drug, under specified circumstances, an interpreter declaration to be signed subject to penalty of perjury, thereby creating a crime and imposing a state-mandated local program, and a final attestation for an aid-in-dying drug. This bill would require specified information to be documented in the individual's medical record, including, among other things, all oral and written requests for an aid-in-dying drug. This bill would prohibit a provision in a contract, will, or other agreement from being conditioned upon, or affected by, a person making or rescinding a request for the above-described drug. The bill would prohibit the sale, procurement, or issuance of any life, health, or annuity policy, health care service plan contract, or health benefit plan, or the rate charged for any policy or plan contract, from being conditioned upon or affected by the request. The bill would prohibit an insurance carrier from providing any information in communications made to an individual about the availability of an aid-in-dying drug absent a request by the individual or his or her attending physician at the behest of the individual. The bill would also prohibit any communication from containing both the denial of treatment and information as to the availability of aid-in-dying drug coverage. This bill would provide a person, except as provided, immunity from civil or criminal liability solely because the person was present when the qualified individual self-administered the drug, or the person assisted the qualified individual by preparing the aid-in-dying drug so long as the person did not assist with the ingestion of the drug, and would specify that the immunities and prohibitions on sanctions of a health care provider are solely reserved for conduct of a health care provider provided for by the bill. The bill would make participation in activities authorized pursuant to its provisions voluntary, and would make health care providers immune from liability for refusing to engage in activities authorized pursuant to its provisions. The bill would also authorize a health care provider to prohibit its employees, independent contractors, or other persons or entities, including other health care providers, from participating in activities under the act while on the premises owned or under the management or direct control of that prohibiting health care provider, or while acting within the course and scope of any employment by, or contract with, the prohibiting health care provider. This bill would make it a felony to knowingly alter or forge a request for drugs to end an individual's life without his or her authorization or to conceal or destroy a withdrawal or rescission of a request for a drug, if it is done with the intent or effect of causing the individual's death. The bill would make it a felony to knowingly coerce or exert undue influence on an individual to request a drug for the purpose of ending his or her life, to destroy a withdrawal or rescission of a request, or to administer an aid-in-dying drug to an individual without their knowledge or consent. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that nothing in its provisions is to be construed to authorize ending a patient's life by lethal injection, mercy killing, or active euthanasia, and would provide that action taken in accordance with the act shall not constitute, among other things, suicide or homicide. This bill would require physicians to submit specified forms and information to the State Department of Public Health after writing a prescription for an aid-in-dying drug and after the death of an individual who requested an aid-in-dying drug. The bill would authorize the Medical Board of California to update those forms and would require the State Department of Public Health to publish the forms on its Internet Web site. The bill would require the department to annually review a sample of certain information and records, make a statistical report of the information collected, and post that report to its Internet Web site. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. 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.
Existing law, the State Bar Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California, a public corporation. Existing law requires an attorney or law firm that receives or disburses trust funds to establish an interest-bearing demand trust account and to deposit in the account all client deposits that are nominal in amount or are on deposit for a short period of time. Existing law creates the Public Interest Attorney Loan Repayment Program, which is administered by the Student Aid Commission, to provide loan repayment assistance for licensed attorneys who practice or agree to practice in public interest areas of the law in California. Existing law provides for the escheat of property to the state. Existing law requires all property that escheats to the state to be deposited into the Abandoned Property Account in the Unclaimed Property Fund, which is continuously appropriated for specified purposes. Existing law establishes procedures for submitting a claim for property that has escheated. This bill would require funds in Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts (IOLTA) that escheat to the state to be deposited into the Abandoned IOLTA Property Account, which would be established within the Unclaimed Property Fund. The bill would establish the IOLTA Claims Reserve Subaccount within the account and would require that 25% of IOLTA escheated funds be deposited into the subaccount to be used by the Controller, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of paying refunds, claims, and costs associated with escheated IOLTA funds. The bill would require the balance of the escheated IOLTA funds to be transferred annually into the Public Interest Attorney Loan Repayment Account to be established by this bill within the State Treasury for the purposes of providing, upon appropriation by the Legislature, additional funding to the Student Aid Commission for the administration of, and provision of loan assistance pursuant to, the Public Interest Attorney Loan Repayment Program.
The Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 authorizes an aggrieved employee to bring a civil action to recover specified civil penalties, that would otherwise be assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, on behalf of the employee and other current or former employees for the violation of certain provisions affecting employees. The act provides the employer with the right to cure certain violations before the employee may bring a civil action, as specified. For other violations, the act requires the employee to follow specified procedures before bringing an action. Existing law requires an employer to provide its employees with specified information regarding their wages, including, among others, the inclusive dates of the period for which the employee is paid and the name and address of the legal entity that is the employer, either semimonthly or at the time of each wage payment and provides that the employer does not have the right to cure a violation of that requirement before an employee may bring a civil action under the act. This bill would provide an employer with the right to cure a violation of the requirement that an employer provide its employees with the inclusive dates of the pay period and the name and address of the legal entity that is the employer before an employee may bring a civil action under the act. The bill would provide that a violation of that requirement shall only be considered cured upon a showing that the employer has provided a fully compliant, itemized wage statement to each aggrieved employee, as specified. The bill would limit the employer's right to cure with respect to alleged violations of these provisions to once in a 12-month period, as specified. The bill would also delete references to obsolete provisions of law. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Under existing law, a party in a civil action may object to a complaint, cross-complaint, or answer by demurrer, as specified. Existing law authorizes a party to amend a pleading once without leave of the court at any time before an answer or demurrer is filed, or after a demurrer is filed and before the trial of the issue of law thereon. This bill would require a demurring party in certain civil actions, before filing the demurrer, to engage in a specified meet and confer process with the party who filed the pleading demurred to for the purpose of determining whether an agreement can be reached as to the filing of an amended pleading that would resolve the objections to be raised in the demurrer. The bill would prohibit a party from amending a complaint or cross-complaint more than 3 times in response to a demurrer filed before the case is at issue, except as specified. The bill would prohibit a party from demurring to a pleading that is amended following a sustained demurrer as to any portion of the amended pleading on grounds that could have been raised by the prior demurrer. This bill would also authorize a party to amend a pleading after a demurrer is filed but before it is heard by the court if the amended pleading is filed and served before the date for filing an opposition to the demurrer. The bill would authorize a party to amend a pleading after the date for filing an opposition to the demurrer upon stipulation by the parties. The bill would repeal its provisions on January 1, 2021. The bill would require a demurring party, in some circumstances, to file a declaration under penalty of perjury. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, 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.
(1) Existing law authorizes certain persons, including, among others, any person 16 years of age or older, to have his or her proficiency in basic skills taught in public high schools verified according to criteria established by the State Department of Education. Existing law requires the State Board of Education to award a certificate of proficiency to persons who demonstrate that proficiency. Existing law requires the department to develop standards of competency in basic skills taught in public high schools and to provide for the administration of examinations prepared by, or with the approval of, the department to verify competency. Existing law authorizes the department to charge a fee for each examination application in an amount sufficient to recover the costs of administering the requirements of these provisions, but prohibits the fee from exceeding an amount equal to the cost of test renewal and administration per examination application. This bill would prohibit the department from charging the fee to a homeless child or youth who is under 25 years of age and can verify his or her status as a homeless child or youth. The bill would authorize a homeless services provider, as defined, that has knowledge of the examinee's housing status to verify the examinee's status for purposes of these provisions. The bill would provide that no additional state funds shall be appropriated for purposes of implementing the above provisions. The bill would authorize the state board to adopt emergency regulations for purposes of these provisions. (2) Existing law separately requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to issue a high school equivalency certificate and an official score report, or an official score report only, to a person who has not completed high school and who meets specified requirements, including, among others, having taken all or a portion of a general education development test that has been approved by the state board and administered by a testing center approved by the department, with a score determined by the state board to be equal to the standard of performance expected from high school graduates. Existing law authorizes the Superintendent to charge an examinee a one-time fee to pay costs related to administering these provisions and issuing a certificate, as specified. Existing law limits the amount of the fee to $20 per person and requires each scoring contractor to forward that fee to the Superintendent. This bill would, for purposes of those provisions, prohibit a contractor or testing center that charges its own separate fee from charging that separate fee to a homeless child or youth who is under 25 years of age and can verify his or her status as a homeless child or youth. The bill would authorize a homeless services provider, as defined, that has knowledge of the examinee's housing status to verify the examinee's status for purposes of these provisions. The bill would provide that no additional state funds shall be appropriated for purposes of implementing these provisions, and would authorize the Superintendent to adopt emergency regulations for purposes of these provisions. (3) Existing law establishes in the State Treasury a Special Deposit Fund Account, which consists of certain fees, and is continuously appropriated for the support of the department to be used for purposes of the provisions above relating to high school equivalency tests. This bill would authorize the Superintendent, until July 1, 2019, to use surplus funds, as defined, in the Special Deposit Fund Account to reimburse contractors for the loss of fees, if any, pursuant to provisions above relating to high school equivalency tests. By authorizing the expenditure of money in a continuously appropriated fund for a new purpose, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require a contract executed by the department for the provision of those tests to require a contracting party to accept all examinees, including those entitled to a fee waiver pursuant to those provisions. The bill also would require the department to include a provision in all memorandums of understanding with contractors for purposes of providing a high school equivalency test, that if the surplus funds in the Special Deposit Fund Account are depleted, the ongoing costs of a fee waiver for an examinee deemed eligible for a waiver shall be absorbed by the contractor. (4) This bill also would require the department, on or before December 1, 2018, to submit 2 reports to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature, one relating to high school proficiency tests, and one relating to high school equivalency tests, that each include, among other things, the number of homeless youth that took a high school proficiency or equivalency test in each of the 2016, 2017, and 2018 calendar years, and the impact of the opportunity to take a high school proficiency or equivalency test at no cost on the number and percentage of homeless youth taking a high school proficiency or equivalency test.