Existing law authorizes certain persons to use a signature stamp to affix a signature to various elections documents. Existing law prohibits a voter from using a signature stamp until the signature stamp is used by the voter to sign an affidavit of registration in the presence of a county elections official. Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Secretary of State to develop a process and infrastructure to allow the electronic copy of a person's signature and other information to be transferred to the Secretary of State for the purpose of allowing a person to register to vote electronically on the Secretary of State's Internet Web site. This bill would additionally authorize certain registered voters to use a signature stamp if the voter submits an affidavit of registration electronically utilizing a signature stamp that has been approved by the Department of Motor Vehicles and transmitted to the Secretary of State.
Sponsored bills
Existing law, except as expressly provided, makes any violation of the Fish and Game Code, or any rule, regulation, or order made or adopted under that code, a misdemeanor. Existing law makes certain actions relating to trapping unlawful. The bill would revise a prohibition on using a specific type of trap, and would make it unlawful to kill any trapped mammal by listed methods. By specifying these new Fish and Game Code violations, thereby defining new 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 declare the week of August 4, 2013, to August 10, 2013, inclusive, to be Dropout Recovery Week, and would state the Legislature's intent to encourage the support of dropout recovery high schools with creative teaching strategies, alternative assessments, and adequate resources.
This measure would urge the President and Congress of the United States to develop a comprehensive federal approach to reducing and preventing gun violence, promptly place assault weapons and high-capacity assault magazines under the scope of the National Firearms Act, and require a universal background check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) for the transfer of all firearms. This measure would additionally urge the President to take steps to ensure that all states and applicable federal agencies are reporting all necessary records to the NICS.
Existing law authorizes a tenant to notify the landlord in writing that he or she or a household member, as defined, was a victim of an act of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, or abuse of an elder or dependent adult and that the tenant intends to terminate the tenancy. Existing law requires that the tenant attach to the notice to terminate either a copy of a temporary restraining order or protective order that protects the tenant or household member from further domestic violence, sexual assault, or abuse of an elder or dependent adult or a police report, as specified. Existing law permits the tenant to quit the premises after notification and limits the tenant's obligation for payment of rent, as specified. Existing law requires the notice to terminate the tenancy to be given within 180 days of the date the order was issued or the report was made, or as specified. Existing law requires, by January 1, 2014, the Judicial Council to develop or revise a form that may be used to assert, on the basis of these provisions, an affirmative defense to an unlawful detainer action. This bill would expand these provisions to authorize a tenant to notify the landlord that he or she or a household member is a victim of human trafficking and the tenant intends to terminate the tenancy, as specified. Until January 1, 2016, the bill would include among the supporting documents that a tenant may attach to the notice to terminate a tenancy documentation that includes specified statements by the tenant and by a health practitioner, a domestic violence counselor, a sexual assault counselor, or a human trafficking caseworker to indicate that the tenant is seeking assistance for physical or mental injuries or abuse resulting from an act of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, or abuse of an elder or dependent adult. The bill would make various conforming changes. This bill would prohibit a landlord from disclosing any information provided by a tenant under these provisions to a 3rd party unless the disclosure is consented to in writing or is required by law or order of the court, except as specified. This bill would extend, until July 1, 2014, the deadline for the Judicial Council to develop or revise the above-described form for an affirmative defense to an unlawful detainer action.
Existing law prohibits public schools from discriminating on the basis of specified characteristics, including gender, gender identity, and gender expression, and specifies various statements of legislative intent and the policies of the state in that regard. Existing law requires that participation in a particular physical education activity or sport, if required of pupils of one sex, be available to pupils of each sex. This bill would require that a pupil be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil's records.
(1) Existing state and federal law regulate the practice of debt collection. Existing state law prohibits a debt collector from engaging in specified conduct, including the use of threats or causing a telephone to ring repeatedly to annoy the person called. Existing law prohibits a debt collector from obtaining an affirmation from a debtor of a consumer debt that has been discharged in bankruptcy, without clearly and conspicuously disclosing to the debtor, in writing, the fact that the debtor is not legally obligated to make such affirmation. This bill would enact the Fair Debt Buying Practices Act, which would regulate the activities of a person or entity that has bought charged-off consumer debt, as defined, for collection purposes and the circumstances pursuant to which the person may bring suit. The bill would apply to consumer debt sold or resold on or after January 1, 2014. The bill would prohibit a debt buyer, as defined, from making any written statement in an attempt to collect a consumer debt unless the debt buyer possesses information that the debt buyer is the sole owner or is authorized to assert the rights of all owners of the specific debt at issue, the debt balance, as specified, and the name and address of the creditor at the time the debt was charged off, among other things. The bill would require the debt buyer to make certain documents available to the debtor, without charge, upon receipt of a request, within 15 days. The bill would require that a specified notice be included with the debt buyer's first written communication with the debtor. The bill would require all settlement agreements between a debt buyer and a debtor to be documented in open court or otherwise in writing and would require a debt buyer who receives a payment on a debt to provide a receipt or statement containing certain information. The bill would prohibit a debt buyer from initiating a suit to collect a debt if the statute of limitations on the cause of action has expired. The bill would prescribe penalties for each violation of the act and would provide that its provisions may not be waived. The bill would require a debt buyer bringing an action on consumer debt to include certain information in his or her complaint. The bill would prohibit an entry of judgment in favor of a plaintiff debt buyer unless business records authenticated through a sworn declaration and relating to the debt and ownership of it, among other things, are submitted by the debt buyer to the court, and would permit a court to dismiss a debt buyer's action to collect with prejudice if this information is not provided or if the debt buyer fails to appear or is not prepared on the date scheduled for trial. (2) Existing law establishes a process for the enforcement of money judgments and requires a levying officer to provide certain documents and information to a judgment debtor and to a designated employer in connection with wage garnishment. Existing law permits a process server also to serve an earnings withholding order on an employer and requires that the process server also serve certain documents at this time. Existing law requires an employer who is served with an earnings withholding order to provide certain documents to an employee who is a judgment debtor. This bill would require, in the circumstances described above, that a copy of the form that the judgment debtor may use to make a claim of exemption and a copy of the form used to provide a financial statement also be provided.
This measure would designate the month of April 2013 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, would recognize April 24, 2013, as Denim Day California, and would encourage everyone to wear jeans on that day to help communicate the message that there is no excuse for, and never an invitation to commit, rape.
This measure would declare the Legislature's support for adjusting the boundary of the Yosemite National Park to include an approximately 1,575 acre area adjacent to the southwest boundary of the park, further bounded by the Sierra National Forest, and owned by 2 landowners who have expressed their desire to add that area to the park to protect the integrity of the Yosemite National Park and the Sierra National Forest. This measure would urge the United States Congress to act expeditiously in adjusting the boundary of the park.