Sen. Tim Grayson

Existing law authorizes proceedings for the formation of a regional park and open-space or regional open-space district in specified counties in the state to be initiated by resolution of the county board of supervisors adopted after a noticed hearing, and specifies the contents of the resolution. This bill, in addition, would authorize the formation of a regional district in the County of Solano to be initiated by resolution of the county board of supervisors after a noticed hearing. The bill would specify the contents of the resolution, including a requirement that the resolution call an election, as prescribed.

Existing law makes it a crime, subject to specified exemptions, for a person to intentionally eavesdrop upon or record a confidential communication by means of an electronic amplifying or recording device without the consent of all parties to the confidential communication. Existing law exempts from the prohibition the recording of a confidential communication made for the purpose of obtaining evidence reasonably believed to relate to the commission by another party to the communication of certain crimes, including any felony involving violence against the person making the recording. Existing law also allows a judge to include a provision in a domestic violence restraining order permitting a victim of domestic violence to record any prohibited communication made to him or her by the perpetrator. This bill would allow a party to a confidential communication to record the communication for the purpose of obtaining evidence reasonably believed to relate to domestic violence, as specified, and the evidence so obtained would not be rendered inadmissible in a prosecution against the perpetrator for domestic violence. The bill would also authorize a victim of domestic violence who is seeking a domestic violence restraining order from a court to record specified communications made by the perpetrator for the exclusive purpose and use of providing the evidence to the court.

This measure would designate a specified portion of Interstate 680 in the City of San Ramon in the County of Contra Costa as the Detective Sergeant Thomas A. Smith, Jr. Memorial Highway. The measure would also request that the Department of Transportation determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, erect those signs.

This measure would mark May 6, 2017, as the 135th anniversary of the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act in order to recognize the harm caused by racially discriminatory immigration measures, and to honor the contributions of all immigrants and refugees who have enriched our communities. The measure would also declare the opposition of the Legislature to recent executive orders signed by President Trump relating to immigration, call upon the President to revoke those orders, condemn the expansion of deportations being undertaken under the current presidential administration, and reaffirm that the state is open and welcoming to immigrants and refugees who are integral to life in our state.