Death Penalty Death PenaltyProvides that a physician or any other invited person may not be disciplined for refusing to attend an execution. Also deletes from existing law the requirement to invite physicians to an execution.
Authorizes the State Department of Corrections (DOC) to move no more than 15 condemned men to secure condemned housing at the California State Prison, Sacramento, as specified. Authorizes DOC to move condemned prisoners whose medical or mental health needs are so critical as to endanger the inmate or others to the California Medical Facility or other appropriate institution for medical or mental health treatment, as specified.
Prohibits the death penalty for a mentally retarded person, as defined.
Domestic ViolenceRequires the court, prior to a hearing on the issuance or denial of a protective order to ensure that a search of specified records and databases is or has been made to determine if the proposed subject of the order has any specified prior criminal convictions, specified misdemeanor convictions, or outstanding warrants, is on parole or probation, or is or was the subject of other protective or restraining orders
Continuously appropriates $30 million from the General Fund each year to the State Department of Social Services for specified domestic violence programs. Requires these programs to include plans for shelter, counseling, legal service, case management, job preparation and development assistance, among others.
Enacts the Contra Costa County "Zero Tolerance for Domestic Violence" Act. Allows Contra Costa County to increase the fees for certified copies of marriage license, and the fee for issuance of a birth certificate, fetal death or death certificate by $2.00, for the purpose of funding governmental oversight and coordination of domestic violence prevention, intervention, and prosecution efforts in the county. Allows the fees to be increased annually by the county, based on the Consumer Price Index of the San Francisco metropolitan area for the preceding year. Sunsets on January 1, 2007.
Requires, by January 1, 2003, the Office of Criminal Justice Planning to establish a uniform approach for providing medical examinations, documentation and evidence collection for victims of domestic violence and elder and dependent adult abuse. Appropriates $100,000 to implement the provisions of the bill.
Expands the felony domestic violence statute to include circumstances where the batterer is currently in a dating relationship with the victim and knows, or reasonably should know, the victim is pregnant.
Expands, statewide, the Family Law Interpreter Pilot Program to require the presence of a certified or registered court interpreter for a party in any proceeding involving domestic violence or family court mediation who is deaf or hearing impaired or for a party who does not proficiently speak or understand the English language.
Requires child protective service agencies to develop protocols for collaboration with other specified groups relative to domestic violence.
Provides that, in a court's determination to award spousal support, a rebuttable presumption affecting the burden of proof shall exist that a supported spouse who has been convicted of domestic violence within five years of the dissolution, before or after the commencement of the proceedings, shall have any support award eliminated. Specifies that the court may consider a convicted spouse's history as a victim of domestic violence as a condition for rebutting the presumption.
Specifies that domestic violence protective orders issued by a criminal court have precedence over any civil court order pertaining to the same persons. Directs the Judicial Council to establish a protocol for coordination of all others regarding the same persons. Requires modifications of domestic violence protective orders to be entered into the Domestic Violence Retraining Order System and requires all such orders to be issued on forms adopted by the Judicial Council. Provides that the provisions become operative on January 1, 2003.
Defines, for purposes of the Domestic Violence Prevention Act and the issuance of various protective orders under the Act, the term dating relationship, by incorporating the definition of that term, as currently contained in Penal Code Section 243.
Requires that written domestic violence reports prepared by law enforcement include a notation of whether the responding officer(s) inquired of the victim. and/or the alleged abuser, whether a firearm or other deadly weapon was present at the location, and requires any firearm discovered by the officer to confiscate the firearm or deadly weapon.
Requires persons accused of misdemeanor domestic violence-related offenses to be present for arraignment and sentencing.
Requires the Office of Criminal Justice Planning, with the assistance of a specified advisory committee, to develop, adopt, and make available to every public or general acute care hospital or other medical professionals, as required, a standard state form for collecting forensic evidence when that evidence is agreed to by the patient, who is a victim of domestic violence, after consulting with his or her health care provider, a victim advocate, and law enforcement.
Appropriates $2 million to the Office of Criminal Justice Planning to fund local domestic violence programs that have previously received funds, but were not selected for funding in 2001.
Replaces current law relating to enforcement of domestic violence protective orders from other states with the Uniform Interstate Enforcement of Domestic Violence Protection Orders Act, promulgated by the National Conference on Uniform State Laws. Prescribes the criteria for determining the validity of an order. Specifies that registration of a valid order in this state is not required for its enforcement. Requires a law enforcement officer of this state to enforce an order if probable cause exists that the order is valid and has been violated. Provides immunity for law enforcement officers attempting, in good faith, to enforce the order.
Creates a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment for a first conviction of the alternate misdemeanor-felony offense of corporal injury upon a spouse or cohabitant. Increases current mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment for specified offenders. Limits judicial discretion in domestic violence cases by requiring imprisonment, even when probation is granted, and by eliminating the authority of the court to waive mandatory confinement provisions for specified offenders.
Adds any sexual assault and/or domestic violence victims to those crime victims who are specifically authorized to receive up to $2,000 for relocation expenses and adds any sexual assault or domestic violence victims to those victims who may receive such reimbursement on an emergency or expedited basis.
Requires, in any criminal action or proceeding in which a witness is alleged to be a victim of domestic violence, stalking, or identity theft, that all identifying information shall be redacted from any ruling, decision, pleading, motion, document, exhibit, or other evidence, including testimony before the court, except upon motion of the defendant for the court to review the identifying information in camera and authorize the disclosure to the defense of only that identifying information reasonably necessary to the defendant's defense under the California or United States Constitution.
Proclaims October 18, 2001, as Health Cares About Domestic Violence Day.
Child AbuseEnacts the California Safe From the Start Partnership Program administered by the State Department of Justice (DOJ), in consultation with the State Department of Health Services, to provide five-year annual grants to local law enforcement agencies for programs aimed at reducing the number of children who are witness to, or victims of, violence. Continuously appropriates $11 million from the General Fund each fiscal year to DOJ for grants and related program costs. Sunsets January 1, 2007.
Requires the State Department of Corrections and the Board of Prison Terms to provide notification to a county child welfare services agency that requests notification or the impending release of an inmate committed to state prison for child abuse, sexual offenses against a child, or domestic violence.
Requires the State Department of Health Services to implement several new activities relating to violence. Creates the Safe Children and Communities Advisory Board.
Appropriates $100,000 from the General Fund to the Office of Criminal Justice Planning for the Interagency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect to conduct a statewide Child Death Review Team training program to be coordinated with the State Child Death Review Council.
Requires a hospital to make a report to specified agencies, if a mandated victim abuse reporter, as defined, in the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, and the hospital has knowledge of, observes, or has reasonable suspicion that the surrendered child has been the victim of child abuse or neglect.
Acknowledges the month of April, 2001, as Child Abuse Prevention Month, and encourages members of the public to support child abuse prevention activities in their communities and schools.
Declares the year 2001 as the Year of the Vulnerable Child.
Expressly authorizes any mandated reporter who has knowledge of or who reasonably suspects that mental suffering has been inflected upon a child, or that his or her emotional well-being is endangered in any other way, to report the known or suspected instance of child abuse or neglect, as specified, and makes a number of technical, nonsubstantive changes to the mandatory child abuse and neglect reporting laws.
Expands the current list of violent felonies to include the alternate misdemeanor/felony offense of child endangerment and corporal punishment of a child.
Expands the scope of the child abuse prosecution program administered by the Office of Criminal Justice Planning (OCJP) to include additional specified offenses. Requires OCJP to submit an evaluation of the Child Abuser Prosecution Program, as specified, using outcome measures to determine its effectiveness.
Requires, in any criminal action or proceeding in which a witness is alleged to be a victim domestic violence, stalking, or identity theft, all identifying information shall be redacted from any ruling, decision, pleading, motion, document, exhibit, or other evidence, including testimony before the court, except upon motion of the defendant for the court to review the identifying information in camera and authorize the disclosure to the defense of only that identifying information reasonably necessary to the defendant's defense under the California or United States Constitution.
Authorizes the establishment of county multidisciplinary teams or centers for the investigation and prosecution of alleged child abuse and, under certain circumstances, the use of Victim Restitution Fund monies for child victim forensic evidentiary interview services, as specified, conducted by county-based multidisciplinary teams.
Designates 2001 as the Year of Heightened Concern for Special Children.
Proclaims April 2001 as Child Abuse Prevention Month and calls upon all Californians to observe this month by being responsible parents and by taking action to make their own communities healthy places for children to grow and thrive.
Sex OffendersExtends existing juror's rights relative to confidentiality and sealing provisions to jurors in initial commitment and postcommitment proceedings involving commitment of a person as a sexually violent predator.
Provides Internet access to the sex offender registry, as specified.
Provides that any person who, under specified circumstances, threatens verbally, in writing, or by means of an electronic communication device, to commit a sexually violent offense against a child under 14 years of age, even if there is no intent of actually delivering or conveying the threat, shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison. Requires any person convicted of this offense to register as a sex offender pursuant to a specified provision of law.
Bans registered sex offenders who have been convicted of sex offenses against children under the age of 16 from working or volunteering in positions where they would work directly and in an unaccompanied setting with children, as specified.
Designates the month of April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
Requires sex offender registrants to register additionally at university campuses, as defined, where they work or are enrolled, as specified.
Grants a court exercising jurisdiction over multiple offenses involving criminal sexual acts and stalking that occurred in more than one jurisdictional territory jurisdiction over properly joinable offenses.
Amends the requirements of annual sex offender registration to expressly require registrants to provide current vehicle information, current fingerprints and a current photograph, as specified. Double-joined with AB 4 (Bates) and AB 1004 (Bates).
Expands the definition of sex offense for the purposes of the exception to the inadmissibility of character evidence which allows evidence of past sex offenses.
Increases the penalty, from a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in county jail, to an alternative felony misdemeanor, punishable by 16 months, two, or three years in state prison, for any person who, against the will of a minor 14 years of age or older, but without unlawful constraint, touches an intimate part of the minor for purposes of sexual arousal or abuse (sexual battery), when the person holds a position of special trust. Increases the penalty, from a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in county jail, to an alternative felony misdemeanor, punishable by 16 months, two, or three years in state prison, for any person who annoys or molests a child under the age of 18, when the person holds a position of special trust.
Increases the penalty to 25 years-to-life for conviction of specified sex offenses where the victim is a minor.
Requires sex offenders residing, enrolled or employed in any university or college to register with the campus police department.
Makes it a misdemeanor for any person required to register as a sex offender who fails to disclose their status as a registrant prior to accepting a position circulating election petitions or assisting persons to register to vote.
Specifies that unless a person committed as a sexually violent predator is subject to further incarceration for a criminal conviction or to parole, the person shall be unconditionally released in the county in which the person committed the sexually violent offense that supported the determination that the person be committed as a sexually violent predator.
Eliminates the authority for the Board of Prison Terms to grant worktime credits in order to reduce those specified sex offense sentences.
Lowers from 90 to 60 days the minimum period within which sex offender registrants must update their registration when they have no residence address.
Adds any school assault victim to those crime victims who are specifically allowed to receive up to $2,000 for relocation expenses, and adds these victims to those who may receive such reimbursement on an emergency.
Specifically states that a psychologist or psychiatrist is unavailable to evaluate an alleged sexually violent predator for purposes of commitment proceedings (1) if the evaluator's professional license has been suspended, or (2) the evaluator failed to follow State Department of Mental Health protocols, in addition to (3) the standards for unavailable witnesses set out in the Evidence Code and relevant decisional law, and to provide that an evaluator's unavailability shall not prevent the defense from presenting any relevant evidence.
Makes it a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for three, six, or eight years, for any physician, nurse, physician's assistant, nursing assistant, X-ray technician, mental health care professional, or any person who falsely pretends to be a physician, nurse, physician's assistant, nursing assistant, X-ray technician, or mental health care professional, to perform or prolong a genital examination, including a female pelvic examination, a rectal examination, or a breast examination solely for the purpose of sexual gratification, arousal, or abuse.
Adds the crime of continuous sexual abuse of a child to the list of "one-strike" sex offenses.
Requires the Department of Justice to provide specified information regarding registered sex offenders on the Internet.
Controlled SubstancesRequires the State Department of Health Services to establish a voluntary program for the issuance of identification cards (medical marijuana) to qualified patients who may use marijuana for medical purposes, and for primary caregivers. Prohibits a person or designated primary caregiver in possession of a valid identification card from being subject to arrest for possession, transportation, delivery, or cultivation of medical marijuana in an amount approved by the State Department of Health pursuant to regulations, unless there is reasonable cause to believe that the information contained in the card is false. Imposes various duties upon county health departments or its designees relating to the issuance of identification cards.
Requires a seller or lessor of residential property, who knows or has reasonable cause to believe the release of an illegal controlled substance took place on the property, to notify any prospective purchaser or tenant, and imposes civil damages (and, in appropriate cases, civil penalties) for nondisclosure. Sunsets January 1, 2004.
Classifies possession of not more than 28.5 grams of marijuana as an infraction instead of a misdemeanor on the first offense. Reduces required conviction prior to requiring the court to send the individual into a diversion program from three to two convictions. Deletes provisions relative to booking procedures.
Allows a practitioner eligible to obtain triplicate prescription forms for Schedule II controlled substances (e.g., a physician or a pharmacist) to request the history of controlled substances dispensed to an individual under his/her care based on data contained in the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES). Appropriates $145,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Justice for CURES in the 2001-02 fiscal year. Sunsets on July 1, 2003.
Classifies the drug 3, 4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine within Schedule I of the state controlled substances law.
Similar legislation is AB 1416 (Leach-R), which is in Assembly Public Safety Committee.
Makes the possession of a benzodiazepine drug a misdemeanor or an infraction. Double-joined with AB 258 (La Suer).
Creates a three-year sentence enhancement for any person convicted of the manufacture or attempted manufacture of methamphetamine or phencyclidine, or possession or attempted possession of specified precursor chemicals, when the crime occurs in a structure within 1,000 feet of a dwelling. Deletes provisions of existing law that require a school be open for school-related programs in order for a two-year enhancement to apply for commission of specified drug offenses on school grounds.
Moves the controlled substance gamma hydroxybutyrate or gamma-hydroxybutyric acid from Schedule II to Schedule I with specified exceptions. Double-joined with AB 98 (Zettel).
Authorizes privately funded research on industrial hemp to be conducted in California after the State Department of Justice issues a state controlled substance registration and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration issues a federal controlled substance registration for research on the agronomic potential of industrial hemp.
Increases the penalty, from a misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in the county jail, to a felony, punishable by 16 months, two, or three years in state prison, for knowingly dispensing a dangerous drug or device, or knowingly operating a business that dispenses or furnishes a dangerous drug or device without a license to dispense or furnish these products.
Increases the penalties and enhancements for methamphetamine manufacturing, and disposal, as specified.
Creates a new felony for extracting ephedrine or pseudoephedrine and increases the penalties for manufacturing, as specified.
Expands the existing two-year enhancement for manufacturing phencyclidine or methamphetamine in a structure where a child under the age of 16 is present, to include a structure where a child resides.
Reauthorizes for three more years a limited Los Angeles courts pilot project that allows public prosecutors to file unlawful detainer actions to evict drug dealers and users from a rental property, while allowing the law-abiding tenant or tenants to remain as tenants of the property. Also requires a new Judicial Council report and evaluation of the program.
Increases the penalties for methamphetamine convictions and prohibits probation, as specified.
Classifies the drug 3, 4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine within Schedule I of the state controlled substances law. Provides that it is unlawful for any person to use or be under the influence of the drug.
Similar legislation is SB 1103 (Margett-D), which is in Senate Public Safety Committee.
Drunk Driving/Other Vehicle Code Offenses
Makes it an infraction to leave a child under the age of six unattended in a motor vehicle, as specified, and creates a fund for an educational campaign regarding the dangers of leaving a child in a vehicle.
Requires yellow light change intervals at intersections at which there is an automated enforcement system. Provides that the change intervals would be established in accordance with the Traffic Manual of the State Department of Transportation.
Initiates an evaluation of the current driving under the influence sanctions and seeks recommendations for improvement.
Increases the penalties for evading a peace officer.
Requires the State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to license and regulate home study traffic violator programs and limits the fee charged by courts for nonprofit agencies to monitor traffic violator programs to $3.
Provides that failure to fully comply with, rather than failure to enroll all drivers in, the required pull notice system results in exercise of the suspension authority. Provides that a household goods carrier who continues to employ as a driver a person against whom a disqualification action has been taken affecting that person's driving privileges is subject to suspension of the carrier's permit. Adds allowing or permitting a driver to continue driving a commercial motor vehicle after being notified that the driver has tested positive for controlled substances or alcohol use, or refused to test, in violation of federal regulations to the list of actions for which the State Department of the California Highway Patrol recommends suspensions and suspension would be required.
Doubles the fines and increases the penalties for specified traffic violations that occur in a "posted school zone". Establishes a special account within counties' treasuries for the deposit and disbursal of moneys collected from these enhanced fines to allow school districts, cities, and counties to establish and/or enhance programs that bolster student safety.
Limits fines for specified vehicle equipment and registration violations.
Increases the penalty for felony driving under the influence under specified conditions.
Addresses a provision in existing law that does not allow a person whose car was impounded for driving on a suspended or without a license who is able to correct the problem with his or her license and have it reinstated to get their car back before the 30-day period has expired.
Establishes a pilot program to prove residence address information to qualifying private colleges and universities to be utilized solely for the purpose of enforcing parking restrictions.
Requires a peace officer to give a verbal command to stop, or sound a horn, whistle, or other audible device that produces a sound of at leas 115 decibels, or give a hand signal when commanding the person to stop, rather than requiring an officer to do all three in order to constitute misdemeanor fleeing from a bike officer. Deletes the requirement that a peace officer's bike be distinctively marked when a person, while operating a motor vehicle, flees a pursuing officer.
Permits a traffic violator school to accept any person interested in attending this school, not only court-ordered traffic violators.
Requires the State Department of Motor Vehicles to license home study programs as traffic violator schools.
Increases the penalty for eluding a peace officer while driving a vehicle which causes death or great bodily injury from an alternate misdemeanor/felony to a straight felony punishable by three, four, or five years in state prison, b a fine between $5,000 to $10,000, or by both fine and imprisonment.
Prohibits any person from using a cellular telephone while operating a motor vehicle, unless that telephone is specifically designed to allow hands-free operation and is used in that manner while driving.
Eliminates the ten-year washout period that exists when a person has been convicted of a felony driving under the influence (DUI) when a death occurred as a result of that DUI.
Similar to SB 1025 (Karnette-D) which is in Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Creates a misdemeanor for a person under the age of 21 who drives with a blood alcohol content of 0.01 percent or more of alcohol in his or her blood.
Creates an alternate felony/misdemeanor (wobbler) for any person convicted of reckless driving that proximately causes great bodily injury, by deleting the requirement that the person have a prior conviction for one of any specified offenses.
Narrows the instances when a vehicle can be impounded because the person is driving with an invalid license and makes specified changes regarding post-storage hearing.
Other Crimes and SentencingAllows, at the request of the guilty party, for the appointment of counsel prior to the filing of a motion for post-conviction DNA testing and makes other technical changes to the provisions on post-conviction DNA testing, as specified.
Changes the definition of "implied threat" in the stalking statute to delete "pattern" of conduct, as specified.
Requires the Attorney General to provide grants to community-based hate violence prevention and response networks according to criteria specified by the Attorney General in consultation with the Governor and existing networks. Requires the Attorney General, in consultation with the Governor and the Superintendent of Public Instruction to recommend a source of funding for the grants.
Requires the Attorney General to establish, operate and publicize a toll-free telephone number and a World Wide Web site to encourage victim and witness reporting of hate crime and hate incidences.
Requires detailed notice to a property owner for property seized without a warrant by a law enforcement agency.
Makes numerous minor conforming and technical changes to penal provisions in various codes, as determined and urged by the California District Attorneys Association.
Requires that the court or a probation department, the State Department of Corrections, or the State Department of the Youth Authority only order or arrange for placement, or refer, persons under the jurisdiction of the court or the respective departments to a sober living home, as defined. Requires a sober living home to provide certain information to the local law enforcement agency having jurisdiction in the area in which the home is located in order to be certified.
Adds "hate crimes" to the list of issues to be addressed in interagency safe schools programs established under the School/Law Enforcement Partnership. Requires comprehensive school safety plans to include development of a discrimination and harassment policy, and development of hate crime reporting procedures.
Makes changes to the evidence retention and confidentiality provision and the criminal liability provisions of the Missing Persons DNA Database.
Makes technical changes and corrections to specified Penal and Vehicle Code provisions, including extending the date for the interlock system to be completed.
Adds, as a special circumstance in a capital case, the circumstance where the victim was protected by a restraining order or other protective order directed against the defendant.
Requires, by January 1, 2003, the Governor's Office of Criminal Justice Planning to establish a uniform approach for providing medical examinations, documentation and evidence collection for victims of domestic violence and elder and dependent adult abuse, as specified. Appropriates $100,000 to implement the provisions of the bill.
Enacts a California version of the Federal "FACE" Act that is designed to protect physicians and others who provide abortion services, patients seeking such services, and places of worship, from violent protests and related conduct that is so extreme as to not be constitutionally protected.
Allows women who were convicted of homicide prior to the enactment of the Evidence Code provision providing for the admissibility of evidence relating to battered women's syndrome to bring a writ of habeas corpus when there is a reasonable probability that the result of the case may have been different had evidence of battered women's syndrome been admissible in the original trial.
Allows prosecutors to charge a defendant with grand theft (goods/service greater than $400 in value) where the defendant committed a number of petty thefts pursuant to a common scheme or intent.
Increases the restitution fines applicable to bribery, so as to ensure that public official defendants do not profit from their crimes despite prosecution.
Attempts to avoid bail forfeitures by requiring judges to remand defendants into custody after a plea based upon an "indicated sentence," unless the court specifically finds that the defendant is not a flight risk.
Prohibits the court from striking or otherwise reducing circumstances in existing law adding an enhancement for crimes where the perpetrator is armed with a firearm.
Updates the prohibition on monitoring of subscribers and receivers of satellite services to reflect current service technologies.
Requests the Attorney General to develop a plan to prevent and report crimes against homeless persons and to report to the Legislature recommendations associated with curbing the crimes.
Expands the list of offenses that may constitute a "pattern of criminal gang activity" to include forgery, counterfeiting, and unlawful use of the personal identifying information of another person.
Appropriates $75,000 from the General Fund to the State Department of Social Services (DSS) for implementing a pilot project in San Francisco, Santa Clara and Lake counties to train employees of banks and other financial institutions to recognize and report financial abuse of the elderly and dependent adults. Requires DSS to develop training materials and a uniform system of reporting financial abuse of the elderly. Sunsets January 1, 2006.
Increases the penalty from a "woblette" (an alternate misdemeanor-infraction punishable by up to one year in county jail) to a wobbler (an alternate felony-misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in county jail, or by 16 months, two, or three years in state prison) for knowingly contacting a minor 12 years of age or younger for the purpose of luring the minor away from home or any other location, with the intent to avoid consent of the minor's parent or guardian. Increases the age of the minor from 12 to 15.
Authorizes the payment by credit card for the deposit of bail or for any fine for any offense not declared to be a felony.
Makes it a misdemeanor to knowingly sell, market, advertise, manufacture, compound, convert, produce, derive, process, or prepare any substance which, when added to a drug test sample, produces a false-negative result.
Includes criminal prosecuting attorneys' offices within the list of agencies that may receive reports or disclosure of reports regarding actual or suspected abuse of elders and dependent adults. Adds criminal prosecuting attorneys' offices to the list of agencies exempted from civil or criminal liability for any report, unless a false report was knowingly made. Adds criminal prosecuting attorneys' offices to the list of those entities exempted from liability for providing access to a victim of abuse, and also to the list of those entities that may present a claim to the State Board of Control
Provides that it is unprofessional conduct and a crime to prescribe, dispense, or furnish psychotropic drugs to a dependent child of the court, or a ward of the court, where the child has been removed from the custody of the parent or guardian, without a juvenile court order.
Eliminates the requirement that an identity theft perpetrator obtained the victim's identifying information without authorization.
Expands the list of mandated reporters of elder and dependent adult abuse to include a clergy member as defined, humane societies and animal control agencies, fire departments, and offices of environmental health and building code enforcement. Provides that the requirement to report would not apply to a clergy member who receives communication similar to that protected by the clergy-penitent privilege.
Grants a court exercising jurisdiction over multiple offense involving criminal sexual acts and stalking that occurred in more than one jurisdictional territory jurisdiction over properly joinable offenses.
Reduces county jail "work-time/good-time" credits from one-third the time served to no more than 20 percent for a nonviolent felon awaiting trial who is charged under the three-strikes law.
Provides that the penalty for the attempt to contact a minor for the purpose of luring the minor away from his/her home or other location shall be the same as if the offense had been completed.
Adds use of an "imitation gun" to the statute that requires an additional one-year in state prison for use of a deadly or dangerous weapon in the commission or attempted commission of a felony.
Allows for subsequent arrest information for persons employed as in-home personal care to an aged or disabled adult. Extends the sunset on the rural crime prevention act.
Doubles current penalties for assaults with a gun or a deadly weapon upon peace officers or firefighters.
Provides guidelines for the expulsion and suspension of students who aid and abet batteries that occur on school grounds, as specified. Authorizes courts to order minors involved in assaults or batteries to attend counseling.
Increases the number of crimes covered in the DNA data bank to include first degree robbery, first degree burglary, felony arson and carjacking. Adds specified individuals to the list of those DNA information may be released to.
Makes substantive and procedural changes to the California Department of Corrections' Compassionate Release Process in order to improve and expedite the process, as specified.
Deletes a rebuttable presumption in the law stating if a death occurs beyond three years and one day after the date that the action that caused the eventual death, the killing was not criminal.
Allows enhanced punishment for a person convicted of a child pornography offense where the person has a prior conviction for sex crimes involving children.
Amends statutory law to specify that deportation from the United States constitutes a form of inability to appear in court that can support a court's decision to vacate an order of forfeiture and exonerate bail.
Establishes a grant program in the Governor's Office of Criminal Justice Planning that enables counties to more effectively address the financial abuse of exploitation of elders and dependent adults, as specified.
Creates a new felony offense for any government employee who knowingly gives a false driver's license or identification card.
Prohibits insurers from canceling or refusing to renew a policy held by a religious or educational organization or other nonprofit solely on the basis that the policyholder has filed one or more claims for damage resulting from a hate crime.
Requires a long list of probation conditions when probation is granted for the commission of so-called high-tech crimes accomplished with the aid of a computer, electronic mail, or the Internet, and requires mandatory minimum probation of at least 36 months in felony high-tech cases.
Establishes in the State Department of Justice the Asian Pacific Islander Anti-Hate Crimes Program. Appropriates $250,000 to implement the provisions of the bill. The provisions sunset on January 1, 2005.
Creates an Office of Criminal Justice Planning-administered program for (1) prosecution of methamphetamine manufacturing crimes that may endanger children, and (2) providing services to children injured or endangered by such activities.
Prohibits a felony conviction for the simple possession of a controlled substance from being used as a second or third strike for the purpose of the "Three Strikes" law.
Expands the scope of the existing offense involving mischievous animals to include a person having custody or control of the animal and prescribes penalties for situations where the animal either kills or causes great bodily injury to any human being.
ProceduralRequires defendants to pay the costs of supervision by the probation department while in a deferred entry of judgment program.
Redefines psychotherapist to ensure that communication between a patient and a registered or licensed professional (or his or her trainee or intern) that the patient reasonably believes is a "psychotherapist" will be confidential and privileged.
Provides that the statutorily authorized automatic stays on court orders affecting child custody do not apply to proceedings relating to parental kidnapping of a child from the state or county having jurisdiction over custody.
Lengthens the times relative to a criminal defendant's right to a speedy trial in felony cases and shortens the time in misdemeanor and infraction cases.
Requires the judge to take specified precautions when a person with disabilities is a victim of specified crimes and adds crimes of domestic violence to the current list of sex offenses that require specified precautions when a person under 11 years of age is the victim.
Lowers the standard required for corroborating evidence necessary to file an otherwise time-barred child sexual abuse case when the complainant is under the age of 21, as specified.
Makes numerous cleanup changes to statutes relating to trial court funding and amends various discover-related statutes to make discovery practice and procedure more uniform throughout the state.
Requires that, in counties with five or more judges, the reassignment to a different judge shall be made on a random basis in cases where a party moves to disqualify a judge.
Requires persons accused of misdemeanor domestic violence-related offenses to be present for arraignment and sentencing.
Provides that a statement concerning negligence of culpable conduct that is part of, or in addition to, statements and/or gestures expressing sympathy, or a general sense of benevolence, is not inadmissible, as specified.
Specifies that, if a defendant in a misdemeanor case appeals the denial of his or her motion for the return of property or to suppress evidence, the trial court has discretion to grant a stay of the trial pending disposition of the appeal.
Provides for the exclusion and separation of potential and actual witnesses during a hearing on a motion to suppress evidence.
JuriesExempts San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District police from jury duty in civil and criminal matters.
Extends confidentiality and sealing provisions in existing law relative to identifying information or jurors, to jurors in initial commitment and postcommitment proceedings involving commitment of a person as a sexually violent predator.
Seeks to raise the minimum amount that a county may pay grand jurors, from $10 to $15, effective July 1, 2002. Raises the mileage reimbursement for grand jurors from $0.15 per day, one way only.
Provides that an eligible person who serves as a pollworker at a national, statewide, or local election is excused from jury service for a period of one year following the date of the election at which the pollworker serves.
Juvenile JusticeRequires the State Department of Justice to collect statistical data concerning minors who are handled in criminal courts, as specified.
Places a $400 million juvenile detention facility general obligation bond act on the March 2002 statewide ballot to fund construction, renovation, and deferred maintenance (of items with a useful life of at least 10 years) of county juvenile facilities and county temporary shelter care facilities for children removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect.
Authorizes juvenile courts to commit 18 year-old delinquent wards to jail for not more than one year, as specified.
Makes numerous substantial changes in several areas of juvenile court law.
Establishes the Council on Mentally Ill Offenders within the Youth and Adult Correctional Agency, as specified.
Authorizes the photographing and fingerprinting of minors taken into temporary custody for a felony.
Follows up on recently enacted legislation that highlight the value of maintaining relationships between a dependent child and his/her siblings.
Permits the California Youth Authority (CYA) to hold a minor, committed to the CYA by the juvenile court for murder, past his/her 25th birthday, by changing the calculation of confinement to a period of time equal to the time between the date of the commission of the offense and the date of the offender's 25th birthday. Provides that the period of confinement may not exceed the maximum term of imprisonment that could be imposed upon an adult convicted of the same offense, unless an order for further detention has been made by the committing court, as specified. Authorizes the court to waive the extended confinement period for cause.
Authorizes a court to order visitation between the parent or guardian and the child, for a total of not more than 60 days, for the purpose of facilitating a gradual transition for the permanent and safe return of the child to his/her home, where the court has found that there is a substantial risk of detriment to the safety, protection, or physical or emotional well-being of the child if he/she is returned home. Authorizes the court to impose any conditions or restrictions on that visitation necessary to ensure the well being and safety of the child.
Establishes the "Youth Leadership Through Education and Crime Prevention Pilot Program" to serve young people six to 18 years of age from disadvantaged circumstances, at youth centers operated by nonprofit youth serving agencies in three specified counties, as specified. Appropriates $1.5 million to implement the program.
Authorizes the juvenile dependency court, when issuing a restraining order protecting a child from certain behavior by any parent, guardian , or current or former member of the child's household, to also issue an order protecting the parent, guardian of current caretaker of the child from that person, whether the child resides with them or not. Double-joined with SB 66 (Kuehl-D), Chapter 752, Statutes of 2001.
Appropriates $20 million from the General Fund to the Board of Corrections for continuing and expanding the juvenile "Repeat Offender Prevention Project."
Appropriates $400 million (General Fund) to the Board of Corrections for competitive grants to counties for construction, expansion and renovation of local adult and juvenile detention facilities, and requires the Board of Corrections give priority to counties with court-ordered population caps that have resulted in the release of inmates prior to their scheduled release dates.
Creates the Truancy Court Pilot Project in Los Angeles, as specified.
Enacts a technical family and juvenile law cleanup bill. Updates codes and code references and restores a provision to the juvenile dependency law that was inadvertently chaptered out last year. (The changes will be consistent with legislation passed in recent years with regard to family and juvenile law proceedings.)
CorrectionsRequires, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the State Board of Corrections to award competitive grants to cities and counties for the construction and renovation of local adult detention facilities.
Requires that a state agency be the authority that licenses or certifies the drug treatment programs that qualified probationers and parolees are ordered to complete.
Requires that the basic standards of training for correctional personnel include basic, entry, continuation, supervisory, management, and specified assignments.
Provides that the Governor appoint a warden for a correctional institution for a term of three years and specifies that a warden is subject to removal by the Director of the State Department of Corrections (DOC) at any time. Requires the Director of the DOC to notify the Auditor General, within 15 days of a warden completing two years of his or her three-year term to undertake a review of the fiscal management of the prison managed by the warden and to issue a report, as specified. Prescribes conditions for the reappointment of wardens.
Appropriates $18 million to the State Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs to provide money for urinalysis testing of participants in Proposition 36 drug treatment programs, within specified guidelines, and clarifies certain provisions in the initiative.
Enacts the Drug Addicted Offender Treatment Program and appropriates $50 million from the General Fund, without regard to fiscal year, to the State Board of Corrections to establish a competitive grant program for counties to expand or establish treatment programs. Provides that the programs be directed toward county jail inmates who are likely to recidivate or be committed to state prison and provide treatment during incarceration and after release. Requires an evaluation and report by December 31, 2007.
Revises the composition and terms of the California Council for Interstate Adult Offender Supervision (Council), designating the Director of the State Department of Corrections as member, commissioner, and Compact Administrator for the purpose of the federally created Interstate Compact for the Supervision of Adult Offenders, and extending the terms of the Council from two to four years.
Requires the Council to make recommendations regarding the best method for implementing the Interstate Compact in California to the Legislature, Governor and Judicial Council, no later than January 1, 2003.
Requires that when a prisoner's commitment is terminated, the State Department of Corrections, and officials from the county in which a prisoner intends to reside, develop a plan from the prisoner's release into the community.
Prohibits medical technical assistants, who are licensed vocational nurses, from making any decision concerning access to care for inmates and requires the State Department of Corrections to report to the Legislature on the cost and benefits of charging a $5 co-payment for each inmate-initiated medical visit.
Establishes, within the State Department of Corrections (DOC), the Robert E. Burton Correctional Board of Education to oversee all correctional education activities and appoints a Superintendent of Correctional Education to administer educational programs within DOC.
Makes specified changes recommended by the California Law Revision Commission in the emergency rulemaking authority of the State Department of Corrections.
Enacts the Mental Health Enhancement and Crime Prevention Act of 2001. Requires the State Board of Corrections, contingent upon an appropriation in the State Budget Act, to reimburse counties for the excess cost of providing psychotropic medications to county jail inmates for the purpose of reducing recidivism through more effective mental health treatment and post-release patient follow-up.
States the Legislature's findings and declarations with respect to self-esteem. Requires the State Board of Corrections (BOC) to require participating probation departments to consider specified aspects of self-esteem when developing training for probation officers who provide direct service to juvenile probationers. Requires the BOC to survey local probation departments to determine which departments are using the self-esteem training that is to be considered.
Allows female prisoners serving an indeterminate term of imprisonment, who do not have a release date set, to have overnight visits with their children under the age of 21 years, subject to any other applicable restrictions on such visits.
Authorizes the Director of the State Department of the Youth Authority to transfer any person, 18 years of age or older, to the State Department of Corrections, as specified.
Authorizes the State Board of Prison Terms (BPT) to convene specified hearing panels, on an emergency basis, until December 31, 2003. Requires the BPT commissioners to participate in hearings each work day. Appropriates $31,743,000 to implement the provisions of the bill and makes related changes.
Specifies, in statute, that State Department of Corrections (DOC) "correctional counselors" are peace officers and that they may carry firearms while not on duty (currently those persons are peace officers by virtue of the Director of DOC's designation authority).
States legislative intent to implement the findings and declarations added by initiative statute effective July 1, 2001. Appropriates $19,200,000 from the General Fund to the director of the State Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs to implement the provisions of the bill.
Establishes the Council on Mentally Ill Offenders within the State Youth and Adult Correctional Agency.
Prohibits an individual, corporation, partnership, association, or other private organization or entity, from constructing or operating a private correctional or detention facility in this state, unless expressly authorized by California statute. Creates an exception to this provision for any contract for operation entered into prior to January 1, 2002.
Increases the default commitment period for a mentally disordered offender from one to two years. Requires an annual evaluation and recommendation regarding the offender's status from the State Department of Mental Health to the court, the district attorney, the defense and the offender.
Increases the State Board of Corrections by two additional members who represent rank and file members from local correctional facilities.
Requires the State Youth and Adult Correctional Agency to prepare a report to the Legislature on a plan to improve the education and training of future leaders in the State Department of Corrections and the State Department of the Youth Authority.
Requires the State Department of Corrections to determine whether an inmate who tests positive for hepatitis C is eligible for veterans' health benefits.
Allows programs of adult education in correctional facilities to be funded for as much as five percent annual growth on top of the currently allowed 2.5 percent growth, if that growth can be attributed to courses in the prevention of domestic violence or the prevention of substance abuse. Authorizes this growth in funding for fiscal years 2002-03 to 2005-06, inclusive.
Enacts protections, as specified, for personal information of employees in state prisons maintained by the State Department of Corrections.
Requires the Director of the State Department of Corrections (DOC) to establish a publicly accessible Internet database, as specified, containing identifying information about persons who are fugitives, escapees, or have absconded, and information about inmates and parolees, including, but not limited to, identifying information and commitment offense.
Requires the State Department of Corrections to establish a five-year pilot program to use a Global Positioning System to track 100 parolees with a record of sex crimes or stalking.
Appropriates $400 million from the General Fund to the State Board of Corrections (BOC) for competitive grants to counties for construction, expansion and renovation of local adult and juvenile detention facilities and requires the BOC to give priority to counties with court-ordered population caps that have resulted in the release of inmates prior to their scheduled release dates.
Requires the Director of the State Department of Corrections to develop and implement a paperless intranet system for inmate health care records by January 1, 2007. Requires the State Department of Information Technology to manage the project.
Requires defendants who are ordered to complete a batterers program to attend consecutive weekly sessions and to complete the program within 18 months, unless the court finds good cause to modify these requirements, as specified.
Requires a local detention facility to provide, upon request, an affidavit of registration or an application for an absentee ballot, or both, to a prisoner who is otherwise eligible to vote. Requires the local detention facility to allow the prisoner to mail a completed affidavit of registration or application for absentee ballot to the appropriate county elections official, vote his or her absentee ballot and mail it to the appropriate elections official.
Urges the federal government to take custody of over 20,000 undocumented alien felons.
Victims' RightsAllows an identity theft victim to obtain information about unauthorized requests for credit that have been made in his/her name. Clarifies procedures to be followed by a victim of identity theft prior to receiving information from a credit card issuer.
Creates the Identity Theft Victim's Protection Act of 2001 by requiring the Office of Criminal Justice Planning to establish regional identity theft units as components of the existing High Technology Task Force.
Requires the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board to establish up to five Victim Recovery, Resource and Treatment Programs.
Authorizes the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board (Board) to reimburse specified entities as a direct result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack, as specified. Authorizes the Board to provide reimbursements, which cumulatively shall not exceed a total of $2,575,000 to county boards of supervisors, upon their request, for specified purposes.
Extends existing law, which grants the victim, next of kin, or two members of the victim's immediate family, the right to appear at a parole hearing before the State Board of Prison Terms to express views regarding the offender, to include representatives designated by the victim or next of kin.
Adds victims or derivative victims of crimes in which the perpetrator is sentenced to death, or life without the possibility of parole, to those victims and circumstances where the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board may grant an additional extension to file a claim, as specified. Extends the sunset on the section of law which allows such extraordinary extensions from January 1, 2003 to January 1, 2004.
Establishes a program for the placement of specified memorial signs along state highways recognizing victims of drunk and drugged driving accidents. Prescribes the conditions and terms of placing such signs, their duration and the payment of the costs associated with the signs. Sunsets on January 1, 2007.
Adds parolees to the existing provisions that require the Director of the State Department of Corrections to deduct outstanding restitution fines and orders from court awards or settlements relating to imprisonment and requires that the existing five percent administrative fee be deducted, as well.
Makes a number of changes to the eligibility and reimbursement provisions of the Victims of Crime Program.
Adds any sexual assault and/or domestic violence victims to those crime victims who are specifically authorized to receive up to $2,000 for relocation expenses and adds any sexual assault or domestic violence victims to those victims who may receive such reimbursement on an emergency, or expedited, basis.
Double-joined with AB 1017 (Jackson-D).
Requires, in any criminal action or proceeding in which a witness is alleged to be a victim of domestic violence, stalking, or identity theft, all identifying information shall be redacted from any ruling, decision, pleading, motion, document, exhibit, or other evidence, including testimony before the court, except upon motion to the defendant for the court to review the identifying information in camera and authorize the disclosure to the defense of only that identifying information reasonably necessary to the defendant's defense under the California or United States Constitution.
Authorizes the establishment of county multidisciplinary teams or centers for the investigation and prosecution of alleged child abuse. Authorizes, under certain circumstances, the use of Victims Restitution Fund monies for child victim forensic evidentiary interview services, as specified, conducted by county-based multidisciplinary teams.
Recognizes the week of April 23 through 27, 2001, as Crime Victims' Rights Week in California.
Proclaims the Legislature's support for National Crime Victims' Rights Week, by recognizing the importance of considering crime victims' pain, suffering, and lost quality of life when analyzing public policy, and by encouraging all Californians to learn about the methods available to minimize the risk of victimization and make their communities safer places in which to live.
WeaponsMakes a series of changes to the Dangerous Weapons' Control Law. Specifically, this bill (1) requires the State Department of Justice (DOJ) to develop and maintain a system for reporting information regarding the date and time of handgun deliveries by dealers, and authorizes DOJ to charge a fee to cover the cost of the system, (2) requires, commencing July 1, 2005, handgun dealers to report date and time delivery information to DOJ, and (3) requires, until July 1, 2005, if required by DOJ, a licensed handgun dealer (or a sheriff's department in a smaller county) to provide date and time delivery information to DOJ, as prescribed to DOJ.
Expands the existing criminal storage of a firearm penalties to include such storage when a minor is under 18 years of age (currently 16) and creates a new penalty for criminal storage of any firearms, whether unloaded or not, when no injury occurs, but the minor brings the firearm to any pubic or private K-12 school or school event punishable as a misdemeanor, as specified.
Repeals, effective January 1, 2003, the Basic Firearms Safety and Certificate program, administered by the State Department of Justice, and replaces it with a Handgun Safety Licensing Program funded from fees.
Provides that no owner or possessor of privately owned real property that is open to the public may restrict an off-duty or honorably retired peace officer from entering the property, if the peace officer is carrying a firearm and not then acting in the official capacity of a peace officer.
Defines those "thumb opening" knives which are not prohibited "switchblade knives" in California by additionally requiring that the knife "opens" by thumb action and "has a detent or other mechanism that provides resistance that must be overcome in opening the blade, or that biases the blade back toward its closed position."
Increases the fees for firearm dealer inspections by the State Department of Justice (DOJ), from $85 to $115.
Changes the current prohibition on tear gas weapons that expel a projectile to permit possession and use of such weapons, as specified.
Makes technical changes and corrections to specified Penal and Vehicle Code provisions.
Prohibits any person in California from manufacturing, or importing for sale, or any licensed firearms dealer from selling, a semiautomatic pistol after January 1, 2003, that does not have a chamber load indicator. Provides that, if the semiautomatic pistol has a detachable magazine, the pistol must have a magazine disconnect mechanism.
Enacts the California Project Exile Pilot Program of 2001, as specified, and appropriates $10 million to the Attorney General for distribution to district attorneys for the program in those areas having particularly high incidences of firearm related crimes.
Similar to AB 1215 (Ashburn-R), which is in Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Clarifies the definition of a flechette dart to add the word "approximately" before the current definition of five-sixteenths of an inch of the body of the dart.
Amends the existing restrictions on large-capacity firearms magazines to (1) specifically allow the manufacture in California for persons or entities which are otherwise exempted form the existing restrictions on importation, purchase, sale, and use, and (2) exempt tubular magazines in lever-action firearms from the definition of restricted magazines. Adds exemptions for specified sworn law enforcement officers to buy and possess assault weapons and to make related changes, as specified.
Prohibits plea bargaining in any case in which a defendant provides a gun to a minor, pursuant to Penal Code Section 12072, and the minor uses the gun to commit a crime, or the gun causes the minor's death.
Clarifies the code section providing limited statutory protection from liability for manufacturers and sellers of firearms and ammunition.
Defines "handgun" to mean a pistol, revolver, or firearm capable of being concealed upon the person.
Establishes, on or about July 1, 2002, the Prohibited Armed Persons File to assist law enforcement agencies and investigate persons who are legally prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm who may have been involved in the sale or transfer of a firearm.
Double-joined with SB 52 (Scott-D), AB 35 (Shelley-D), AB 22 (Lowenthal-D), SB 9 (Soto-D), and SB 294 (Scott-D).
Provides that the offense of carrying a loaded firearm in public will be punishable as a felony, in the case of a criminal street gang member, where the person is an active participant in a criminal street gang and referencing the definition of "criminal street gang", as defined in existing law.
Prohibits the court from certain acts when sentencing an individual for a crime in which the perpetrator discharged a firearm.
Prohibits, commencing January 1, 2004, local entities from issuing a license to sell firearms to any applicant where the building to be designated in the license where the retail sale of firearms is to occur is a residential dwelling, as specified. Grants five exceptions from that general prohibition and makes related and cross-reference changes in law.
Double-joined with SB 90 (Brulte-R), AB 35 (Shelley-D), and SB 52 (Scott-D), all of which amend Penal Code Section 12071. The bill also incorporates language from two bills, SB 9 (Soto-D) and SB 274 (Karnette-D), that have already been enacted into law.
Creates a handgun safety certificate system in California, administered by the State Department of Justice, effective January 1, 2003, as specified.
Establishes the "Developing Increased Safety through Arms Recovery Management" program, contingent upon an appropriation in the 2001-01 State Budget, to enforce gun laws, on the local level through county probation departments, related to probationers.
Changes the January 1, 2001, effective date of the change in law enacted last year designating the coloration/markings of imitation firearms, which may be sold in California, to December 31, 2001, for persons with preexisting inventory or documented future orders, as specified.
Authorizes the State Department of Justice to assess licensed gun dealers, manufacturers, and specific permit holders, an annual fee not to exceed $25, in addition to the current $85 fee, for the reasonable costs of inspections and related enforcement activities, and extends this fee to licensed gun manufacturers.
Provides that each person is responsible for the result of willful acts and for injury to another, occasioned by his/her want of ordinary care and skill, as they apply to the design, distribution and marketing of firearms and ammunition.
Creates a one-year assault weapon buyback program, administered by the State Department of Justice, between January 1, 2002, and January 1, 2003, in which DOJ will give $100 for each assault weapon turned in to local law enforcement, as specified. Specifies that persons relinquishing assault weapons per this program will be immune from prosecution for illegal possession of an assault weapon.
Extends, from January 1, 2001, to January 31, 2002, the date by which the Attorney General is to report on a study of firearms ballistics identification systems, as specified in existing law.
Exempts any pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon a person, for which manufacture had ceased prior to January 1, 2001, from compliance with specified safety requirements.
Extends the sunset date on the illegal firearm pilot project in Los Angeles and Fresno Counties from January 1, 2002, until January 1, 2005, and appropriates $1 million from the General Fund to continue the project.
Appropriates $10 million from the General Fund to establish "Project Exile" to investigate and prosecute persons who illegally possess or use guns.
Similar to SB 560 (Morrow-R), which failed passage in the Senate Public Safety Committee.
Prohibits the sale, loan or transfer of any pistol or revolver, commencing on January 1, 2006, unless that firearm includes an integrated safety device, as specified, designed to prevent children and others from discharging the firearm.
Legal ProfessionsRequires that interest earned on unsegregated client trust fund (IOLTA) accounts be paid to the attorney's clients on a pro rata basis. Makes legislative findings and declarations relating to IOLTA accounts and to the courts' rulings in Phillips v. Washington Legal Foundation, 524 U.S. 156 (1998) and in Washington Legal Foundation v. Legal Foundation of Washington, 236 F. 3d 1097 (9th Cir. 2001).
Authorizes the State Bar of California to collect up to $390 as annual State Bar membership dues for the years 2002 and 2003. Provides, as prescribed under existing law, the dues will fund only mandatory programs of the State Bar, and any member may deduct $5 from the dues amount, if the member did not wish to fund "non-Keller" activities of the State Bar. (The $390 figure reflects a $5 reduction [from $40 to $35] in the amount the State Bar is authorized to assess for the Client Security fund.
Specifies that operation of the bill is contingent upon the enactment of SB 479 (Burton), Chapter 129, Statutes of 2001, which requires the State Bar Board of Governors to establish a diversion and assistance program to provide services for the treatment and recovery of attorneys due to mental illness or alcohol or drug abuse. SB 479 contains $10 of the total funding authorized in the $390 amount.
Requires the Board of Governors of the State Bar to set up a diversion and assistance program to provide services for the treatment and recovery of attorneys who may be impaired due to mental illness or drug or alcohol abuse.
Makes various changes with respect to the general bar examination and the Attorneys Examination.
Allows a tax credit for service provided by an attorney, physician, optometrist, or dentist, for no charge on behalf of any nonprofit charitable organization that helps the poor.
Requires that the salaries of state attorneys in State Bargaining Unit 2 be no less than the average salaries of public sector attorneys and that the salaries of state administrative law judges, but not less than the salaries of state attorneys classified at a specified level.
Provides that unpaid residuals from class action litigation will be paid, either to nonprofit organizations to support projects beneficial to the class, or to promote the law consistent with the objectives of the litigation, or to child advocacy programs or nonprofit legal services programs. Deletes a statute authorizing a legal services program that never was formed and makes other related changes.
Provides that attorneys employed by the state in nonelective positions and administrative law judges may serve on a local appointed or elected governmental board, commission, committee, or other body, or as a local elected official, if such service will not otherwise present a conflict of interest. (This provision brings the rules for attorneys employed by the state into conformity with longstanding rules for attorneys employed by local entities.)
Provides that every public agency attorney licensed in California should be provided with adequate guidance to reasonably determine the circumstances under which they may properly seek to protect the public interest, even at the risk of disclosing client confidence.
Imposes a special set of restrictions on advertisements by attorneys who practice construction defect law. Requires any print, radio or television advertisements promoting the services for such attorneys to detail all expenses and attorney's fees that will be assessed, and to address any legal obligations a homeowner has to disclose a construction defect he or she knows about when putting the home up for sale, and the potential financial impact that may result if the defect is not fixed.
Demonstrates the state's commitment to providing pro bono legal services to Californians in need by considering, for those law firms which seek the benefits of a contract with the state, the efforts of such firms in providing pro bono services.
Provides for reports to the Legislature concerning the accreditation of law schools in connection with the First Year Law Students' Examination (Baby Bar) and Internet-based legal research and instruction services.
Requires that attorneys subject to the collective bargaining process and employed by the State of California, including the Attorney General, be compensated, at a minimum, with wages and benefits that are consistent with the specified salary provisions for public sector attorneys set forth in existing law.
Refines the definition of "paralegal" for purposes of the certification requirements, to include those persons who hold themselves out at paralegals, who are qualified by education, training and work experience, and who are employed by an attorney, law firm, corporation, government or other entity, and who performs substantial legal work as delegated by supervising attorney.
Requires all contingency fee agreements for legal services to include, in writing, the actual hourly rate the contracting attorney charges for his or her services. Requires that in a dispute involving damages resulting from a motor vehicle accident, the attorney representing the plaintiff to make a written demand, by certified mail, prior to filing suit. Requires the demand to remain open, and the defendant's offer in response to the demand to remain in effect, for specified periods of time. Provides a method by which to determine attorney fees in actions arising from a motor vehicle accident and further provides for the tolling of the statute of limitations in those cases during the demand and response period.
Courts and JudgesRequires the Court Reporters Board of California (CRB) to promulgate regulations defining a "full-time student" for purposes of regulating certified court reporters. Permits recognition of a court reporting school to be withdrawn by CRB for failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations. Prohibits court reporting schools from requiring more than one ten minute qualifying examination, as defined, for a student to be eligible to sit for the certification examination and provides CRB with the authority to issue administrative citations or assess fines for the violation of rules and regulations adopted by CRB. Revises the regulation submittal and implementation due dates for CRB.
Increases the salaries of the justices of the California Supreme Court and the courts of appeal, and of the trial court judges, by 8.5 percent, effective January 1, 2002.
Allows, beginning July 1, 2002, credit debt assignees (collectors) to file small claims actions, pursuant to specified conditions. Sunsets these provisions on July 1, 2005. Appropriates $278,000 to the Judicial Council to study the use of small claims court by assignees.
Adds the following two provisions to the Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act:
This bill is a work-in-progress, where the details of an employment system, whether under the Trial Court Employee Protection and Governance Act, or another system, have yet to be determined.
Requires an appointed arbitrator in non-judicial (private or contractual) arbitrations to comply with all disclosure and disqualification requirements established in current law, and makes it a basis for vacating an arbitration award if the arbitrator failed to timely disclose a known ground for disqualification. Directs the Judicial Council to adopt ethical guidelines for these arbitrators by July 1, 2002, and requires these arbitrators to comply with the adopted ethics standards on and after that date. Specifies the grounds upon which a proposed neutral arbitrator may be disqualified. Removes a court's ability to appoint a hand-picked referee when the parties do not consent to a reference, and instead requires the court to follow existing procedures that govern the appointment of a referee where the parties agree to the appointment but cannot agree on the selection of the actual referee. Expands a current Judicial Council report to specifically review both the voluntary and involuntary use of referees in discovery matters, including information on the number of referees, the cost to the parties, and the time spent by the discovery referee.
Establishes a state-county-private sector partnership for the construction of court facilities, using a lease, option to buy program. Appropriates $2,134,899 from the General Fund to the Trial Court Trust Fund for allocation as follows: $360,139 to Calaveras County for first year costs of site selection, design, planning, and preconstruction costs, for a new 31,108 square foot courthouse with four courtrooms; $87,375 to Lassen County for first year costs for 26,000 or more square feet of space for court use, including at least three courtrooms; $679,150 to Madera County for first year costs for a new 113,000 square foot courthouse with 13 courtrooms; and $1,008,235 to Los Angeles County for first year costs for a new 116,300 square foot courthouse with 12 courtrooms in the Southeast District.
This bill is the general government omnibus trailer bill implementing the policy of the 2001-02 Budget Act. Among other issues, this bill increases salaries for the chair of the Judicial Council, administrative presiding judges of the Courts of Appeal and presiding judges of a superior court, which has 15 or more judges, by four percent and increases salaries for presiding judges of a superior court, which has four to 14 judges, by two percent. Specifies that these provisions become effective January 2, 2002.
Codifies case law from other jurisdictions to the effect that recordings, made by a deposition officer by nonstenographic means for the purpose of assisting the deposition officer in the production of the transcript, are the personal property of the deposition officer, not public documents. Provides for the destruction of these recordings and prohibits their reproduction or use for any other purpose.
Makes changes to the laws governing court reporting schools and provides greater oversight of these schools.
Double-joined with SB 26 (Figueroa-D), which has been enrolled.
Expands, statewide, the Family Law Interpreter Pilot Program to require the presence of a certified or registered court interpreter for a party, in any proceeding involving domestic violence or family court mediation, who is deaf or hearing impaired, or for a party who does not proficiently speak or understand the English language.
Provides that a person is disqualified from serving as a private judge, as defined, for compensation by the parties pursuant to a contract with any person or corporation who has appeared as a party before the private judge within the previous three years.
Adds Cesar Chavez Day as a court holiday.
Provides the full funding of the Judges' Retirement System (JRS) by replacing the state's current eight percent of salary and supplemental contributions to JRS with an annual contribution established by actuary necessary to fully fund the liability of the JRS over a 30 year period. Stipulates that the contribution be included in the annual Budget Act.
Renames the State Library and Courts Building the Stanley Mosk Library and Courts Building, in recognition of the service given by the late California Supreme Court Justice Stanley Mosk.
Provides that attorneys, employed by the state in nonelective positions, and administrative law judges may serve on a local appointed or elected governmental board, commission, committee, or other body, or as a local elected official, if such service will otherwise not present a conflict of interest. (This provisions brings the rules for attorneys employed by the state into conformity with longstanding rules for attorneys employed by local entities.)
Makes numerous cleanup changes to statutes relating to trial court funding and amends various discovery-related statutes to make discovery practice and procedure more uniform throughout the state.
Requires that, in counties with five or more judges, the reassignment to a different judge shall be made on a random basis, in the instances where the original judge has been disqualified.
Establishes a four-year pilot project, to be administered by the Judicial Council (Council), for the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of maintaining separate departments to handle complex commercial cases within the superior courts. Authorizes the Council to select up to four superior courts to participate in the pilot project from those courts that have applied to participate. Requires that the Council develop procedures for the implementation of the pilot project and to submit specified evaluations of the pilot project to the Governor and the Legislature.
Authorizes the County of Ventura to create two separate funds into which penalty assessment revenues could be deposited for a prescribed period of time. Provides that each fund will be designated and used separately to finance the construction of a juvenile justice facility and a court facility.
Allows members of the Judges' Retirement System and the Judges Retirement System II (JRS I and II) to purchase retirement system service credit for time spent as a "full-time subordinate judicial officer" (such as a probate referee or traffic court referee) prior to becoming a judge. Provides that, for judges enrolled for at least six years in JRS I and II, who have also earned retirement benefits in the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) or a '37 Act county system, their highest salary as a judge shall be used to determine their PERS retirement benefits ("reciprocity" between JRS I and II, PERS and '37 Act counties). Allows a judge, who elected an option at the time of retirement that provides a continuing allowance to the judge's surviving spouse, to revert (or "pop-up") to the unmodified allowance if the judge's spouse predeceases the judge. Authorizes judges who are members of the JRS I or the JRS II to participate in the Supplemental Contributions Program.
Creates the Truancy Court Pilot Project in Los Angeles, as specified.
Extends, for 18 months, the period during which the state shall continue to be responsible for court facility needs for new trial court judgeships authorized after January 1, 1998. Provides that the new extended date of expiration of such responsibility will be December 31, 2002.
Eliminates the provisions in existing law that employees of the Supreme Court and courts of appeal serve at the pleasure, respectively, and provides for the formation of employee organizations for collective bargaining with the Supreme Court and courts of appeal, as specified.
Makes various changes to the organizational and financial arrangements between the Judicial Council, the trial courts, counties, and other state agencies pursuant to implementation of state trial court funding and trial court unifications. Makes a technical change to statutory provisions regarding electronic filing of court documents.
Double-joined with AB 223 (Frommer-D), currently in enrollment.
Law EnforcementProvides that an unspecified amount is appropriated in the Budget Act to be allocated to county sheriffs, city police chiefs, and certain cities and special districts for the purpose of funding technology grants and technology-related acquisitions to enhance public safety.
Authorizes, in the County of San Bernardino, the deputizing of reserve district attorney investigators as peace officers. Authorizes a re