This legislation is a restructuring of the Civil Forfeiture Procedure Act which impacts drug forfeitures and seizures.  This statute is one of law enforcement's most effective tools in bringing down criminal enterprises. The district attorney, through a judicial process, can seize cars, cash and property of drug dealers and other criminals.  Many county commissioners refer to this forfeited property as drug fund money. The funds and property are used for law enforcement training, equipment and investigative expenses. The revised HB 1 standardizes the reporting requirements for law enforcement, and creates a new process for district attorney forfeiture funds.

This legislation provides clean up language to the Evidence Code Legislation that passed during the 2011 session regarding the State Board of Registration for Foresters and the Department of Public Health.  No impact to local government.

This legislation clarifies the existing statute regarding wiretapping and trace devices to specify that warrants issued to district attorneys or the Attorney General to use trace devices or intercept communications shall have statewide application and shall be permitted in any location of the state.

This legislation requires alarm companies to attempt to verify alarm calls by calling or texting the property owner up to two times before sending the alarm signal to public safety for response.  The alarm companies would not be required to verify the alarm calls for fire alarms, panic alarms, robbery in progress alarms or alarms where the alarm company can tell from the audio or video that a crime is occurring.

This legislation requires coroners, emergency medical technicians, paramedics and first responders to report suspected abuse of elders and disabled adults. Provides for criminal penalities for abuse of elders and disabled adults.

This legislation allows volunteer firefighters to receive a Class E or Class F driver's license free of charge if they bring in a copy of their firefighter certification and a letter from the chief executive officer of the county (or city) stating that they are a volunteer firefighter for the county (or city).

Under current law, festivals, fairs and events held by nonprofit organizations are not considered "food service establishments" subject to regulation by the department of health when the county issues a temporary permit to the nonprofit for food sales and service. This legislation allows the county to delegate the authority to issue such permits to the county board of health.

This legislation is the state's supplemental budget for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2013.

This legislation is the state's budget for the fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014.

This legislation changes the type of ante litem notice (i.e., a notice that someone intends to sue the city) that is required to be provided to a city before it can be sued.

This legislation specifies when certain information is provided by an individual who qualifies to run as sheriff.  It also removes the requirement that the candidate provide a copy of their birth certificate or the high school diploma.

This legislation requires bars, massage parlors, truck stops, rest areas, airports, hotels, emergency rooms, urgent care centers, job recruitment centers, farm labor contractors and day haulers to post notices on a form developed by the Department of Safety regarding a hot line for victims of kidnapping, slavery and human trafficking. Law enforcement is required to notify any of the businesses who fail to post the required sign in writing that failure to correct the deficiency within 30 days is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500. The legislation purports to exempt the costs of prosecution from taxes and additional penalties, fees or surcharges.

This legislation allows a judge to participate in a hearing for an arrest or search warrant by video conference, regardless of the judge's location at the time of the conference.

This legislation changes the oath that bailiffs must take, which would allow them to give jurors water only to drink.  The oath also requires the bailiffs to swear that they will not allow jurors to have books, papers or electronic communication devices.

This legislation allows an associate juvenile court judge to be appointed as judge pro tempore of the juvenile court in cases where the juvenile court judge cannot sit. Additionally, it removes the provision where orders of the associate juvenile court can be re-heard by the juvenile court judge when one of the parties appeals.

Counties may designate certain commercial areas (including up to a half-mile of contiguous residential property) with a high rate of drug related crimes as "drug-free commercial zones." A copy of the ordinance must be filed with the Department of Community Affairs (DCA), with a map and report.  This legislation would extend this felony designation to a drug crime occurring within a drug-free commercial zone adopted by a county and entered into DCA's registry on or before July 1, 2013.

This legislation requires that persons assisting consumers with finding insurance under the Affordable Care Act are licensed as Health Care Navigators and that adhere to conflict of interest guidelines.

This legislation establishes a method for adults to prepare a psychiatric advance direction to express their mental health care treatment preferences in advance, as well as to authorize an agent to make mental health care decisions on his or her behalf.  It provides immunity from liability to law enforcement officers who follow an advance directive. This legislation has also been introducted in the Senate - S.B.371.

This legislation allows, but does not require, superior court clerks to require payment of filing fees before accepting an instrument or document for recording.  It also allows the clerks to require that an instrument or document meet all filing requirements before accepting it for recording.

 

Current law requires the superior court clerk's office to be open from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.  This legislation provides some flexibility for a lunch hour closure if the office opens at 8:00 a.m., has a lunch break from 12:00 p.m. until 1:00 p.m. and closes at 5:00 p.m.

This legislation allows the juvenile court to seal the records of any juvenile delinquent if that juvenile was the victim of sexual abuse or trafficking.

This legislation extends the state's anti-trust immunity to certain hospital authorities.

This legislation is a combination of some of the provisions from the Juvenile Code Rewrite and the recommendations from the Criminal Justice Reform Council in regards to juvenile justice. The bill restructures the juvenile code to improve the process for practitioners and judges. For a section by section summary please click here.