•AB
27, by Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-South San Francisco,
which would expedite the process by which a county's costs are reimbursed
after venue of a homicide trial has been transferred to that county.
The bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee April 26 by a vote
of 9 to 0 and was sent to the Consent Calendar on Wednesday.
•AB
108, by Assemblyman Guy S. Houston, R-Walnut Creek,
which would require an advertisement by a lawyer or law firm that
urges a person or entity to take an action that may lead to the filing
of a claim for residential construction deficiencies to disclose specified
information, including the availability of alternative dispute resolution.
The bill was rejected by the Assembly Judiciary Committee April 12
by a vote of 6 to 3, but could be reconsidered.
•AB
176, by Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez, D-Norwalk, which
as amended would provide that the classification of a Los Angeles
Superior Court law clerk be changed from temporary to regular employee
after 180 days of employment. The bill was approved by the Committee
on Public Employees, Retirement, and Social Security April 6 by a
vote of 4 to 2, amended in the Assembly April 21, and referred to
the Appropriations Committee April 25.
•AB
192, by Assemblyman Van Tran, R-Costa Mesa, which
would limit public entity tort liability to $250,000 per person or
$500,000 per occurrence, and would provide that the applicability
of design immunity is a question of law rather than of fact. A scheduled
hearing was postponed by the Judiciary Committee April 5.
•AB
202, by Assemblyman Tom Harman, R-Huntington Beach,
which would specify that the filing of a petition under the California
Arbitration Law is the exclusive means by which an agreement to arbitrate
may be enforced. The bill was heard by the Judiciary Committee April
12 and sent to the Consent Calendar on Wednesday.
•AB
220, by the Committee on Public Safety, which would
change the name of the "battered woman syndrome" defense
to "intimate partner battering." The bill passed the Assembly
Committee on Public Safety April 5 by a vote of 7-1, passed the Assembly
April 7 by a vote of 58-12, and was sent to the Senate.
•AB
262, by Assemblywoman Patty Berg, D-Eureka, which
would provide that the Judicial Council may not require that a structure
proposed for transfer from a county to the state for court occupancy
meet a building code standard stricter than the standard adopted for
county buildings in the county proposing the transfer. The bill passed
the Judiciary Committee by a vote of 8-0 April 5 and was sent to the
suspense file by the Appropriations Committee April 13.
•AB
415,by Harman, which would repeal the Jan. 1, 2006
sunset date of legislation allowing non-California attorneys to appear
in arbitration proceedings in this state. A scheduled hearing was
postponed twice this month by the Judiciary Committee, which set a
new hearing date of May 3, but that hearing has been postponed at
the request of the author.
•AB
557, by Assemblywoman Betty Karnette, D-Long Beach,
which would permit the issuance of a criminal complaint upon the testimony
of an honorably retired peace officer. The bill has been scheduled
for a Public Safety Committee hearing April 5.
•AB
1322, by Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa,
which would amend the requirement that a judge who has had discussions
with an ADR provider regarding potential employment recuse himself
or herself, absent waiver, from ADR-related matters. The bill, as
amended in the Assembly, would provide that this is only grounds for
disqualification if the discussions were initiated by the judge or
involved a substantive offer of employment, and would limit disqualification
to matters involving the ADR provider with which the discussions occurred.
The bill passed the Assembly April 21 by a vote of 74-0 and was sent
to the Senate.
•AB
1528, by Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento,
which as originally introduced would have overruled the holding in
Action Apartment Assn., Inc. v. City of Santa Monica (2004) 123 Cal.
App. 4th 47 by declaring that certain communications by landlords
to tenants are not protected by the litigation privilege. The bill
was amended April 7 to delete the provisions related to the litigation
privilege.
•AB
1529, by Jones, which would make permanent the
State Bar's authority to impose annual membership dues, increase the
assessment for the Client Security Fund by $5, substantially increase
dues for inactive members, and require members with income of more
than $40,000 annually from all sources to pay the full amount of dues
even if none of that income was derived from the practice of law.
The bill is scheduled to be heard by the Judiciary Committee May 3.
•AB
1553, by Evans, which would provide that any contractual
limit on the time in which to seek arbitration is tolled during the
pendency of a lawsuit regarding the same occurrence. The bill passed
the Assembly April 11 by a vote of 45-33.
•SB
56, by Sen. Joseph Dunn, D-Garden Grove, which,
as amended, would authorize creation-subject to appropriations-of
up to 50 new superior court judgeships in each of the next three years,
plus the conversion of up to 161 subordinate judicial officer positions
to judgeships, according to uniform criteria established by the Judicial
Council. The bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee Wednesday
by a vote of 6 to 1 and sent to the Appropriations Committee.
•SB
111, by Alquist, which would permit prosecution
of sex crimes against minors at any time prior to the victim's 30th
birthday, replacing the current 10-year statute of limitations as
well as the law permitting otherwise time-barred prosecutions to be
brought, in some circumstances, up to one year after a police report
is filed. The bill was approved by the Committee on Public Safety
April 19 on a vote of 5 to 0 and referred to the Committee on Appropriations.
•SB
151, by Sen. Nell Soto, D-Ontario, which, as amended,
would make it a crime, punishable as a wobbler, for a litigant to
seek to influence a judicial officer by corrupt means, including bribery,
threat, intimidation, and unauthorized communication. The bill was
amended in the Senate April 20 and referred back to the Committee
on Public Safety, which approved the bill by a vote of 5 to 0 on Wednesday
and sent it to the Appropriations Committee.
•SB
232, by Sen. Liz Figueroa, D-Fremont, which as
introduced would have extended to an unspecified date the July 1,
2006 sunset provision of legislation establishing the Court Reporters
Board. The bill was amended April 18 to delete the provisions relating
to the Court Reporters Board.
•SB
265, by Sen. John Campbell, R-Costa
Mesa, which would limit the number of annual holidays observed by
state employees to 12 and encourage the judiciary, which currently
observes 13 holidays each year, to follow suit. The bill was heard
April 11 by the Committee on Public Employees, Retirement and Social
Security.
•SB
442, by Sen. Joseph Simitian, D-Pittsburg, which
as amended would increase the jurisdictional limit of the small claims
court from $5,000 to $7,500 in most cases and require attorneys serving
as temporary small claims judges to take a course given by the Department
of Consumer Affairs. The bill was amended April 25, was approved by
the Judiciary Committee April 26 by a vote of 5 to 2, and was sent
to the Appropriations Committee.
•SB
815, by Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento,
which as amended would allow a plaintiff, in lieu of service by publication,
to serve the defendant's liability insurer, provided that a plaintiff
who serves the defendant in this manner waives any recovery in excess
of policy limits. The bill was amended April 4 and is to be heard
by the Judiciary Committee May 3.
