Terms Used In California Codes > Business and Professions Code > Division 4 > Part 2 > Chapter 1 > Article 2 - Investigation, Regulation and Report

• action taken: means a collective decision made by a majority of the members of a legislative body, a collective commitment or promise by a majority of the members of a legislative body to make a positive or a negative decision, or an actual vote by a majority of the members of a legislative body when sitting as a body or entity, upon a motion, proposal, resolution, order or ordinance. See California Government Code 54952.6
• Adjourn: A motion to adjourn a legislative chamber or a committee, if passed, ends that day's session.
• adverse action: means dismissal, demotion, suspension, or other disciplinary action. See California Government Code 19570
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Aggrieved: means and refers to any of the following persons or entities:

  California Civil Code 3427

• Aggrieved party: means a party entitled to pursue a remedy. See California Commercial Code 1201
• agreement: means the total legal obligation that results from the parties' agreement as determined by this code and as supplemented by any other applicable laws. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Animal: means any amphibian, bird, mammal or reptile. See California Civil Code 3504
• Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
• Apportionment: means an apportionment made under this article, and unless the context otherwise requires, it shall be deemed to include funds of a district required by the board to be contributed toward the cost of a project. See California Education Code 16314
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
• assessed value: means 25 percent of full value to, and including, the 1980-81 fiscal year, and 100 percent of full value for the 1981-82 fiscal year and fiscal years thereafter. See California Government Code 25
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Attendance center: means a school maintained or to be maintained at a given location within a district. See California Education Code 16314
• Ballot card: means a card or a number of cards upon which are printed, or identified by reference to the ballot, the names of candidates for nomination or election to one or more offices or the ballot titles of one or more measures. See California Elections Code 302
• Ballot label: means :

  California Elections Code 303

• Ballot on demand system: means a self-contained system that allows users to do both of the following on an as-needed basis:

  California Elections Code 303.4

• Ballot title and summary: means , for a statewide initiative measure or measure proposed by the Legislature, the summary of the chief purpose and points including the fiscal impact summary of any measure that appears in the state voter information guide. See California Elections Code 303.5
• Board: means the Wildlife Conservation Board created pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 1320) of Chapter 4 of Division 2 of . See California Public Resources Code 37002
• Board: means the State Allocation Board as defined in Article 1 (commencing with Section 16000) of this chapter. See California Education Code 16314
• bonds: means bonds issued by a local agency payable exclusively from the revenues of the enterprise for which the bonds are issued. See California Government Code 54729
• candidate: includes any officeholder who is subject to a recall election. See California Elections Code 305
• Cease and Desist Letter: A letter requesting that a company stops the activity mentioned in the letter. ^{Source: OCC}
• City: includes "city and county" and "incorporated town" but does not include "unincorporated town" or "village. See California Government Code 20
• City: includes city and county. See California Business and Professions Code 18
• Clerk: means the county elections official, registrar of voters, city clerk, or other officer or board charged with the duty of conducting any election. See California Elections Code 307
• Commercial blockade: means acts constituting the tort of commercial blockade, as defined in Section 3427. See California Civil Code 3427
• Commercial unit: means such a unit of goods as by commercial usage is a single whole for purposes of lease and division of which materially impairs its character or value on the market or in use. See California Commercial Code 10103
• Committee: means the Pooled Money Investment Board. See California Government Code 17220
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Construction project: means the purposes for which a school district has applied for an apportionment at a given location. See California Education Code 16502
• Consumer lease: means a lease that a lessor regularly engaged in the business of leasing or selling makes to a lessee who is an individual and who takes under the lease primarily for a personal, family, or household purpose. See California Commercial Code 10103
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• contract: means the bargain of the parties in fact, as found in their language or inferred from other circumstances, including course of performance, course of dealing, or usage of trade as provided in Section 1303. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• County: includes city and county. See California Government Code 19
• County: includes city and county. See California Business and Professions Code 17
• County: includes "city and county. See California Public Resources Code 14
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Defensible space: means the area adjacent to a structure or dwelling where wildfire prevention or protection practices are implemented to provide defense from an approaching wildfire or to minimize the spread of a structure fire to wildlands or surrounding areas. See California Government Code 51177
• Department: means any entity created by statute within the Natural Resources Agency and authorized to hold title to land, or the Natural Resources Agency. See California Public Resources Code 37002
• Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
• Director: means the Director of Education. See California Education Code 16314
• Director: means the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection. See California Government Code 51177
• Disability: means a medical condition, mental disability, or physical disability, as those terms are defined in subdivisions (i), (j), and (l) of §. See California Elections Code 354.5
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Discuss among themselves: means communications made, posted, or shared on an internet-based social media platform between members of a legislative body, including comments or use of digital icons that express reactions to communications made by other members of the legislative body. See California Government Code 54952.2
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Disrupting the normal functioning of a health care facility: means intentionally rendering or attempting to render a health care facility temporarily or permanently unavailable or unusable by a licensed health practitioner, the facility's staff, or patients. See California Civil Code 3427
• District: means an elementary, high school, or unified school district. See California Education Code 16314
• economic opportunity: means any of the following:

  California Government Code 52200.2

• Election: means any election including a primary that is provided for under this code. See California Elections Code 318
• Elections official: means any of the following:

  California Elections Code 320

• enterprise: means systems, plants, works, or undertakings used or useful in the collection, treatment, and disposal of waste, refuse, and garbage, or of sewage, waste, and storm water. See California Government Code 54727
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Federal election: means any presidential election, general election, primary election, or special election held solely or in part for the purpose of selecting, nominating, or electing any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, presidential elector, Member of the United States Senate, or Member of the United States House of Representatives. See California Elections Code 323
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Finance lease: means a lease with respect to which (A) the lessor does not select, manufacture, or supply the goods, (B) the lessor acquires the goods or the right to possession and use of the goods in connection with the lease, and (C) one of the following occurs:

  California Commercial Code 10103

• Fuel: means any combustible material, including petroleum-based products, cultivated landscape plants, grasses, and weeds, and wildland vegetation. See California Government Code 51177
• Garnishment: Generally, garnishment is a court proceeding in which a creditor asks a court to order a third party who owes money to the debtor or otherwise holds assets belonging to the debtor to turn over to the creditor any of the debtor
• General election: means either of the following:

  California Elections Code 324

• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Goods: means all things that are movable at the time of identification to the lease contract, or are fixtures (Section 10309), but the term does not include money, documents, instruments, accounts, chattel paper, general intangibles, or minerals or the like, including oil and gas, before extraction. See California Commercial Code 10103
• Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
• Grant of an open-space easement: means a grant by an instrument whereby the owner relinquishes to the public, either in perpetuity or for a term of years, the right to construct improvements upon the land except as may be expressly reserved in the instrument and which contains a covenant with the city or county, running with the land, either in perpetuity or for a term of years, not to construct or permit the construction of any improvements, except as that right is expressly reserved in the instrument and except for public service facilities installed for the benefit of the land subject to any covenant or public service facilities installed pursuant to an authorization by the governing body of the city or county or the Public Utilities Commission. See California Government Code 51051
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Health care facility: means a facility that provides health care services directly to patients, including, but not limited to, a hospital, clinic, licensed health practitioner's office, health maintenance organization, diagnostic or treatment center, neuropsychiatric or mental health facility, hospice, or nursing home. See California Civil Code 3427
• Improper means: includes theft, bribery, misrepresentation, breach or inducement of a breach of a duty to maintain secrecy, or espionage through electronic or other means. See California Civil Code 3426.1
• improve: means reconstruct, replace, extend, repair, better, equip, develop, embellish, or otherwise improve. See California Government Code 54728
• individual with a disability: means any individual who has a physical or mental disability as defined in Section 12926. See California Government Code 19231
• Inspector: means the supervisor of the precinct board of which he or she is a member. See California Elections Code 325
• Installment lease contract: means a lease contract that authorizes or requires the delivery of goods in separate lots to be separately accepted, even though the lease contract contains a clause "each delivery is a separate lease" or its equivalent. See California Commercial Code 10103
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Internet-based social media platform: means an online service that is open and accessible to the public. See California Government Code 54952.2
• Judicial office: means the office filled by any judicial officer. See California Elections Code 326
• law: includes the charter of any local agency. See California Government Code 54726
• Lease: means a transfer of the right to possession and use of goods for a term in return for consideration, but a sale, including a sale on approval or a sale or return, or retention or creation of a security interest is not a lease. See California Commercial Code 10103
• Lease agreement: means the bargain, with respect to the lease, of the lessor and the lessee in fact as found in their language or by implication from other circumstances including course of dealing or usage of trade or course of performance as provided in this division. See California Commercial Code 10103
• Lease contract: means the total legal obligation that results from the lease agreement as affected by this division and any other applicable rules of law. See California Commercial Code 10103
• Legal tender: coins, dollar bills, or other currency issued by a government as official money. ^{Source: U.S. Mint}
• legislative body: means :

  California Government Code 54952

• Legislative body: as used in this division , means board of supervisors in the case of a county or city and county, and city council or board of trustees in the case of a city, unless the context otherwise requires. See California Government Code 50002
• Lessee: means a person who acquires the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See California Commercial Code 10103
• Lessor: means a person who transfers the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See California Commercial Code 10103
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local agency: means county, city, or any public district empowered to distribute water or engage in flood control. See California Government Code 54280
• local agency: means a county, city, whether general law or chartered, city and county, town, school district, municipal corporation, district, political subdivision, or any board, commission or agency thereof, or other local public agency. See California Government Code 54951
• Local agency: as used in this division means county, city, or city and county, unless the context otherwise requires. See California Government Code 50001
• Local agency: means a city, county, city and county, or district responsible for fire protection within a very high fire hazard severity zone. See California Government Code 51177
• Local government: means any city, county, city and county, or any district, as defined in Section 5902 or in Division 26 (commencing with Section 35100), or any joint powers authority made up of one or more of those entities or those entities and departments. See California Public Resources Code 37002
• Lot: means a parcel or a single article that is the subject matter of a separate lease or delivery, whether or not it is sufficient to perform the lease contract. See California Commercial Code 10103
• Measure: means any constitutional amendment or other proposition submitted to a popular vote at any election. See California Elections Code 329
• meeting: means any congregation of a majority of the members of a legislative body at the same time and location, including teleconference location as permitted by Section 54953, to hear, discuss, deliberate, or take action on any item that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body. See California Government Code 54952.2
• Merchant lessee: means a lessee that is a merchant with respect to goods of the kind subject to the lease. See California Commercial Code 10103
• Misappropriation: means :

  California Civil Code 3426.1

• Money: means a medium of exchange that is currently authorized or adopted by a domestic or foreign government. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Motion picture: means any motion picture, regardless of length or content, which is exhibited in a motion picture theater to paying customers, or is exhibited on television to paying customers or under the sponsorship of a paying advertiser. See California Civil Code 3504
• Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
• oil sump: is a ny open depression or basin in the ground, whether manmade or natural, which contains oil or a combination of oil and water. See California Public Resources Code 3780
• Open and accessible to the public: means that members of the general public have the ability to access and participate, free of charge, in the social media platform without the approval by the social media platform or a person or entity other than the social media platform, including any forum and chatroom, and cannot be blocked from doing so, except when the internet-based social media platform determines that an individual violated its protocols or rules. See California Government Code 54952.2
• Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Owner: means any lessee or trustee, if the expiration of the lease or trust occurs at a time later than the expiration of the easement or any extension thereof. See California Government Code 51051
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Party: means a political party or organization that has qualified for participation in any primary or presidential general election. See California Elections Code 338
• Person: includes any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, limited liability company, business trust, corporation, or company. See California Government Code 17
• Person: means individuals, corporations, associations, partnerships, limited liability companies, trustees, lessees, agents and assignees. See California Civil Code 3504
• Person: means a natural person, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision or agency, or any other legal or commercial entity. See California Civil Code 3426.1
• Person: means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, government, governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Plea: In a criminal case, the defendant's statement pleading "guilty" or "not guilty" in answer to the charges, a declaration made in open court.
• Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
• Polling place: means a location where a voter casts a ballot and includes the following terms, as applicable: poll, polling location, and vote center. See California Elections Code 338.5
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Precinct: means a geographical area within a county that is made up of voters and is formed pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 12200) of Division 12. See California Elections Code 338.6
• precinct board: means the board appointed by the elections official to serve at a vote center. See California Elections Code 339
• Precinct board member: is a member of the precinct board and includes an election officer. See California Elections Code 339
• Present value: means the amount as of a date certain of one or more sums payable in the future, discounted to the date certain. See California Commercial Code 10103
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Primary election: includes all primary nominating elections provided for by this code. See California Elections Code 341
• Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• Process: includes a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings of either a civil or criminal nature. See California Government Code 22
• Project: means the purposes for which a district has applied for assistance in the rehabilitation or replacement of unsafe school facilities at a given attendance center. See California Education Code 16314
• property: includes property real and personal. See California Civil Code 14
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
• Punching: includes marking a ballot card to record a vote. See California Elections Code 345
• Purchase: includes taking by sale, lease, mortgage, security interest, pledge, gift, or any other voluntary transaction creating an interest in goods. See California Commercial Code 10103
• Purchaser: means a person that takes by purchase. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Refunding warrants: refers to warrants drawn by the Controller on the General Fund pursuant to this article to provide funds for the payment of reimbursement warrants bearing a fixed maturity date or warrants issued pursuant to Section 17211. See California Government Code 17240
• Reimbursement warrants: refers to warrants drawn by the Controller on the General Fund pursuant to this article to reimburse the General Cash Revolving Fund for demands against the General Fund for which warrants were drawn against the General Cash Revolving Fund. See California Government Code 17240
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• Remedy: means any remedial right to which an aggrieved party is entitled with or without resort to a tribunal. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Right: includes remedy. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Right of offset: Banks' legal right to seize funds that a guarantor or debtor may have on deposit to cover a loan in default. It is also known as the right of set-off. ^{Source: OCC}
• Roster: means the official list of voters for an election, which may be in paper or electronic form. See California Elections Code 349.5
• Security interest: includes any interest of a consignor and a buyer of accounts, chattel paper, a payment intangible, or a promissory note in a transaction that is subject to Division 9 (commencing with Section 9101). See California Commercial Code 1201
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Signature: includes either of the following:

  California Elections Code 354.5

• solar collector: includes a fixed device, structure, or part of a device or structure that is used primarily to transform solar energy into thermal, chemical, or electrical energy and that is installed on the ground because a solar collector cannot be installed on the roof of the building receiving the energy due to inappropriate roofing material, slope of the roof, structural shading, or orientation of the building. See California Public Resources Code 25981
• Spouse: includes "registered domestic partner" as required by §. See California Government Code 12.2
• State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Government Code 18
• State: means the State of California or any department, agency, or officer thereof. See California Government Code 54280
• State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See California Commercial Code 1201
• state agency: includes every state office, officer, department, division, bureau, board, and commission. See California Government Code 11000
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which the term occurs unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Government Code 10
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Supplier: means a person from whom a lessor buys or leases goods to be leased under a finance lease. See California Commercial Code 10103
• Term: means a portion of an agreement that relates to a particular matter. See California Commercial Code 1201
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Town: includes "unincorporated town" and "village. See California Government Code 21
• Trade secret: means information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device, method, technique, or process, that:

  California Civil Code 3426.1

• Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. ^{Source: OCC}
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Unapplied money: means money in the General Fund in the treasury for which outstanding warrants have not already been drawn and which would remain in the General Fund if all outstanding warrants theretofore drawn were paid. See California Government Code 17220
• United States: includes any department, board, agency, or officer thereof. See California Government Code 54280
• Variable Rate: Having a "variable" rate means that the APR changes from time to time based on fluctuations in an external rate, normally the Prime Rate. This external rate is known as the "index." If the index changes, the variable rate normally changes. Also see Fixed Rate.
• Vegetation: means all plants, including trees, shrubs, grass, and perennial or annual plants. See California Government Code 51177
• Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
• Very high fire hazard severity zone: means an area designated as a very high fire hazard severity zone by the State Fire Marshal pursuant to Section 51178 that is not a state responsibility area. See California Government Code 51177
• Vote center: means a location established for holding elections that offers the services described in Sections 2170 and 4005. See California Elections Code 357.5
• Vote tabulating device: means any piece of equipment, other than a voting machine, that compiles a total of votes cast by means of ballot card sorting, ballot card reading, paper ballot scanning, electronic data processing, or a combination of that type of equipment. See California Elections Code 358
• Voter: means any elector who is registered under this code. See California Elections Code 359
• Voter list: means the list of registered voters in a single or consolidated precinct or in an entire county. See California Elections Code 359.2
• Voter-nominated office: means a congressional or state elective office for which a candidate may choose to have his or her party preference or lack of party preference indicated upon the ballot. See California Elections Code 359.5
• Voting device: means any device used in conjunction with a ballot card or cards to indicate the choice of the voter by marking, punching, or slotting the ballot card. See California Elections Code 360
• Voting system: means a mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic system and its software, or any combination of these used for casting a ballot, tabulating votes, or both. See California Elections Code 362
• Wildfire: means an unplanned, unwanted wildland fire, including unauthorized human-caused fires, escaped wildland fire use events, escaped prescribed fire projects, and all other wildland fires where the objective is to extinguish the fire. See California Government Code 51177
• will: includes codicil. See California Civil Code 14
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Writing: includes printing, typewriting, or any other intentional reduction to tangible form. See California Commercial Code 1201