Article 1 General Provisions
Article 1.5 Notice
Article 2 Institution of Proceedings
Article 3 Hearing and Order
Article 4 Expense of Abatement

Terms Used In California Codes > Food and Agricultural Code > Division 4 > Part 1 > Chapter 7 - Abatement of Neglected or Abandoned Crops

  • Action: includes a civil action and a criminal action. See California Evidence Code 105
  • 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.
  • Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
  • 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
  • Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
  • Authority: means the California Educational Facilities Authority created by this chapter or any board, body, commission, department, or officer succeeding to the principal functions of the authority or to whom the power conferred upon the authority by this chapter is given by law. See California Education Code 94110
  • axle: is a structure or portion of a structure consisting of one or more shafts, spindles, or bearings in the same vertical transverse plane by means of which, in conjunction with wheels mounted on said shafts, spindles, or bearings, a portion of the weight of a vehicle and its load, if any, is continuously transmitted to the roadway when the vehicle is in motion. See California Vehicle Code 230
  • Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
  • Beneficiary: means a person to whom a donative transfer of property is made or that person's successor in interest, and:

    California Probate Code 24

  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • board: means any entity listed in Section 101, the entities referred to in Sections 1000 and 3600, the State Bar, the Department of Real Estate, and any other state agency that issues a license, certificate, or registration authorizing a person to engage in a business or profession. See California Business and Professions Code 31
  • Bond: means bonds, notes, debentures, securities, or other evidences of indebtedness of the authority issued pursuant to this chapter. See California Education Code 94110
  • Brand: means any mark, name or device filed as a brand under this article. See California Business and Professions Code 14425
  • bus: is a ny vehicle, including a trailer bus, designed, used, or maintained for carrying more than 15 persons including the driver. See California Vehicle Code 233
  • business: includes a proprietorship, partnership, corporation, and any other form of commercial enterprise. See California Vehicle Code 234
  • Caucus: From the Algonquian Indian language, a caucus meant "to meet together." An informal organization of members of the legislature that exists to discuss issues of mutual concern and possibly to perform legislative research and policy planning for its members. There are regional, political or ideological, ethnic, and economic-based caucuses.
  • City: includes every city and city and county within this State. See California Vehicle Code 255
  • City: includes city and county. See California Business and Professions Code 18
  • Codicil: An addition, change, or supplement to a will executed with the same formalities required for the will itself.
  • commercial vehicle: is a motor vehicle of a type required to be registered under this code used or maintained for the transportation of persons for hire, compensation, or profit or designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property. See California Vehicle Code 260
  • Commission: means the California Transportation Commission. See California Government Code 14501
  • Commissioner: means any county agricultural commissioner. See California Food and Agricultural Code 26
  • Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
  • compensation: means the remuneration paid out of funds controlled by the employer in payment for the member's services performed during normal working hours or for time during which the member is excused from work because of any of the following:

    California Government Code 20630

  • Conduct: includes all active and passive behavior, both verbal and nonverbal. See California Evidence Code 125
  • Contest: means a pleading filed with the court by a beneficiary that would result in a penalty under a no contest clause, if the no contest clause is enforced. See California Probate Code 21310
  • Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
  • corporation: includes a limited liability company. See California Government Code 53601.2
  • County: includes every county and city and county within this State. See California Vehicle Code 270
  • County: includes city and county. See California Business and Professions Code 17
  • County: includes "city and county. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
  • County: includes city and county. See California Food and Agricultural Code 29
  • creditor: means the state or the department or agency of the state seeking to collect the liability. See California Code of Civil Procedure 688.040
  • debtor: means the debtor from whom the liability is sought to be collected. See California Code of Civil Procedure 688.040
  • Declarant: is a person who makes a statement. See California Evidence Code 135
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Department: means the Department of Motor Vehicles except, when used in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 2100) of Division 2 and in Divisions 11 (commencing with Section 21000), 12 (commencing with Section 24000), 13 (commencing with Section 29000), 14 (commencing with Section 31600), 14. See California Vehicle Code 290
  • Department: means the Department of Transportation. See California Government Code 14501
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • 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.
  • Direct contest: means a contest that alleges the invalidity of a protected instrument or one or more of its terms, based on one or more of the following grounds:

    California Probate Code 21310

  • director: refer to the Department of General Services and the Director of General Services, respectively, unless the context otherwise requires. See California Government Code 14602
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
  • Dormitory: means a housing unit with necessary and usual attendant and related facilities and equipment. See California Education Code 94110
  • driver: is a person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See California Vehicle Code 305
  • Educational facility: means a dormitory, dining hall, student union, administration building, academic building, library, laboratory, research facility, classroom, health care facility (including for an institution of higher education that maintains and operates a school of medicine, structures or facilities designed to provide services as a hospital or clinic, whether the hospital or clinic is operated directly by the institution of higher education or by a separate nonprofit corporation, the members of which consist of the educational institution or the members of its governing body), faculty and staff housing, parking, maintenance, storage, or utility facilities, and other related structures or facilities used for student instruction, conducting research, or operating an institution for higher education, and related facilities and equipment. See California Education Code 94110
  • Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
  • Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
  • Evidence: means testimony, writings, material objects, or other things presented to the senses that are offered to prove the existence or nonexistence of a fact. See California Evidence Code 140
  • Executive director: means the Executive Director of the California Educational Facilities Authority. See California Education Code 94157
  • Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
  • Faculty and staff housing: means a residential unit owned by a participating college or participating nonprofit entity for use by an individual holding a faculty appointment or a staff position at a public university, public college, or participating college. See California Education Code 94110
  • 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.
  • Farm: as used in this article , includes ranch, estate and villa. See California Business and Professions Code 14460
  • farm labor vehicle: is a ny motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained for the transportation of nine or more farmworkers, in addition to the driver, to or from a place of employment or employment-related activities. See California Vehicle Code 322
  • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: A government corporation that insures the deposits of all national and state banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System. Source: OCC
  • Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Fed, as it is commonly called, regulates the U.S. monetary and financial system. The Federal Reserve System is composed of a central governmental agency in Washington, D.C. (the Board of Governors) and twelve regional Federal Reserve Banks in major cities throughout the United States. Source: OCC
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Finance charge: The total cost of credit a customer must pay on a consumer loan, including interest. The Truth in Lending Act requires disclosure of the finance charge. Source: OCC
  • Financial institution: means a bank as defined under paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of §. See California Education Code 94157
  • Forbearance: A means of handling a delinquent loan. A
  • Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • Grand jury: agreement providing that a lender will delay exercising its rights (in the case of a mortgage,
  • Hazardous material: includes explosives and hazardous wastes or substances as defined by regulations adopted pursuant to §. See California Vehicle Code 353
  • hearing: means the hearing at which a question under this code arises, and not some earlier or later hearing. See California Evidence Code 145
  • Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
  • Highway: is a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See California Vehicle Code 360
  • Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
  • Instrument: means a will, a document establishing or modifying a trust, a deed, or any other writing that designates a beneficiary or makes a donative transfer of property. See California Probate Code 45
  • 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
  • Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Law: includes constitutional, statutory, and decisional law. See California Evidence Code 160
  • legal owner: is a person holding a security interest in a vehicle which is subject to the provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code, or the lessor of a vehicle to the State or to any county, city, district, or political subdivision of the State, or to the United States, under a lease, lease-sale, or rental-purchase agreement which grants possession of the vehicle to the lessee for a period of 30 consecutive days or more. See California Vehicle Code 370
  • Lessor: includes "bailor" and "lease" includes "bailment. See California Vehicle Code 372
  • license: means license, certificate, registration, or other means to engage in a business or profession regulated by this code or referred to in Section 1000 or 3600. See California Business and Professions Code 23.7
  • Licensee: means any person authorized by a license, certificate, registration, or other means to engage in a business or profession regulated by this code or referred to in Sections 1000 and 3600. See California Business and Professions Code 23.8
  • Limousine: means any sedan or sport utility vehicle, of either standard or extended length, with a seating capacity of not more than 10 passengers including the driver, used in the transportation of passengers for hire on a prearranged basis within this state. See California Vehicle Code 378
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • local agency: means county, city, city and county, including a chartered city or county, school district, community college district, public district, county board of education, county superintendent of schools, or any public or municipal corporation. See California Government Code 53600
  • local agency: means city and any district other than school districts required by the Advisory Committee and the Controller to furnish financial reports pursuant to Section 12463. See California Government Code 53900
  • Loss reserve account: means an account in the State Treasury or in any financial institution that is established and maintained by the authority for the benefit of a financial institution participating in the program for the purposes of any of the following:

    California Education Code 94157

  • Maintenance facility or terminal: includes a private business or residence. See California Vehicle Code 34515
  • Modified limousine: means any vehicle that has been modified, altered, or extended in a manner that increases the overall wheelbase of the vehicle, exceeding the original equipment manufacturer's published wheelbase dimension for the base model and year of the vehicle, in any amount sufficient to accommodate additional passengers with a seating capacity of not more than 10 passengers including the driver, and is used in the transportation of passengers for hire. See California Vehicle Code 378
  • motor vehicle: includes a recreational vehicle as that term is defined in subdivision (a) of §. See California Vehicle Code 415
  • motortruck: is a motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transportation of property. See California Vehicle Code 410
  • National Bank: A bank that is subject to the supervision of the Comptroller of the Currency. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department. A national bank can be recognized because it must have "national" or "national association" in its name. Source: OCC
  • National Credit Union Administration: The federal regulatory agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. (NCUA also administers the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, which insures the deposits of federal credit unions.) Source: OCC
  • No contest clause: means a provision in an otherwise valid instrument that, if enforced, would penalize a beneficiary for filing a pleading in any court. See California Probate Code 21310
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Organization: includes any lodge, order, beneficial association, fraternal or beneficial society or association, historical, military, or veterans organization, labor union, or any other similar society, organization, or association or degree, branch, subordinate lodge, or auxiliary thereof. See California Business and Professions Code 14492
  • owner: is a person having all the incidents of ownership, including the legal title of a vehicle whether or not such person lends, rents, or creates a security interest in the vehicle. See California Vehicle Code 460
  • paratransit vehicle: is a passenger vehicle, other than a bus, schoolbus, school pupil activity bus, youth bus, general public paratransit vehicle, or taxicab that is both of the following:

    California Vehicle Code 462

  • participating college: means a private college that participates with the authority in undertaking the financing of working capital or the financing and construction or acquisition of a project and does not restrict the admission of a student based on the student's race or ethnicity, provided that the financing does not violate §. See California Education Code 94110
  • Participating nonprofit entity: means an entity within the meaning of paragraph (3) of subsection (c) of Section 501 of Title 26 of the United States Code that, pursuant to this chapter for the purpose of owning student, faculty, or staff housing, as approved by, and for participation with, the authority, undertakes the financing and construction or acquisition of student, faculty, or staff housing, on real property owned or leased by the entity, for the benefit of a public college, public university, or participating private college. See California Education Code 94110
  • 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.
  • Person: means an individual, corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, or other entity. See California Probate Code 56
  • Person: includes a corporation as well as a natural person. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
  • Person: includes a natural person, firm, copartnership, association, limited liability company, or corporation. See California Vehicle Code 470
  • Person: includes a natural person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, limited liability company, or public entity. See California Evidence Code 175
  • Person: means any individual, partnership, association, corporation, limited liability company, or any organized group of persons whether incorporated or not. See California Food and Agricultural Code 38
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Personal representative: means executor, administrator, administrator with the will annexed, special administrator, successor personal representative, public administrator acting pursuant to Section 7660, or a person who performs substantially the same function under the law of another jurisdiction governing the person's status. See California Probate Code 58
  • pickup truck: is a motor truck with a manufacturer's gross vehicle weight rating of less than 11,500 pounds, an unladen weight of less than 8,001 pounds, and which is equipped with an open box-type bed not exceeding 9 feet in length. See California Vehicle Code 471
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • Pleading: means a petition, complaint, cross-complaint, objection, answer, response, or claim. See California Probate Code 21310
  • 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.
  • Preliminary hearing: A hearing where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence to make the defendant have a trial.
  • Private college: means an institution for higher education other than a public college, situated within the state and that, by virtue of law or charter, is a nonprofit private or independent degree-granting educational institution that is regionally accredited and empowered to provide a program of education beyond the high school level. See California Education Code 94110
  • Private student loan: means a loan issued by a private lending institution for the costs of attendance at any public or private nonprofit college or university in the United States, notwithstanding the definitions in subdivisions (i), (k), and (l) of Section 94110. See California Education Code 94157
  • Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
  • 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
  • Process: signifies a writ or summons issued in the course of a judicial proceeding. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
  • Program: means the California Student Loan Refinancing Program created pursuant to this article. See California Education Code 94157
  • Project: means a dormitory or an educational facility, faculty or staff housing, or any combination thereof, or any function concerning student loans, or interests in student loans, as determined by the authority. See California Education Code 94110
  • Property: means anything that may be the subject of ownership and includes both real and personal property and any interest therein. See California Probate Code 62
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
  • Protected instrument: means all of the following instruments:

    California Probate Code 21310

  • Public college: means a community college. See California Education Code 94110
  • Public university: means any campus of the University of California, the California State University, or the Hastings College of the Law. See California Education Code 94110
  • Qualified borrower: means an individual meeting all of the following requirements:

    California Education Code 94157

  • Qualified loan: means a loan or a portion of a loan made by a financial institution to a qualified borrower to refinance a private student loan under the program. See California Education Code 94157
  • Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • registered owner: is a person registered by the department as the owner of a vehicle. See California Vehicle Code 505
  • Registrant: means a person who files a brand under this article. See California Business and Professions Code 14425
  • Registrant: means any person who files and publishes a name, mark or device under this article. See California Business and Professions Code 14480
  • representative: is a ny person regularly employed by a manufacturer or distributor for the purpose of negotiating or promoting the sale of the manufacturer's or distributer's vehicles to their franchisees or for regularly supervising or contacting franchisees or prospective franchisees in this state for any purpose. See California Vehicle Code 512
  • school pupil activity bus: is a ny motor vehicle, other than a schoolbus, operated by a common carrier, or by and under the exclusive jurisdiction of a publicly owned or operated transit system, or by a passenger charter-party carrier, used under a contractual agreement between a school and carrier to transport school pupils at or below the 12th-grade level to or from a public or private school activity, or used to transport pupils to or from residential schools, when the pupils are received and discharged at off-highway locations where a parent or adult designated by the parent is present to accept the pupil or place the pupil on the bus. See California Vehicle Code 546
  • schoolbus: is a motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained for the transportation of any school pupil at or below the 12th grade level to or from a public or private school or to or from public or private school activities, except the following:

    California Vehicle Code 545

  • Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
  • 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.
  • Sheriff: includes marshal. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
  • Spouse: includes "registered domestic partner" as required by §. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
  • Spouse: includes "registered domestic partner" as required by §. See California Government Code 12.2
  • State: includes any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any territory or possession subject to the legislative authority of the United States. See California Probate Code 74
  • State: includes the District of Columbia and the territories when applied to the different parts of the United States, and the words "United States" may include the district and territories. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
  • State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Evidence Code 220
  • Statement: means (a) oral or written verbal expression or (b) nonverbal conduct of a person intended by him as a substitute for oral or written verbal expression. See California Evidence Code 225
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • Student loan: means a loan having terms and conditions acceptable to the authority that is made to finance or refinance the costs of attendance at a private college or a public college and that is approved by the authority, if the loan is originated pursuant to a program that is approved by the authority. See California Education Code 94110
  • Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which that term occurs, unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Business and Professions Code 15
  • Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which that term occurs unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Food and Agricultural Code 49
  • Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
  • supplies: means containers, equipment or supplies bearing a brand. See California Business and Professions Code 14425
  • Supplies: means supplies bearing a name, mark or device filed and published under this article. See California Business and Professions Code 14480
  • terminal: means the location or locations in this state that are designated by a motor carrier, where subject vehicles may be inspected by the department and where vehicle maintenance and inspection records and drivers' records will be made available for inspection. See California Vehicle Code 34515
  • Testify: Answer questions in court.
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
  • Top administrative official: means the chancellor in the case of a campus of the University of California, the dean in the case of the Hastings College of the Law, the president in the case of a campus of the California State University, the president in the case of a campus of the California Community Colleges, or the president or highest ranking official in the case of a participating private college. See California Education Code 94110
  • 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.
  • Tour bus: includes a bus described in subdivision (a) that has had its roof substantially structurally modified or removed. See California Vehicle Code 612
  • traffic: includes pedestrians, ridden animals, vehicles, street cars, and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using any highway for purposes of travel. See California Vehicle Code 620
  • trailer: includes a semitrailer when used in conjunction with an auxiliary dolly, if the auxiliary dolly is of a type constructed to replace the function of the drawbar and the front axle or axles of a trailer. See California Vehicle Code 630
  • 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.
  • Transferor: means the testator, settlor, grantor, owner, or other person who executes an instrument. See California Probate Code 81
  • transporter: is a person engaged in the business of moving any owned or lawfully possessed vehicle by lawful methods over the highways for the purpose of delivery of such vehicles to dealers, sales agents of a manufacturer, purchasers, or to a new location as requested by the owner. See California Vehicle Code 645
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
  • Trust: includes the following:

    California Probate Code 82

  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • unavailable as a witness: means that the declarant is any of the following:

    California Evidence Code 240

  • Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. Source: OCC
  • vanpool vehicle: is a ny motor vehicle, other than a motortruck or truck tractor, designed for carrying more than 10 but not more than 15 persons including the driver, which is maintained and used primarily for the nonprofit work-related transportation of adults for the purposes of ridesharing. See California Vehicle Code 668
  • vehicle: is a device by which any person or property may be propelled, moved, or drawn upon a highway, excepting a device moved exclusively by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See California Vehicle Code 670
  • Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
  • Will: includes codicil and any testamentary instrument which merely appoints an executor or revokes or revises another will. See California Probate Code 88
  • Will: includes codicil. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
  • Working capital: means maintenance or operation expenses or any other costs that would be treated as an expense item, under generally accepted accounting principles, in connection with the ownership or operation of an educational facility, faculty or staff housing, student housing, or any combination thereof, including, but not limited to, reserves for maintenance or operation expenses, interest on any loan for working capital made pursuant to this part, and reserves for debt service with respect to, and any costs necessary or incidental to, that financing. See California Education Code 94110
  • Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
  • Writ: means an order or precept in writing, issued in the name of the people, or of a court or judicial officer. See California Code of Civil Procedure 17
  • Writing: means handwriting, typewriting, printing, photostating, photographing, photocopying, transmitting by electronic mail or facsimile, and every other means of recording upon any tangible thing, any form of communication or representation, including letters, words, pictures, sounds, or symbols, or combinations thereof, and any record thereby created, regardless of the manner in which the record has been stored. See California Evidence Code 250