Article 1 Legislative Compensation
Article 2 Code of Ethics
Article 3 Joint Legislative Ethics Committee

Terms Used In California Codes > Government Code > Title 2 > Division 2 > Part 1 > Chapter 1 - Legislative Organization

  • Allegation: something that someone says happened.
  • 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
  • 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: 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
  • Bureau: means the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau. See California Business and Professions Code 7601
  • Bureau: refers to the Bureau of Household Goods and Services, as established in Section 9810. See California Business and Professions Code 19225.5
  • Cigarette: means a cigarette as defined in §. See California Health and Safety Code 14950
  • City: includes "city and county" and "incorporated town" but does not include "unincorporated town" or "village. See California Government Code 20
  • Commission: means the Fish and Game Commission, and "commissioner" means a member of the Fish and Game Commission. See California Fish and Game Code 30
  • Commissioner: means any county agricultural commissioner. See California Food and Agricultural Code 26
  • Community estate: includes both community property and quasi-community property. See California Family Code 63
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • complaint: means a valid complaint as specified in subdivision (b). See California Government Code 8944
  • Concurrent resolution: A legislative measure, designated "S. Con. Res." and numbered consecutively upon introduction, generally employed to address the sentiments of both chambers, to deal with issues or matters affecting both houses, such as a concurrent budget resolution, or to create a temporary joint committee. Concurrent resolutions are not submitted to the President/Governor and thus do not have the force of law.
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Corporation: includes a corporation, a company, a limited liability company, an association, and a joint stock association. See California Business and Professions Code 19225.5
  • County: includes city and county. See California Government Code 19
  • County: includes city and county. See California Health and Safety Code 14
  • County: includes city and county. See California Business and Professions Code 17
  • County: includes city and county. See California Food and Agricultural Code 29
  • Day: means calendar day, and "week" means calendar week. See California Fish and Game Code 35
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Department: means the Department of Fish and Wildlife. See California Fish and Game Code 37
  • Department: means the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. See California Health and Safety Code 14950
  • Department: refers to the Department of Consumer Affairs. See California Business and Professions Code 19225.5
  • Director: refers to the Director of Consumer Affairs. See California Business and Professions Code 19225.5
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. Source:
  • Distributor: means a distributor as defined in §. See California Health and Safety Code 14950
  • Earthquake hazard mitigation technologies: includes , but is not limited to, seismic isolation, energy dissipation, ductility, damping systems, and other technologies which endeavor to reasonably protect buildings and nonstructural components, building contents, and functional capability from earthquake damage. See California Health and Safety Code 16100
  • Embezzlement: In most states, embezzlement is defined as theft/larceny of assets (money or property) by a person in a position of trust or responsibility over those assets. Embezzlement typically occurs in the employment and corporate settings. Source: OCC
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Fish: means a wild fish, mollusk, crustacean, invertebrate, amphibian, or part, spawn, or ovum of any of those animals. See California Fish and Game Code 45
  • Forgery: The fraudulent signing or alteration of another's name to an instrument such as a deed, mortgage, or check. The intent of the forgery is to deceive or defraud. Source: OCC
  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • Fund: means the Household Goods and Services Fund established pursuant to Section 9870. See California Business and Professions Code 19225.5
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • Household mover: includes every corporation or person, their lessees, trustee, receivers, or trustees appointed by any court whatsoever, engaged in the permitted or unpermitted transportation for compensation or hire as a business by means of a motor vehicle or motor vehicles being used in the transportation of used household goods and personal effects over any public highway in this state. See California Business and Professions Code 19225.5
  • Joint committee: Committees including membership from both houses of teh legislature. Joint committees are usually established with narrow jurisdictions and normally lack authority to report legislation.
  • 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.
  • legislative body: means the city council or board of trustees in the case of a city, the board of supervisors in the case of a county or a city and county, or the board of directors, trustees, or governors or other governing body in the case of a special district or any other municipal or public corporation or district. See California Government Code 54706
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • 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
  • Little cigar: means any roll of tobacco wrapped in a leaf of tobacco or any substance containing tobacco and weighing not more than three pounds per thousand. See California Health and Safety Code 14950
  • local agency: means any city, county, city and county, special district, or any other municipal corporation or district. See California Government Code 54705
  • local agency: means municipal corporation or sanitary district. See California Government Code 55000
  • Manufacturer: means any of the following:

    California Health and Safety Code 14950

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • order: include a decree, as appropriate under the circumstances. See California Family Code 100
  • Package: means package as defined in §. See California Health and Safety Code 14950
  • 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: includes any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, limited liability company, business trust, corporation, or company. See California Government Code 17
  • Person: means any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, limited liability company, or company. See California Health and Safety Code 19
  • Person: includes an individual, a firm, or a partnership. See California Business and Professions Code 19225.5
  • Person: means any natural person or any partnership, corporation, limited liability company, trust, or other type of association. See California Fish and Game Code 67
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Proceeding: includes an action. See California Family Code 110
  • 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
  • Property: includes real and personal property and any interest therein. See California Family Code 113
  • Quality control and quality assurance program: means the laboratory procedures implemented to ensure that operator bias, systematic and nonsystematic methodological errors, and equipment-related problems do not affect the results of the testing. See California Health and Safety Code 14950
  • Quasi-community property: means all real or personal property, wherever situated, acquired before or after the operative date of this code in any of the following ways:

    California Family Code 125

  • 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.
  • Repeatability: means the range of values within which the repeat results of cigarette test trials from a single laboratory will fall 95 percent of the time. See California Health and Safety Code 14950
  • Retailer: means a person who engages in the sale of cigarettes, but not for the purpose of resale. See California Health and Safety Code 14950
  • sell: means any transfer, exchange, or barter, in any manner or by any means whatever, or any agreement for these purposes. See California Health and Safety Code 14950
  • service: includes the cost of maintaining any facility used to provide any service. See California Government Code 54708
  • 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.
  • Spouse: includes "registered domestic partner" as required by Section 297. See California Family Code 143
  • Stamp and meter impression: means stamp and meter impression as defined in §. See California Health and Safety Code 14950
  • State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Health and Safety Code 23
  • State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Business and Professions Code 21
  • State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, or a commonwealth, territory, or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. See California Family Code 145
  • State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Fish and Game Code 83
  • state park lands: means any lands subject to the control of the Department of Parks and Recreation. See California Food and Agricultural Code 11301
  • 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 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 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.
  • Support: refers to a support obligation owing on behalf of a child, spouse, or family, or an amount owing pursuant to Section 17402. See California Family Code 150
  • Take: means hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill, or attempt to hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill. See California Fish and Game Code 86
  • Testify: Answer questions in court.
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
  • Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
  • Wholesaler: means a wholesaler as defined in §. See California Health and Safety Code 14950