Article 1 General
Article 2 Duties
Article 3 Commission on Uniform State Laws
Article 4 Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act

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

  • action taken: means a collective decision made by the members of a state body, a collective commitment or promise by the members of the state body to make a positive or negative decision or an actual vote by the members of a state body when sitting as a body or entity upon a motion, proposal, resolution, order or similar action. See California Government Code 11122
  • administrative costs: means the amounts expended by the Legislature, the Legislative Counsel Bureau, the Governor's Office, the Department of Technology, the Office of Planning and Research, the Department of Justice, the State Controller's Office, the State Treasurer's Office, the State Personnel Board, the Department of Finance, the Department of Financial Information System for California, the Office of Administrative Law, the Department of Human Resources, the Secretary of California Health and Human Services, the California State Auditor's Office, the Department of General Services, and the California State Library, and a proration of any other cost to or expense of the state for services or facilities provided for the Legislature and the above agencies, for supervision or administration of the state government or for services to other state agencies. See California Government Code 11270
  • 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.
  • Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Aquaculture: means that form of agriculture devoted to the propagation, cultivation, maintenance, and harvesting of aquatic plants and animals in marine, brackish, and fresh water. See California Fish and Game Code 17
  • 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.
  • Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
  • 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
  • Bird: means a wild bird or part of a wild bird. See California Fish and Game Code 22
  • 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
  • Chambers: A judge's office.
  • City: includes city and county. See California Business and Professions Code 18
  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Contract of admission: includes all documents which a resident or his or her representative must sign at the time of, or as a condition of, admission to a long-term health care facility, as defined in Section 1326. See California Health and Safety Code 1599.60
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • 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 Fish and Game Code 32
  • County: includes city and county. See California Food and Agricultural Code 29
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Department: means the State Department of Health Services or its designee. See California Health and Safety Code 1599.60
  • Department: means the Department of Fish and Wildlife. See California Fish and Game Code 37
  • Department: means the Department of Food and Agriculture. See California Food and Agricultural Code 32
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • Devise: To gift property by will.
  • Director: means the Director of Fish and Wildlife. See California Fish and Game Code 39
  • 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:
  • District: means fish and game district. See California Fish and Game Code 41
  • Electronic: means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities. See California Government Code 10291
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
  • Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Fishery: means both of the following:

    California Fish and Game Code 94

  • Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
  • guide: means any person who is engaged in the business of packing or guiding, or who, for a fee, assists another person in taking or attempting to take any bird, mammal, fish, amphibian, or reptile. See California Fish and Game Code 2535
  • Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
  • 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.
  • Kelp: means kelp or other marine aquatic plants and the seeds thereof. See California Fish and Game Code 51
  • Legal material: means all of the following, whether or not in effect:

    California Government Code 10291

  • Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).
  • 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
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • Mammal: means a wild or feral mammal or part of a wild or feral animal, but not a wild, feral, or undomesticated burro. See California Fish and Game Code 54
  • meeting: includes any congregation of a majority of the members of a state body at the same time and place to hear, discuss, or deliberate upon any item that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the state body to which it pertains. See California Government Code 11122.5
  • Mile: means either a statute mile (5,280 feet) or a nautical mile (6,077 feet) depending on the application. See California Fish and Game Code 55
  • Net: means any gear made of any kind of twine, thread, string, rope, wire, wood, or other materials used for the gilling, entangling, trapping, or impounding of fish. See California Fish and Game Code 56
  • 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.
  • Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
  • 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: means any natural person or any partnership, corporation, limited liability company, trust, or other type of association. See California Fish and Game Code 67
  • 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.
  • 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
  • Purchase: means "buy" as defined in Section 24. See California Fish and Game Code 68
  • 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.
  • Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See California Government Code 10291
  • Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. Source: FDIC
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
  • Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
  • Secretary: means the Secretary of Food and Agriculture. See California Food and Agricultural Code 35
  • Sell: includes offer for sale, expose for sale, possess for sale, exchange, barter, or trade. See California Food and Agricultural Code 44
  • Sell: includes offer or possess for sale, barter, exchange, or trade. See California Fish and Game Code 75
  • 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.
  • 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, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Business and Professions Code 21
  • State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Fish and Game Code 83
  • 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 Government Code 10291
  • state agencies: includes the Department of General Services and any and all organizational units, parts, and subdivisions of state agencies as defined in Section 11000. See California Government Code 11263
  • state agency: includes every state office, officer, department, division, bureau, board, and commission. See California Government Code 11000
  • state body: means each of the following:

    California Government Code 11121

  • 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 Fish and Game Code 73
  • 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
  • Subdivision: means a subdivision of the section in which the term occurs unless some other section is expressly mentioned. See California Government Code 10
  • Take: means hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill, or attempt to hunt, pursue, catch, capture, or kill. See California Fish and Game Code 86
  • Temporary restraining order: Prohibits a person from an action that is likely to cause irreparable harm. This differs from an injunction in that it may be granted immediately, without notice to the opposing party, and without a hearing. It is intended to last only until a hearing can be held.
  • Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
  • 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.
  • Transport: includes offer or receive for transportation. See California Fish and Game Code 88
  • 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.
  • Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
  • Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.
  • Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
  • Wildlife: means and includes all wild animals, birds, plants, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and related ecological communities, including the habitat upon which the wildlife depends for its continued viability. See California Fish and Game Code 89.5
  • Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.