Terms Used In California Codes > Public Utilities Code > Division 10 > Part 15 - SAN MATEO COUNTY TRANSIT DISTRICT

• Alternative dispute resolution: means mediation, arbitration, conciliation, or other nonjudicial procedure that involves a neutral party in the decisionmaking process. See California Civil Code 5925
• 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.
• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• 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
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Awarding department: means any state agency, department, governmental entity, including the California State University, or officer or entity empowered by law to enter into contracts on behalf of the State of California. See California Public Contract Code 2051
• Balanced budget: A budget in which receipts equal outlays.
• 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}
• Board: means the Department of Veterans Affairs designated in accordance with subdivision (b) of Section 1108. See California Military and Veterans Code 1102
• Board: means the board of directors of a memorial district. See California Military and Veterans Code 1170
• bonds: includes both construction and refunding bonds except as otherwise expressly provided. See California Water Code 25200
• Chambers: A judge's office.
• City: includes city and county and "incorporated town" but does not include "unincorporated town" or "village. See California Public Utilities Code 19
• Committee: means the Veterans' Home Finance Committee created pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1108. See California Military and Veterans Code 1102
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• County: includes city and county. See California Water Code 14
• County: includes city and county. See California Public Utilities Code 18
• 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 Department of Veterans Affairs. See California Military and Veterans Code 690
• Department: means the Department of Transportation. See California Public Contract Code 2051
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• directors: means the board of directors of the district. See California Public Utilities Code 105003
• disadvantaged business enterprise: means a business concern that is all of the following:

  California Public Contract Code 2051

• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• District: means the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District. See California Public Utilities Code 105003
• District: means a memorial district organized under the provisions of this chapter. See California Military and Veterans Code 1170
• District: means an agency of the state, formed pursuant to general law or special act, for the local performance of governmental or proprietary functions within limited boundaries. See California Public Contract Code 2051
• Enforcement action: means a civil action or proceeding, other than a cross-complaint, for any of the following purposes:

  California Civil Code 5925

• 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}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• 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.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• 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.
• 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}
• Fund: means the Veterans' Home Fund created pursuant to Section 1103. See California Military and Veterans Code 1102
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• 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.
• home-to-school transportation: includes all of the following:

  California Education Code 41850

• 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}
• Joint tenancy: A form of property ownership in which two or more parties hold an undivided interest in the same property that was conveyed under the same instrument at the same time. A joint tenant can sell his (her) interest but not dispose of it by will. Upon the death of a joint tenant, his (her) undivided interest is distributed among the surviving joint tenants.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Legal tender: coins, dollar bills, or other currency issued by a government as official money. ^{Source: U.S. Mint}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Life estate: A property interest limited in duration to the life of the individual holding the interest (life tenant).
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Local agency: means a county or city, whether general law or chartered, city and county, school district, or other district. See California Public Contract Code 2051
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
• 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.
• Participating state or local agency: means any state or local agency that elects to participate in the certification process pursuant to this chapter. See California Public Contract Code 2051
• Person: means any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, limited liability company, or company. See California Water Code 19
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Probate: Proving a will
• Probation: A sentencing alternative to imprisonment in which the court releases convicted defendants under supervision as long as certain conditions are observed.
• project: means any major, localized, undertaking by or under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Water Resources, or by or under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Water Resources and the federal government, jointly, which has a duration, estimated by the Director of the Department of Water Resources, of more than three years. See California Education Code 41930
• property: includes property real and personal. See California Civil Code 14
• Public agency: includes the state, and any county, city and county, city, district, or other political subdivision or public entity of, or organized under the laws of, this state, or any department, instrumentality, or agency thereof. See California Public Utilities Code 105003
• Public entity: as used in this part , means the state, county, city, city and county, district, public authority, public agency, municipal corporation, or any other political subdivision or public corporation in the state. See California Public Contract Code 1100
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Rail transit: means the transportation of passengers and their incidental baggage by rail and provision of freight service by rail. See California Public Utilities Code 105003
• rail transit facilities: means any or all real and personal property, equipment, rights, or interests owned or to be acquired by the district for rail transit service purposes, including ancillary bicycle and pedestrian pathways that provide connections between and access to station sites. See California Public Utilities Code 105003
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• 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.
• Responsible bidder: as used in this part , means a bidder who has demonstrated the attribute of trustworthiness, as well as quality, fitness, capacity, and experience to satisfactorily perform the public works contract. See California Public Contract Code 1103
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• revenue: means all or any part of any source or sources of payment excluding assessments but including the proceeds of any existing or proposed contract or contracts. See California Water Code 25240
• 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.
• special education transportation: means either of the following:

  California Education Code 41850

• State agency: means any department, division, board, bureau, commission, or agency of the executive branch of government. See California Public Contract Code 2051
• 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.
• Tenancy in common: A type of property ownership in which two or more individuals have an undivided interest in property. At the death of one tenant in common, his (her) fractional percentage of ownership in the property passes to the decedent
• 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.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: means the United States of America, and in relation to any particular matter includes the officers, agents, employees, agencies, or instrumentalities authorized to act in relation thereto. See California Water Code 20
• Uphold: The decision of an appellate court not to reverse a lower court decision.
• 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.
• 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.
• war: shall mean : (a) whenever Congress has declared war and peace has not been formally restored. See California Military and Veterans Code 18
• will: includes codicil. See California Civil Code 14
• Women business enterprise: means a business concern that meets all of the following criteria:

  California Public Contract Code 2051