Terms Used In California Codes > Public Utilities Code > Division 1 > Part 1 > Chapter 4 - Regulation of Public Utilities

• Acquiring district: means a school district that has all or portions of one or more other school districts transferred into, or lapsed into, its boundaries pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 35511 or Section 35780. See California Education Code 35514
• Affirmed: In the practice of the appellate courts, the decree or order is declared valid and will stand as rendered in the lower court.
• Agency: means the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. See California Labor Code 18.5
• agriculture: includes farming in all its branches, and, among other things, includes the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying, the production, cultivation, growing, and harvesting of any agricultural or horticultural commodities (including commodities defined as agricultural commodities in Section 1141j(g) of Title 12 of the United States Code), the raising of livestock, bees, furbearing animals, or poultry, and any practices (including any forestry or lumbering operations) performed by a farmer or on a farm as an incident to or in conjunction with such farming operations, including preparation for market and delivery to storage or to market or to carriers for transportation to market. See California Labor Code 1140.4
• 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.
• 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.
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• 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.
• 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}
• board: means Agricultural Labor Relations Board. See California Labor Code 1140.4
• board: means the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 20
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• City: includes city and county and "incorporated town" but does not include "unincorporated town" or "village. See California Public Utilities Code 19
• City: includes incorporated city, city and county, municipal corporation, municipality, town, and incorporated town. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 14
• Commission: means the Public Utilities Commission created by §. See California Public Utilities Code 20
• Commissioner: means the Labor Commissioner. See California Labor Code 2671
• commissioner: means a member of the commission. See California Public Utilities Code 20
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Continuance: Putting off of a hearing ot trial until a later time.
• Contractor: includes a subcontractor that is primarily engaged in those operations. See California Labor Code 2671
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• County: includes "city and county. See California Labor Code 14
• County: includes "city and county. See California Public Resources Code 14
• County: includes city and county. See California Public Utilities Code 18
• County: includes city and county. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 15
• Court reporter: A person who makes a word-for-word record of what is said in court and produces a transcript of the proceedings upon request.
• Credit report: A detailed report of an individual's credit history prepared by a credit bureau and used by a lender in determining a loan applicant's creditworthiness. ^{Source: OCC}
• Credit Score: A number, roughly between 300 and 800, that measures an individual's credit worthiness. The most well-known type of credit score is the FICO score. This score represents the answer from a mathematical formula that assigns numerical values to various pieces of information in your credit report. ^{Source: OCC}
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Department: means the Department of Industrial Relations. See California Labor Code 1286
• Department: means Department of Industrial Relations. See California Labor Code 19
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Director: means the Director of Industrial Relations or the director's designee. See California Labor Code 1286
• Director: means Director of Industrial Relations. See California Labor Code 20
• 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:
• Districts: means school districts of every kind or class. See California Education Code 35514
• Divided district: means a school district that has had a portion of its territory become part of a new school district or transferred into one or more other school districts by an action to reorganize taken pursuant to Section 35511. See California Education Code 35514
• Emergency condition: means the existence of either of the following:

  California Labor Code 1139

• employee: shall mean one engaged in agriculture, as such term is defined in subdivision (a). See California Labor Code 1140.4
• Energy Commission: means the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission. See California Public Utilities Code 20
• Entertainment industry: means motion pictures of any type, including, but not limited to, film or videotape, using any format, including, but not limited to, theatrical film, commercial, documentary, or television program, by any medium, including, but not limited to, theater, television, or videocassette. See California Labor Code 1286
• 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.
• Fair Credit Reporting Act: A federal law, established in 1971 and revised in 1997, that gives consumers the right to see their credit records and correct any mistakes. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• 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.
• Forbearance: A means of handling a delinquent loan. A
• forge: means forge, reproduce, copy, imitate, or counterfeit. See California Labor Code 1013
• Former district: means a school district that has been wholly included in another school district, or has had all of its territory made part of two or more other school districts, through any action taken pursuant to Section 35511 or through a lapsation pursuant to Section 35780. See California Education Code 35514
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Garment manufacturing: means sewing, cutting, making, processing, repairing, finishing, assembling, dyeing, altering a garment's design, causing another person to alter a garment's design, affixing a label to a garment, or otherwise preparing any garment or any article of wearing apparel or accessories designed or intended to be worn by any individual, including, but not limited to, clothing, hats, gloves, handbags, hosiery, ties, scarfs, and belts, for sale or resale by any person or any persons contracting to have those operations performed and other operations and practices in the apparel industry as may be identified in regulations of the Department of Industrial Relations consistent with the purposes of this part. See California Labor Code 2671
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• 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.
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.
• Intangible property: Property that has no intrinsic value, but is merely the evidence of value such as stock certificates, bonds, and promissory notes.
• 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 meeting: An occasion, often ceremonial, when the House and Senate each adopt a unanimous consent agreement
• 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.
• jurisdictional strike: means a concerted refusal to perform work for an employer or any other concerted interference with an employer's operation or business, arising out of a controversy between two or more labor organizations as to which of them has or should have the exclusive right to bargain collectively with an employer on behalf of his employees or any of them, or arising out of a controversy between two or more labor organizations as to which of them has or should have the exclusive right to have its members perform work for an employer. See California Labor Code 1118
• label: includes label, imprint, trade-mark, tag, stamp, inscription, or other device. See California Labor Code 1010
• Labor Commissioner: means the Chief of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, or the chief's deputies or agents, who shall have the authority to conduct informal hearings and determine the amount of civil penalties in accordance with this chapter. See California Labor Code 1286
• Labor Commissioner: means Chief of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. See California Labor Code 21
• labor dispute: as used in this chapter has the same meaning as set forth in clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (b) of Section 527. See California Labor Code 1138.4
• labor dispute: includes any controversy concerning terms, tenure, or conditions of employment, or concerning the association or representation of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing, or seeking to arrange terms or conditions of employment, regardless of whether the disputants stand in the proximate relation of employer and employee. See California Labor Code 1140.4
• labor organization: means any organization of any kind, or any agency or employee representation committee or plan, in which employees participate and which exists, in whole or in part, for the purpose of dealing with employers concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, rates of pay, hours of employment, or conditions of work for agricultural employees. See California Labor Code 1140.4
• land leveling: shall include only major land moving operations changing the contour of the land, but shall not include annual or seasonal tillage or preparation of land for cultivation. See California Labor Code 1140.4
• Lawsuit: A legal action started by a plaintiff against a defendant based on a complaint that the defendant failed to perform a legal duty, resulting in harm to the plaintiff.
• 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}
• License: means any agency permit, certificate, approval, registration, or charter that is required by law and that is issued by any agency for the purposes of operating a business in this state and that is specific to the business location or locations where the unfair immigration-related practice occurred. See California Labor Code 1019
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• manufacturer: means any person who is engaged in garment manufacturing who is not a contractor. See California Labor Code 2671
• Minor: means any person under the age of 18 years who is required to attend school under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 48200) and Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 48400) of Part 27 of Division 4 of Title 2 of . See California Labor Code 1286
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• New district: means a school district that is formed from all or portions of one or more other school districts by an action to reorganize taken pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 35511. See California Education Code 35514
• newspaper: means a newspaper of general circulation. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 36.5
• Oath: includes affirmation. See California Labor Code 16
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• 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.
• Oral argument: An opportunity for lawyers to summarize their position before the court and also to answer the judges' questions.
• Original district: means a school district as it existed before an action to reorganize pursuant to Section 35511 or before an action to lapse a school district pursuant to Section 35780. See California Education Code 35514
• Outlays: Outlays are payments made (generally through the issuance of checks or disbursement of cash) to liquidate obligations. Outlays during a fiscal year may be for payment of obligations incurred in prior years or in the same year.
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• partnership: shall include limited liability company, registered limited liability partnership, and foreign limited liability partnership, except where the context or the specific provisions of this division otherwise require. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 28.5
• Person: means any person, association, organization, partnership, business trust, limited liability company, or corporation. See California Labor Code 18
• Person: means any individual, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, or association, and includes, but is not limited to, employers, manufacturers, jobbers, wholesalers, contractors, subcontractors, and any other person or entity engaged in the business of garment manufacturing. See California Labor Code 2671
• person: shall mean one or more individuals, corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, associations, legal representatives, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers, or any other legal entity, employer, or labor organization having an interest in the outcome of a proceeding under this part. See California Labor Code 1140.4
• Person: includes any person, firm, partnership, general partner of a partnership, limited liability company, registered limited liability partnership, foreign limited liability partnership, association, corporation, company, syndicate, estate, trust, business trust, or organization of any kind. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 19
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Probation officers: Screen applicants for pretrial release and monitor convicted offenders released under court supervision.
• promise: includes promise, undertaking, contract, or agreement, whether written or oral, express or implied. See California Labor Code 920
• 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.
• Qualified insurance resource: means personnel and equipment working for, or contracted by, an insurance company with a mission to mitigate risk to insured structures and operating in compliance with instruction and oversight of the incident management team of the authority having jurisdiction. See California Labor Code 1139
• Railroad: means any steam railroad, electric railroad, or railway, operated in whole or in part in this State. See California Labor Code 600
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• reasonable belief that the workplace or worksite is unsafe: means that a reasonable person, under the circumstances known to the employee at the time, would conclude there is a real danger of death or serious injury if that person enters or remains on the premises. See California Labor Code 1139
• 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.
• Remand: When an appellate court sends a case back to a lower court for further proceedings.
• reorganization: as used in this chapter , shall have the same meaning as that term is defined in Section 368 of the Internal Revenue Code. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 23251
• 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).
• representatives: includes any individual or labor organization. See California Labor Code 1140.4
• Rescission: The cancellation of budget authority previously provided by Congress. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies that the President may propose to Congress that funds be rescinded. If both Houses have not approved a rescission proposal (by passing legislation) within 45 days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation.
• Restitution: The court-ordered payment of money by the defendant to the victim for damages caused by the criminal action.
• Revolving credit: A credit agreement (typically a credit card) that allows a customer to borrow against a preapproved credit line when purchasing goods and services. The borrower is only billed for the amount that is actually borrowed plus any interest due. (Also called a charge account or open-end credit.) ^{Source: OCC}
• Secretary: means the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development. See California Labor Code 19.5
• 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.
• social media: means an electronic service or account, or electronic content, including, but not limited to, videos, still photographs, blogs, video blogs, podcasts, instant and text messages, email, online services or accounts, or Internet Web site profiles or locations. See California Labor Code 980
• State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Public Utilities Code 17
• 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.
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• subscription: includes mark when the signer or subscriber cannot write, such signer's or subscriber's name being written near the mark by a witness who writes his own name near the signer's or subscriber's name. See California Public Utilities Code 16
• subscription: includes mark. See California Revenue and Taxation Code 18
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• supervisor: means any individual having the authority, in the interest of the employer, to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward, or discipline other employees, or the responsibility to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend such action, if, in connection with the foregoing, the exercise of such authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature, but requires the use of independent judgment. See California Labor Code 1140.4
• 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.
• Testify: Answer questions in court.
• Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
• Trainman: means a conductor, motorman, engineer, fireman, brakeman, train dispatcher, or telegraph operator, employed by or working in connection with a railroad. See California Labor Code 600
• 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.
• unfair immigration-related practice: means any of the following practices, when undertaken for the retaliatory purposes prohibited by subdivision (a):

  California Labor Code 1019

• unfair labor practice: means any unfair labor practice specified in Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 1153) of this part. See California Labor Code 1140.4
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Violation: means each incident when an unfair immigration-related practice was committed, without reference to the number of employees involved in the incident. See California Labor Code 1019
• Violation: includes a failure to comply with any requirement of the code. See California Labor Code 22
• will: includes codicil. See California Civil Code 14
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.