Judiciary

• AB 83 (Santiago) Establishes the Judicial Council Employer-Employee Relations Act that would grant collective bargaining rights to certain employees of the Judicial Council thereby governing the employer-employee relationship, and confers certain rights to these employees regarding joining or forming an employee organization, rights to the employee organization representing these employees, and rights to the employer, among other provisions.

An act to add Chapter 10.4 (commencing with Section 3524.50) to Division 4 of Title 1 of the Government Code, relating to the Judicial Council.

• AB 411 (Bloom) Authorizes the use of a support dog during the testimony of specified victims and child witnesses.

An act to add Section 868.4 to the Penal Code, relating to witness testimony.

• AB 452 (Bloom) This bill changes references to Clerk of the Supreme Court to Clerk/Executive Officer of the Supreme Court, and changes references to Clerk/Administrator of the Court of Appeal to Clerk/Executive Officer of the Court of Appeal. This bill also provides that state law references to the Administrative Office of the Courts means the Judicial Council.

An act to amend Sections 6076.5 and 6081 of the Business and Professions Code, to amend Section 1180 of the Civil Code, to amend Sections 915, 946.6, 955.9, 1001, 68512, 68802, 68803, 68843, 68846, 68847, 68928, 69141, and 69154 of, and to add Section 68500.3 to, the Government Code, and to amend Sections 4850, 4851, and 4852 of the Penal Code, relating to courts.

• AB 740 (Reyes) This bill reorganizes the existing statutory provisions regarding the certification of former judges and justices to administer oaths and affirmations. This bill removes the requirement that all applications include a medical certification, but authorizes the Commission on Judicial Performance (CJP) to require one under certain circumstances. This bill also removes the five-year cap on certifications, making certifications valid indefinitely, except as specified.

An act to amend Section 2093 of the Code of Civil Procedure, relating to oaths and affirmations.

• AB 976 (Berman) Expands permissive electronic filing and service to other case types and clarifies rules about electronic filing and service relating to electronic signatures, timing, notice, and transmission.

An act to amend Sections 664.5, 1010.6, 1011, and 1020 of, and to add Section 1013b to, the Code of Civil Procedure, to add Section 690.5 to the Penal Code, to amend Sections 331, 366, 453, 711, 715, 732, 733, 1050, 1209, 1212, 1213, 1214, 1215, 1217, 1220, 1250, 1252, 1460, 1461, 1461.4, 1461.5, 1511, 1513.2, 1516, 1542, 1822, 1826, 1827.5, 1830, 1842, 1847, 1851, 2214, 2250, 2352, 2357, 2361, 2610, 2611, 2612, 2614, 2683, 2684, 2700, 2702, 2804, 2808, 3088, 3131, 3206, 3602, 3704, 3801, 3918, 8100, 8110, 8111, 8200, 8203, 8469, 8522, 8803, 8903, 8906, 8924, 9052, 9153, 9732, 9762, 9783, 9787, 10585, 10586, 10587, 11601, 13200, 13655, 15686, 16061.7, 16061.8, 16061.9, 16336.6, 16501, 16502, 16503, 17203, 17204, 17205, 17403, 17454, 19011, 19024, 19040, 19052, 19150, 19153, 19323, 20122, and 20222 of, and to amend, renumber, and add Section 1265 of, and to repeal Section 1216 of, the Probate Code, to amend Sections 248, 248.5, 297, 302, 342, 362.4, 364.05, 366.05, 366.21, 366.26, 387, 607.2, 630, 658, 660, 661, 727.4, 728, 777, 778, 779, 785, 903.45, and 5362 of, to amend and repeal Sections 290.1, 290.2, 291, 292, 293, 294, 295, and 316.1 of, and to add Section 212.5 to, the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to electronic filing and service.

• AB 984 (Calderon) Clarifies the standards, conditions, and procedures that a trial court must follow when it orders sanctions against a party, party’s attorney, or both, as the result of an action or tactic made in bad faith.

An act to amend and repeal Section 128.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure, relating to courts, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

• AB 1443 (Levine) This bill updates existing laws governing the retention and destruction of court records. This bill provides guidelines for the retention of gun violence restraining orders and eliminates the requirement that courts provide a listing of all destroyed records to Judicial Council.

An act to amend Sections 68150, 68152, and 68153 of the Government Code, relating to court records.

• AB 1450 (Obernolte) Requires the official reporter or official reporter pro tempore to deliver its transcripts to parties and the court in electronic form unless a party requests the transcript in paper form or other exceptions apply no later than 2023. This bill does not apply to deposition transcripts.

An act to repeal and add Section 271 of the Code of Civil Procedure, relating to court reporters.

• AB 1541 (Kalra) Prohibits the court from imposing specific unreasonable or arbitrary time limits or establishing an inflexible time limit policy for voir dire. Provides that during jury selection in a criminal case, the court shall permit liberal and probing examination calculated to discover bias or prejudice with regard to the circumstances of the particular case or the parties before the court.

An act to repeal and add Section 223 of the Code of Civil Procedure, relating to jurors.

• AB 1690 (Committee on Judiciary) Extends protections in existing law that prohibit inquiry into a litigant’s immigration status in civil actions to enforce state labor, employment, civil rights, and housing laws, to actions to enforce the state’s consumer protection laws. Specifically, this bill clarifies that for purposes of enforcing state consumer protection laws, a person’s immigration status is irrelevant to the issue of liability, and in proceedings or discovery undertaken to enforce those state laws, no inquiry shall be permitted into a person’s immigration status, except where the person seeking to make this inquiry has shown by clear and convincing evidence that the inquiry is necessary in order to comply with federal immigration law.

An act to amend Section 3339 of the Civil Code, to amend Section 7285 of the Government Code, to amend Section 24000 of the Health and Safety Code, and to amend Section 1171.5 of the Labor Code, relating to personal rights.

• AB 1693 (Committee on Judiciary) Allows a party seeking to intervene in an ongoing legal action the option of filing an answer-in-intervention, rather than a complaint-in-intervention.

An act to amend Sections 387, 1032, and 1038 of the Code of Civil Procedure, relating to civil procedure.

• SB 217 (Wieckowski) Exempts certain declarations that are required to be made in a dissolution from the rule that evidence of statements made in the course of a mediation is inadmissible in a civil proceeding.

An act to amend Section 1120 of the Evidence Code, relating to evidence.

• SB 230 (Atkins) This bill expands the definition of “sexual offense” to include specified offenses related to human trafficking for purposes of the Evidence Code exception which provides that evidence of another sexual offense is not inadmissible to prove conduct in a current sexual offense action.

An act to amend Section 1108 of the Evidence Code, relating to evidence.

• SB 331 (Jackson) Expands the definition of a “domestic violence victim services organization” for purposes of the domestic violence victim-counselor evidentiary privilege. Specifically, this bill: Adds organizations that operate on the campus of a public or private college or university with the primary mission to provide services to victims of domestic violence to the definition of “domestic violence victim service organization” in current law so that communications between a victim and counselor at such an organization are covered by the privilege.

An act to amend Section 1037.1 of the Evidence Code, relating to evidence.

• SB 339 (Roth) This bill requires the Judicial Council, contingent upon funding, to conduct a statewide study of veterans and veterans treatment courts, as specified, and to report its findings to the Legislature.

An act to add and repeal Section 68530 of the Government Code, relating to courts.