New California Laws 2012

There were 747 new laws in California enacted in 2011. Even more were enacted in 2012. Here are just a few.

Child Booster Seat Law

The new California Booster Seat Law outlaws parents, guardians, or drivers from transporting on a highway in a motor vehicle any child under 8 years old without securing that child in an appropriate child restraint meeting federal motor vehicle safety standards.

The new California law does contain a provision, however, that a child under 8 years of age who is 4'9" inches in height or taller may use a safety belt rather than a child safety seat or booster seat.  Law effective January 1, 2012.



California Handgun Open Carry Law

Open-carry citizen handgun ban.  Supported by cops who cannot tell whether openly carried weapons are loaded or not.  Violators pay $1,000 plus 6 months in jail (misdemeanor). Gun rights advocates vow to carry rifles and shotguns instead.  Californians can still get permits for concealed weapons, though it is increasingly difficult.  Law effective January 1, 2012.

California Human Trafficking Law

Enforces mandatory disclosure of efforts that companies take to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from their entire supply chains.  Being watched as a prototype of future legislation in other states and nations.  Law effective January 1, 2012.

California Gay Bullying Law (Seth's Law)

Combats bullying of gay and lesbian students in public schools by requiring school districts to have a uniform process for dealing with gay bullying complaints. Mandates that school personnel intervene if they witness gay bullying.  Law effective July 1, 2012.

LGBT Equality and Equal Access in Higher Education Law

State universities and colleges must create and enforce campus policies protecting LGBTs from harassment and appoint employee contact persons to address on-campus LGBT matters. The law includes community colleges statewide.  Law effective 2012.

Domestic Partnership Equality Law

Corrects inequalities between domestic partnerships and heterosexual marriages, including domestic partner health benefits sharing.  Law effective 2012.

Protection of Parent-Child Relationships Law

Allows courts to consider the relationship between a child and a non-biological parent when considering child rights cases involving birth parents, adoptive parents, and gay or lesbian guardians.  Law effective 2012.

Transgender Non-Discrimination Law

Provides public accommodation and protection in education, housing and employment for gender identity and expression.  Law effective 2012.

Transgender Vital Statistics Law

Makes it easier for transgender Californians to get a court petition to change their gender on official documents.  Law effective 2012.

LGBT Equal Benefits Law

Requires an employer with a state contract worth more than $100,000 to have non-discrimination policies in place for LGBT workers and their partners.  Law effective 2012.

Judicial Applicant and Appointment Demographics Inclusion Law

Includes gender identity and sexual orientation of potential judges into the state's Judicial Applicant Data Report to ensure that state courts are diverse.  Law effective 2012.

Gay Divorce Law

Provides that if a gay couple got married in California but lives in a state that won't grant them a divorce, the California court will have jurisdiction to grant them a legal divorce. The case will be filed in the county where the gay couple got married.  Law effective January 1, 2012.

California Gay History Law

Governor Jerry Brown signed the Gay History Law, which mandates that school textbooks and social studies include gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender accomplishments.  Law effective January 1, 2012.

Internet Sales Tax

Governor Brown signed into law that out-of-state Internet retailers must collect California sales tax on transactions if the retailer has a presence in the state.  Law effective Summer 2012.

California Renters Right to Recycling Law

Apartment building landlords will have to start providing recycling services for 7 million California tenants.  Law effective 2012.  Read "California Renters Recycling Law".

California Reader Privacy Law

Government and third-party snoops can no longer gather information on Internet users' reading, book shopping or ebook using habits without a legal court order.  Read "California Reader Privacy Law".

New California Vehicle Laws 2012

New DUI Law

Section 23579 has been added to the California Vehicle Code, which authorizes courts to revoke a driver's license for 10 years if a person is convicted of three or more DUIs.  Motorists may apply for reinstatement of their license with the DMV after five years, if the driver installs an Ignition Interlock Device (IID) in their vehicle.

New Double White Line Law

AB 1105 prohibits vehicles from crossing double parallel solid white lines in California, except where expressly permitted.

New Reckless Driving Restricted License Law

AB 520 allows California drivers convicted of reckless driving under Section 23103.5 of the Vehicle Code to apply for a restricted driver's license prior to the completion of their one-year suspension if they meet specific conditions, such as the installation of Ignition Interlock Device in their vehicle.

New DUI Checkpoint Vehicle Impound Law

AB 353 prohibits law enforcement officers from impounding a vehicle for 30 days at a DUI checkpoint if the only offense is failing to hold a valid driver license.

 New Laws Already Enforced (2011)

California Male Circumcision Law

Local governments, such as cities and counties, can no longer ban infant male circumcision.  Law effective immediately.  Read "California Circumcision Law."

California Data Breach Notification Law

When consumer data has been breached, the holder of the data must notify the affected consumers of the occurrence in order to halt identity theft.  Read "California Data Breach Notification Law".

California Presidential Primary Law

The presidential primary has officially been moved from February back to June.  Read "California Presidential Primary June 5, 2012".

California National Popular Vote Law

All of California's 55 electoral votes will ultimately go to the winner of the popular vote in U.S. presidential elections.  Read "California National Popular Vote Law".

Mandatory DMV Organ Donation Answer

The State of California now requires all driver's license and ID applicants to answer YES or NO to whether they want their organs donated.  Read "CA Law Forces DMV Organ Donation Answer".

Santa Barbara DUI checkpoints; a misnomer?

Now that the holiday season is behind us, it's time to reflect on Santa Barbara law enforcement agencies' "DUI checkpoints" and, in particular, whether the checkpoints amount to an intelligent use of public funds.  First of all, let me clarify that they really aren't strictly DUI checkpoints.  Both in name and substance, they are DUI and driver license checkpoints.  In California, it is unlawful to have a checkpoint to detect just DUI or just unlicensed drivers.  The second point that should be made is that as much as the Santa Barbara law enforcement agencies, as they band together in the "Avoid the 12" campaign praise the checkpoints as an effective deterrent of driving under the influence, they know better than anyone does that the checkpoints are ineffective at detecting DUI drivers as compared with other methods of detection (namely, "saturation patrols").  I won't take the time to cull and study the hard data, but my sense from having read article after article about checkpoints, and from my work as a dui defense lawyer in Santa Barbara for over 10 years, where I regularly study the checkpoint arrest data made available to me by the Santa Barbara District Attorney's Office, is that checkpoints yield, on average, between one and two DUI arrests each.  Sometimes they don't arrest anyone for DUI at all.  Goose egg.  The number of vehicles that pass through any given DUI checkpoint in Santa Barbara is often in the high hundreds or even over 1,000.

So, if DUI (aka DUI/license) checkpoints in Santa Barbara are ineffective at detecting DUI, why have them?  Well, that's a fair question to ask local law enforcement.  Is the deterrent value really more powerful with a checkpoint than the press releases warning of the checkpoint and reporting the arrest results after the fact?  I don't think anyone knows.  What one might say is that without the news of a checkpoint, the news media wouldn't publish a press release having to do with DUI and the associated dangers of arrest, accidents, etc.  I disagree.  The new news media, in the digital age, reports everything that law enforcement puts out there.  Edhat, the lead news blog in Santa Barbara, apparently does this without any evaluative/editorial decision-making whatsoever.  Santa Barbara Police could send out a press release that the officers issued three parking tickets last Sunday, along with the names of those cited, and Edhat, per their policy (or maybe lack thereof) would probably publish it.  The other local news outlets would not necessarily run a story or blurb in reaction to every single SBPD news release, but I don't think, on the whole, the police would say that they are ignored by the local news media when they issue warnings to the local population, in the form of press releases, about the dangers of drinking and driving and their decisions to increase personnel on patrol.  I've seen many a story, and blurb, about that. 

Pueblo, a local political action group, has spent a lot of time and energy educating the public about what they see as selective enforcement in this realm.  A dirty little secret is that Santa Barbara DUI checkpoints are primarily motivated by two things:  (1) the infusion of state and federal grant money ear-marked for this purpose and (2) the revenue generated by impounding the vehicles of unlicensed drivers.  The fees, fines and proceeds of sale at auction of these vehicles generates a significant amount of revenue for law enforcement, the courts and, yes, the  local tow yards.  Ever since California started requiring proof of legal status before issuing drivers licenses (back in the 90's), more and more people have been driving while unlicensed in our community.  These, of course, are largely the undocumented laborers all around us.  They are the gardeners, the housekeepers, chefs, cooks, dishwashers, painters, skilled and unskilled construction workers, and "heavy lifters" out there.  They scrounge together what little money they have to put food on their tables and buy jalopies to get to their work sites from Goleta, Hope Ranch, down to Montecito and beyond only to have local law enforcement stage checkpoints that make grand claims about protecting the public through this method.  They cite dusty statistics while claiming that unlicensed drivers account for the great majority of traffic accidents to rationalize the economic suffering imposed on undocumented drivers by these checkpoints.  They do so in reckless disregard of the fact that these statistics do not reflect the new realities of who make up this bigger than ever population of unlicensed drivers.  In fact, there is more than enough reason to suppose that undocumented aliens are more careful drivers than the rest of the population because they are often mortified at the possibility of getting stopped for a minor traffic violation and are, therefore, less likely to commit one.  While a licensed driver might get a ticket, an undocumented and, therefore, unlicensed driver might lose their vehicle and, worse yet, be deported and excluded from the U.S. permanently.  It's a good time to discuss further the problems posed by DUI Checkpoints and, in particular, the problems they are directed at solving, the problems they don't really solve (but are claimed to) and the problems and injustices (in they eyes of many) that they cause.

Some noteworthy New Laws in California for 2011

• Non–Vehicle Code infractions can now be dismissed under PC 1203.4a.  This is the remedy commonly known as expungement.
• The threshold for felony grand theft increased from $400 to $950.
• “Petty theft with a prior” is now, unless the defendant has a strike or sex offense prior, “petty theft with three priors.”  
• Marijuana possession, less than an ounce, is now an infraction.
• Limited immunity from prosecution for certain low-grade alcohol-related offenses granted to persons under the age of 21 who are reporting that they or someone else are in need of medical assistance.

Psst! Who invited the cops?!

Whether you like it or not, the County Board of Supervisors, in faithful service to their curmudgeon constituency, has invited the cops to your next social gathering.  I first wrote in opposition to the very controversial "Social Host Ordinance" (SHO) in June of 2008.  In spite of the fact that the clear majority of Isla Vistans oppose this ordinance (and maybe that's because it's widely believed that Isla Vista is the only place where the SHO will be enforced with any regularity), it was enacted into law on December 1.  As I stated previously, the police in Isla Vista and elsewhere are not without tools to suppress underage drinking.  They have numerous statutes at their disposal that enable them to detain people that are in public (or in some cases in the public view) and, at the very least, can seize and pour out the drink with impunity.  Most don't stop there, however.  The Isla Vista Foot Patrol issues thousands of tickets per year for minor in possession, open container in public, and related law violations.  Those under 21 are booked into jail for public intoxication at the drop of a hat.  And let's not forget that they were already barging uninvited into apartments and houses in Isla Vista long before the SHO was first proposed.  Accounts of frequent and deliberate Fourth Amendment violations by the Isla Vista Foot Patrol are common.

The truth is cops barge in to private spaces because they can get away with it, with or without a SHO.  Any true accountability for doing so when the sum total of damages are usually hurt feelings and the replacement value of a beer is and was non-existent.  The big difference now is that they will, under color of the SHO, have an easier time holding those accountable who are furnishing alcohol to those under 21 in smaller gatherings.  There was never really any difficulty holding the big party throwers (i.e., hosting 10 or more people) accountable for serving alcohol to minors because the cops could either walk through an open door and/or demand to speak to the host in order to enforce a noise violation and the exception to the warrant requirement would sprout up during that encounter.  Now what they are able to do, under color of the SHO, is to enter any apartment where there is any noise or other evidence noticeable from the outside that suggests there is a "social gathering" going on inside.   That's pretty broad (read "overbroad").  It doesn't have to be a raging party.  Two people sharing one beer is a party.  They could both be 21 or older but the cops are still, under color of the SHO, allowed to barge in to sniff drinks and check ID's and whatever contraband they see in plain view is fair game.  A typical reaction of acceptance of the Government over-reaching might be:  'well, even the cops understand that underage beer consumption and college are synonymous and that they will, therefore, use good judgment on deciding when to enforce this law'.  I'm sure most cops will.  However, what this law does is enable cops with poor judgment to rampantly intrude into peoples' private spaces in ways that will deter even legal conduct.  Giving that much 'unbridled' discretion to a rank and file patrol officer is disfavored by the California Supreme Court and may not otherwise withstand Constitutional scrutiny.  For example, according to the holding of the California Appellate Court in People v. Hua, police officers may not enter a dwelling absent a warrant simply because they believe that a non-jailable criminal offense is taking place inside. 

I hereby invite anyone who has a case involving the enforcement of the SHO to contact me and I will consider handling the matter pro bono.

No on Measure S

If we build it, they will fill it.  That's the slogan that says it all.  Some of you will go into the polls buying into the dogma that we need a new jail.  Granted there are some problems with the current situation, but spending tens of millions of dollars to increase, dramatically, the number of jail bunks is not the way to go.  As any proud liberal would, I would urge that we spend the same money on the public schools, job training, mental health services and drug rehabilitation.  If we did, we wouldn't need to boost our penal system.  We would be a better, more productive and more utopian society.  We wouldn't have to warehouse our fellow community members, and pretend as though that actually solves any problem.  Incarceration may prevent the rare act of violence by a dangerous person, and act as a deterrent of crime for those of us who fear going to jail, but it creates as many problems as it solves.  Jail should be a place for violent people who are not mentally ill, and that is a very small population; well beneath the number of jail beds that are currently available.  And this is the point:  If we have more jail beds to fill, the authorities will fill them up fast; guaranteed.  People will be going to jail, and serving longer sentences, for the pettiest of crimes.  I used to work in as a public defender in Santa Cruz, a place where there were many more jail beds per capita.  There, as compared to Santa Barbara, people frequently went to jail for misdemeanors such as driving on a suspended drivers license for lengthy periods.  In other words, the County would do the dirty work for the DMV and take what were very often poor people on their way to work and throw them in the slammer for six months to a year.  I don't know about you, but I would rather not pay to house such people.  Nor do I particularly want to live in a community where we treat our fellow human being in such a cruel and unforgiving fashion.  

If you doubt my motive/agenda at all, consider that when people start facing longer jail sentences, my services will be in much higher demand.  I stand to economically benefit if the measure passes.  I would rather it didn't.

Quiet, I'm driving!!!

In June of 2008, I issued my "final" warning that the hands-free (i.e., don't drive while talking on the cell phone) law would lead to more traffic stops.  Well, that ended up being true.  Police officers are handing out lots tickets.  What I didn't predict was that traffic accidents would be reduced as the result of it.  And, well, to the extent it has been studied, there is no evidence that the law has had any such effect.  Maybe that's because there is no evidence that the use of cell phones while driving has led to more serious traffic accidents.  To find proof of this, look no further than the number of traffic fatalities in the United States over the last 15 years.  This is the same 15 years during which the use of cell phones in moving vehicles went from near zero to nearly everyone.  There has been no increase in traffic fatalities per capita.  So, who are the gainers from the law?  Well, as predicted, Blue Tooth, motorola, and the cell phone industry who saw no decline in sales of phones but a sharp increase in sales of ear-phone type accessories.  I, for one, must have purchased about 20 such gizmos in the last few years, and I still can't find one that is altogether convenient.  The Government also gains by imposing fines for now unlawful activity.  And, let's not forget about the cell phone etiquette police.  These are the same folks who wish that talking on a cell phone in a public place at the top of your lungs because the connection is weak (and/or because you are so self-absorbed and inconsiderate that you can't imagine that those around are extremely annoyed) ought to be illegal.  Okay, I admit it, I'm one of them.  Now the act of driving with a cell phone pressed to your ear, which I admit I did plenty of before it became unlawful, is all the more irritating.  When you see someone doing it you can't help be hit with thoughts like, "this person is oblivious to what is going on around them" and a new one, "this person is disregarding the law (at my personal expense!)".  These, of course, are the emotional responses to the conduct, but the statistics do not prove that it is anything more than bad manners.

Encouraging?

“We’re looking into reviving the idea of a sobering center in I.V.,” Farr said.

This is a quote of Santa Barbara County Supervisor Doreen Farr that appeared in the Daily Nexus today. I am glad the idea is not completely dead, but I'm not sure that this isn't simply more lip-service favoring the concept intended to passify those of us who feel very strongly that a sobering center is an absolute must. We don't need to watch another few hundred people in IV be deprived of their civil liberties this Fall; not to mention, as the article makes clear, take IV Foot Patrol officers out of service (of IV that is) for the couple of hours that it takes to process a single needless Public Intoxication arrest. Clearly they have better things to do with their time. A sobering center could save the officers thousands of hours in a year in terms of shortening the time it takes to take someone, who is not being a pain in the neck, off the street to a place of safety. It would also save the jail, the court, the d.a., and (yes) me, lots of work. And of great interest to the students and parents of SBCC and UCSB, it would help ensure that the people who are investing big bucks (and lots of time) getting their degrees wouldn't graduate with the sandbag of a criminal conviction (or a record of a booking, for that matter).

As I've written, repeatedly, Penal Code section 647(g) makes a "civil commitment", when feasible, State policy.

Like it or not, more than 90% of UC and SBCC students will drink to excess at least once (if not weekly) during their academic career. This is a societal problem that will take more than punitive tactics by local law enforcement to solve. Criminalizing our most promising societal contributors for socially acceptable (if not appropriate) conduct makes no sense and is arguably against State policy. A sobering center is a viable and practical solution to the public safety, fiscal and civil liberties questions this societal problem raises. It's time for more than lip-service.