Digital Commons Network^™

Reduces Pension Benefits For Public Employees. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.

Initiatives

Reduces pension benefits for current and future public employees, including teachers, nurses, and peace officers, but excluding judges. Eliminates constitutional protections for current and future public employees' vested pension benefits. Creates hybrid pension plan for new employees, capping collective benefits at 75 percent of salary. Limits cost-of-living adjustments for retired and current employees. Prohibits public retirement systems from providing death or disability benefits to future employees. Requires that current employees add up to three percent of their salary to their pension contribution annually, when pension plan is underfunded. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal …

Marijuana Legalization. Initiative Statute.

Initiatives

Decriminalizes marijuana and hemp use, possession, cultivation, transportation, or distribution. Provides persons arrested or serving time for non-violent marijuana offenses shall be immediately released from prison, jail, parole or probation, and arrest records and convictions for non-violent marijuana offenses shall be erased. Authorizes Legislature to adopt laws to license and tax commercial marijuana sales. Allows doctors to approve or recommend marijuana to patients, regardless of age. Limits testing for marijuana for employment or insurance purposes. Bars state from aiding enforcement of federal marijuana laws. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and …

Routine Body Scanning In Airports: A Fourth Amendment Analysis Focused On Health Effects, Rebekka Murphy

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

In the beginning of 2011, the United States Transportation and Security Administration ("TSA") gave notice that it would begin using Advanced Imaging Technology ("AIT") to screen all passengers travelling in airports. While the TSA has an unquestionably important function of detecting on-body explosives and thereby augments flight safety, the use of AIT has been controversial and has raised health concerns. This Note analyzes the special needs doctrine and argues TSA officials must have a reasonable suspicion before scanning passengers so long as AIT health effects are not properly understood. Until independent scientific research can establish that advanced imaging technologies do …

Dropped Calls: The Extent Of The Free Speech Guarantee To Wireless Communications Service, Candice Shin

UC Law SF Communications and Entertainment Journal

From former President Hosni Mubarak's final days as ruler of Egypt to the Bay Area Rapid Transit's response to the protests on August 11, 2011, governmental entities have increasingly responded to civil unrest by restricting or shutting down wireless communication networks to thrwart further coordination among civilian agitators. Whether BART itself faces another occasion in which to consider disabling its wireless infrastructure, future protests and threats to public safety in the United States are inevitable. To that end, Congress has considered bills that would grant the President the ability to essentially shut down the Internet, including the Protecting Cyberspace as …

Temporary Taxes To Fund Education. Guaranteed Local Public Safety Funding.

Propositions

Increases taxes on earnings over $250,000 for seven years and sales taxes by ¼ cent for four years, to fund schools. Guarantees public safety realignment funding. Fiscal Impact: Increased state tax revenues through 2018–19, averaging about $6 billion annually over the next few years. Revenues available for funding state budget. In 2012-13, planned spending reductions, primarily to education programs, would not occur.

Tax Treatment For Multistate Businesses. Clean Energy And Energy Efficiency Funding.

Propositions

Requires multistate businesses to pay income taxes based on percentage of their sales in California. Dedicates revenues for five years to clean/efficient energy projects. Fiscal Impact: Increased state revenues of $1 billion annually, with half of the revenues over the next five years spent on energy efficiency projects. Of the remaining revenues, a significant portion likely would be spent on schools.

State Budget. State And Local Government.

Propositions

Establishes two-year state budget. Sets rules for offsetting new expenditures, and Governor budget cuts in fiscal emergencies. Local governments can alter application of laws governing state-funded programs. Fiscal Impact: Decreased state sales tax revenues of $200 million annually, with corresponding increases of funding to local governments. Other, potentially more significant changes in state and local budgets, depending on future decisions by public officials.

Human Trafficking. Penalties.

Propositions

Increases prison sentences and fines for human trafficking convictions. Requires convicted human traffickers to register as sex offenders. Requires registered sex offenders to disclose Internet activities and identities. Fiscal Impact: Costs of a few million dollars annually to state and local governments for addressing human trafficking offenses. Potential increased annual fine revenue of a similar amount, dedicated primarily for human trafficking victims.

Three Strikes Law. Repeat Felony Offenders. Penalties.

Propositions

Revises law to impose life sentence only when new felony conviction is serious or violent. May authorize re-sentencing if third strike conviction was not serious or violent. Fiscal Impact: Ongoing state correctional savings of around $70 million annually, with even greater savings (up to $90 million) over the next couple of decades. These savings could vary significantly depending on future state actions.

Voter Information Guide For 2012, General Election

Propositions

No abstract provided.

Death Penalty.

Propositions

Repeals death penalty and replaces it with life imprisonment without possibility of parole. Applies retroactively to existing death sentences. Directs $100 million to law enforcement agencies for investigations of homicide and rape cases. Fiscal Impact: Ongoing state and county criminal justice savings of about $130 million annually within a few years, which could vary by tens of millions of dollars. One-time state costs of $100 million for local law enforcement grants.

A Rose By Any Other Name: The Chilling Effect Of Ice's Secure Communities Program, Stephanie Kang

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

The September 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the United States created a national urgency to better police United States borders. However, the attack also led to a backlash against undocumented immigrants by increased Congressional funding to implement immigration enforcement measures. One of the more controversial state and federal collaborative efforts to enforce immigration laws is the Secure Communities program mandating all participating jurisdictions to submit fingerprint biometrics to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") to enable ICE to run the fingerprints through immigration databases and identify deportable immigrants.

The primary goal of the program is to remove the most dangerous criminals …

Tax Deductions For Charitable Contributions: Domestic Activities, Foreign Activities, Or None Of The Above, Eric M. Zolt

UC Law Journal

Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and sixty-seven other billionaires have pledged to give a majority of their wealth for charitable purposes. The total dollar amount of potential funding for charitable activities is staggering. So is the potential loss of tax revenue. Because of past, current, and future tax benefits, U.S. taxpayers have funded and will fund a substantial portion of these charitable activities without any input in how the money is spent. These billionaires are not just being generous with their own money, but with the money of the American people. Should we allow tax benefits to subsidize charitable activities and …

Resuscitating Roberts - How Courts Should Construe The Emergency Exception To The Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause, Sloan A. Heffron

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

This paper argues that in the wake of Crawford, Davis, and Bryant, trial courts need a workable definition of "ongoing emergency," as well as a test that can be applied in assessing the admissibility of statements made under such circumstances. The paper first offers a definition for "ongoing emergency". It then offers a totality-of-the-circumstances test that can be applied in determining if a declarant's statement occurs during the course of an ongoing emergency.

Herding Katz: Gps Tracking And Society's Expectations Of Privacy In The 21st Century, Zachary Gray

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

For nearly forty-four years, the Supreme Court has adhered to the same test for its Fourth Amendment jurisprudence, first announced in Justice Harlan's concurrence in Katz v. United States. Despite the judiciary's steadfast use of the test since its enunciation, the decisions since Katz have been anything but consistent.

Most recently, this nation's federal courts were confronted with questions about the legitimacy of using GPS tracking devices. In its attempt to resolve the issue, the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Jones strayed from applying Katz and instead relied on the common-law trespass doctrine.

In an attempt to determine …

Green Building Liability: Considering The Applicable Standards Of Care And Strategies For Establishing A Different Level By Agreement, Darren A. Prum

UC Law Business Journal

Many in the construction industry have begun adopting green building practices, leading owners to demand specialists in this area to meet sustainable building goals. In taking on these projects, the parties may overlook the standard of care for disputes concerning green building liability. No case law has definitively resolved the appropriate standard of care for such projects, but through analysis of existing common law and approved strategies for creating contractual relationships, a likely standard for court treatment begins to emerge. The article recommends particular strategies that parties to green building contracts should undertake to avoid future disputes and set an …

From The Oppressed To The Terrorist: Muslim-American Women In The Crosshairs Of Intersectionality, Sahar F. Aziz

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

In the post-9/11 era, Muslim women donning a headscarf in America find themselves trapped at the intersection of bias against Islam, the racialized Muslim, and women. In contrast to their male counterparts, Muslim women face unique forms of discrimination not adequately addressed by Muslim civil rights advocacy organizations, women's rights organizations, or civil liberties advocates.

This article examines how the September 11th attacks adversely impacted the lives of headscarved Muslim women in ways different than Muslim men. Ten years after 9/11, there is a plethora of literature about what has become known as "post-9/11 discrimination." Most of the discussion focuses …

A Deregulatory Framework For Alleviating Concentrated African-American Poverty, Benjamin Zimmer

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

America's urban poor have become more geographically concentrated and isolated, of which, African Americans comprise the majority. Governmental efforts to combat concentrated poverty have consisted primarily of new government interventions in the housing market: subsidies, mandates, and other programs and regulations designed to compel socio-economic or racial integration. All the while, a separate set of government interventions in the form of tax expenditures, education financing, and land-use controls are largely responsible for the perpetuation of concentrated African-American poverty in the first place.

It is time to consider that a successful approach to poverty de-concentration and residential integration must begin by …

Unlawful Arrests And Over-Detention Of America's Immigrants: What The Federal Government Can Do To Eliminate State And Local Abuse Of Immigration Detainers, Molly F. Franck

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

Ever since Arizona governor, Janice Brewer, signed S.B. 1070 into law in early 2010, national debates over immigration have dominated the public discourse, and precipitated a tidal wave of state legislative proposals to give states authority to regulate immigration. At the same time, however, many state and local police departments assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") with enforcing federal immigration law by means of 287(g) Agreements, the Secure Communities program, and immigration detainers. An immigration detainer, often referred to as an ICE detainer or ICE hold, authorizes state and local police to keep an arrestee for up to forty-eight hours …

Understanding And Incentivizing Biosimilars, Robin Feldman, Jason Kanton

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Liberty And Equality Under The California Constitution, Joseph R. Grodin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

State Funding To Local Governments. Criminal Justice. Social Services. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.

Initiatives

Guarantees local governments their existing statutory allocations of state sales tax and vehicle license fees, to fund government services that were shifted from state to local responsibility in 2011. Continues guarantee as long as local governments have responsibility for shifted services. Prohibits legislation that increases scope of services shifted, unless state provides adequate, ongoing funds to pay for increased costs. Caps state obligation for actual costs of shifted services at amounts of guaranteed allocations. Requires four-fifths vote in Legislature to reduce local law enforcement mandates predating shift. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst of fiscal impact on state and local …

Three Strikes Law. Sentencing For Repeat Felony Offenders. Initiative Statute.

Initiatives

Revises three strikes law to impose life sentence only when new felony conviction is serious or violent. Authorizes re-sentencing for offenders currently serving life sentences if third strike conviction was not serious or violent and judge determines sentence does not pose unreasonable risk to public safety. Continues to impose life sentence penalty if third strike conviction was for certain non-serious, non-violent sex or drug offenses or involved firearm possession. Maintains life sentence penalty for felons with non-serious, non-violent third strike if prior convictions were for rape, murder, or child molestation. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance …

Crime Mapping And The Fourth Amendment: Redrawing “High-Crime Areas”, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

UC Law Journal

Crime-mapping technology has the potential to reshape Fourth Amendment protections in designated “high-crime areas.” In Illinois v. Wardlow the Supreme Court held that presence in a high-crime area is one of only two factors necessary for creating reasonable suspicion to stop an individual. Since Wardlow, thousands of federal and state cases have used the term “high-crime area,” yet only a handful of courts have considered how to define it. New crime-mapping technologies can now address that definitional problem. Crime-mapping technologies can collect and analyze crime statistics so that police districts can produce almost perfect information about the level, rate, and …

Increases Retirement Age For Teachers, Peace Officers, And Other Public Employees. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.

Initiatives

Increases the minimum retirement age to 65 (or 58 for sworn public safety officers) for members of the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the California State Teachers' Retirement System, including for teachers, nurses, police officers, firefighters, and other public employees. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: In the long run, possible reductions in state and local pension and retiree health costs. The magnitude of the savings would depend on a variety of legal, implementation, and behavioral uncertainties and would be offset to an unknown extent by increases …

Note – Someone Is Watching: The Need For Enhanced Data Protection, Nic Roethlisberger

UC Law Journal

The computer revolution has created a world where communication is cheap and instantaneous, and where vast amounts of information and consumer goods are just a click away. It also has created a world where the electronic gadgets we use every day create a trail of information that is being collected, examined, sold, and—far too often—stolen. Individuals have little to no control over the use and sale of this personal, private information, and the law has failed to keep pace. Some privacy advocates have suggested that traditional privacy torts should be used by the courts to stop the worst of these …

Network Accountability For The Domestic Intelligence Apparatus, Danielle Keats Citron, Frank Pasquale

UC Law Journal

A new domestic intelligence network has made vast amounts of data available to federal and state agencies and law enforcement officials. The network is anchored by “fusion centers,” novel sites of intergovernmental collaboration that generate and share intelligence and information. Several fusion centers have generated controversy for engaging in extraordinary measures that place citizens on watch lists, invade citizens’ privacy, and chill free expression. In addition to eroding civil liberties, fusion center overreach has resulted in wasted resources without concomitant gains in security.While many scholars have assumed that this network represents a trade-off between security and civil liberties, our study …

The Incautious Media, Free Speech, And The Unfair Trial: Why Prosecutors Need More Realistic Guidance In Dealing With The Press, Andrew E. Taslitz

UC Law Journal

The ABA has proposed a new Standard for the Prosecution Function, Standard 3-1.7, which addresses how prosecutors should communicate with the media. The core portion of that proposal prohibits a prosecutor from making a statement raising a substantial risk of materially prejudicing a criminal proceeding or of unnecessarily heightening public condemnation of the accused. But this proposal is unrealistic. Recent findings in cognitive science suggest that media information overload and its fast pace result in media coverage of high-profile trials that heightens audience’s negative emotions while compromising their critical faculties. Audience members thus are enraged at accused offenders and ill-equipped …

Problem-Solving Courts And The Defense Function: The Wisconsin Experience, Ben Kempinent

UC Law Journal

Problem-solving courts have emerged as one of the fastest growing innovations in the criminal justice system. Their growth has not been without controversy, given their dramatic departure from a traditional adversary model in favor of a collaborative approach in dealing with offenders with serious alcohol or substance abuse, or mental health issues. The most outspoken criticism of this approach has come from the defense bar. This Essay suggests much of the criticism is misplaced, and, that if care is exercised in separating the roles that defense counsel plays in communities with problem-solving courts the promise of this approach for appropriate …

Note – Don’T Steal My Sunshine: Deconstructing The Flawed Presumption Of Privacy For Unfiled Documents Exchanged During Discovery, Mary Elizabeth Keaney

UC Law Journal

Courts encourage settlement as a way to resolve disputes efficiently and clear congested dockets, but settlement agreements can have a sinister effect too. It is becoming common in modern litigation to draft settlement agreements that require the return of discovery materials and the sealing of court documents from public view. Legitimate privacy concerns warrant sealing pretrial discovery and other court documents. However, the practice of keeping information vital to the public health and safety sealed for a price is illegitimate, and should be prohibited. Legislative efforts are being made to monitor the impact that secret settlement agreements have on public …