CA AB 919 Entitles Qualified Itinerant Vendor Veterans to Re-payments

CA Assembly member Das Williams introduced Assembly Bill 919 originally in February of 2013 but nearly one year later, this bill was first amended in the Assembly on January 6, 2014. AB 919 would provide a procedure for a qualified veteran, who is a person who met specified requirements for being a qualified itinerant vendor to submit a claim for qualified repayments, as defined, with the State Board of Equalization, as provided. Existing sales and use tax laws impose a tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in ... Read More >

LIS Wishes Our Clients a Happy Holiday!!

‘Tis the Season!   Top:  Tom; L-R:  Deborah, Jenny, Karen, Janene, Kim, Nick & Jessica; Sitting:  Maria & Sara  Happy Holidays, Everyone! All of us at LIS wish you a joyous celebration And a great New Year! We look forward to meeting your legislative history research needs in 2014.  As you know, the facts are out there and our mission is to help you find them. Every law has a history, an intended purpose with ideas proposed and compromises negotiated. Since 1974, we have helped litigators, researchers, and legal professionals find these pieces of the truth to reveal the factual reality that has led to winning their cases and ... Read More >

California AB 140 of 2013 Expands Elder Financial Abuse Protection

Assembly Bill 140 would modernize the definition of undue influence for elder financial abuse and related probate matters, a definition that has not been revised since 1872.  As enacted in 1872, Civil Code § 1575 defined “undue influence” as using the confidence of or real or apparent authority over another, taking an unfair advantage over another person's weakness of mind, or taking a grossly oppressive and unfair advantage of another person's necessities or distress.  The new definition that AB 140 would create defines undue influence as excessive persuasion that causes an elder to act or refrain from acting and that results in ... Read More >

Invaluable Legislative Research Services

Did you know that more than 512 U.S. tort cases are filed every year, yet only about 2% of civil torts ever see a courtroom? On the other hand, about a fifth of the civil cases filed are related to auto accidents. Whether a case is civil, criminal, local, state, or federal, it is rarely simple. For many Americans, understanding the processes and terminology pertaining to the United States legal system is almost like learning a foreign language. As such, to the typical layperson, the esoteric nature of many federal statutes and regulations makes legal texts virtually impenetrable. However, just because a person possesses a law degree ... Read More >

False Military Endorsement Prohibited

California is currently home to over 2 million veterans and large numbers of elder veterans, who are often targeted by unscrupulous businesses and individuals using military insignia and patriotic logos to get to their pensions, retirement assets, Social Security, or property.  Various interested stakeholders, which included the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vietnam Veterans of America and California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, sponsored CA SB 272 of 2013 to restrict the use of military or government terms, symbols, and content that reasonably could be interpreted or construed as implying a connection, approval, or endorsement of any ... Read More >

Transgender students may participate in sex-segregated school programs

Current California law already protects students from discrimination in education based on sex and gender identity, but many school districts do not understand and are not presently in compliance with their obligations to treat transgender students the same as all other students in the specific areas addressed in  CA AB 1266 of 2013 relating to sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions and use of facilities consistent with his or her gender identity. Both Los Angeles and San Francisco had developed policies relating to transgender and gender variant students in order to create and maintain a ... Read More >