California Law Research Articles

Current Status of Nursing Law in the United States and Implications

Methods: This systematic review was guided by a preliminary literature review that identified relevant research terms including nurse(ing) staffing, license, certification, healthcare professionals, and nursing law. An online search of the electronic bibliographic databases MEDLINE, CINAHL, OVID, Westlaw (International materials- Jurisdiction), U.S. National Conference of State Legislatures, and Google Scholar yielded journal articles, nursing acts, and websites from 2009 to 2015. Results: Most nursing laws require staffing committees in each hospital to develop staffing strategies. Staffing committees should include direct-care nurses. Illinois, Oregon, Washington, and Texas require at least 50~60% registered nurses on the committee. Nursing laws in California, New York, and Massachusetts proposed a specific nurse–patient staffing ratio in consideration of the severity of need of patients or units. Furthermore, California enacted minimum staffing ratios. California reported decreased patient mortality, decreased turnover of nursing staff, and increased satisfaction and retention of nurses. Conclusion: It is timely to have nursing laws worldwide that establish minimum numbers of nurses with professional competencies for the health and safety of global citizens.

New solutions to reduce wrong route medication errors.

Wrong route medication errors due to tubing misconnections are potentially life-threatening complications that have been made possible by the universal use of the Luer connector. The new International Organization of Standardization standards for small bore connectors, ISO 80369 series, have been developed to reduce the risk of these types of erroneous connections. Tubing connectors for different routes of clinical application will contain differently designed connectors that are physically incompatible. However, design and manufacturing standards have progressed slowly, and clinical roll-outs have been delayed, despite the implementation of California laws to promote their use. We are currently in a state of transition where new connectors for enteral and neuraxial use will be entering the clinical market in the next few years, and increasing use will identify additional patient safety concerns.

Pharmacist Intentions to Prescribe Hormonal Contraception Following New Legislative Authority in California

Objective: Following a California law expanding pharmacists’ scope of practice to include directly providing self-administered hormonal contraception to patients pursuant to a statewide protocol, this study aimed to assess California pharmacists’ intentions to provide this new service prior to the protocol development and implementation. Design: Descriptive, nonexperimental, cross-sectional study. Setting: California between August and September 2014. Participants: California pharmacists working in community pharmacies. Intervention: Invitations to participate in the online survey were sent to 1774 pharmacists. Main Outcome Measures: Main outcomes included pharmacists’ current practices, intentions to prescribe hormonal contraception, comfort performing various activities, knowledge about contraceptive methods, training needs, and barriers to prescribing. Results: A total of 257 responses (14.5% response rate) were received. Of those, 121 respondents met inclusion criteria and were included in the analysis. About half of the respondents (49.6%) reported working in a community chain pharmacy, 46.3% in an independent pharmacy, and 4.1% in other community pharmacy settings. The majority (72.7%) of pharmacists reported that they would likely provide this new service. Respondents reported being comfortable educating patients on short-acting (94.2%) and long-acting reversible contraception (81.7%), as well as identifying drug interactions with hormonal contraception (96.7%). Respondents indicated time constraints (74.4%), lack of reimbursement (63.6%), and liability concerns (62.0%) as barriers to prescribing hormonal contraception. Conclusions: California pharmacists expressed strong intentions and comfort in prescribing hormonal contraception. Pharmacists’ additional training needs and barriers should be addressed for successful implementation. This new service has great potential to increase access to contraception, potentially fostering increased use and adherence.

Hotel smoking policies and their implementation: a survey of California hotel managers

BackgroundMost states in the U.S. permit hotels to allow smoking in some guest rooms, and only five (Indiana, Michigan, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wisconsin) require that all hotel and motel rooms be 100% smoke-free (State and local 100% smokefree hotel and motel guest room laws enacted as of July 3, 2017). Little is known, however, about how hotels’ smoking policies have been implemented. This study examined hotels’ smoking policies and their implementation.MethodsA telephone survey of a random sample of 383 California hotel managers was conducted.ResultsOverall, 60.6% of hotels reported that smoking was prohibited in all guest rooms, and 4.7% reported that smoking was prohibited everywhere on their property. While California law permitted smoking in up to 65% of guest rooms, only 6.9% of rooms were reported as smoking-permitted. Over 90% of hotels had smoking rooms scattered among nonsmoking rooms, and about half of the smoking hotels reported that guests requesting either smoking or nonsmoking rooms were sometimes assigned to the other room type. When guests smoked in nonsmoking rooms fees could be substantial, but were often uncollected.ConclusionsHotel smoking policies and their implementation fall short of protecting nonsmoking guests and workers from exposure to secondhand and thirdhand smoke. Complete indoor smoking bans for all hotels are needed to close existing loopholes. Nonsmokers who wish to protect themselves from exposure to tobacco smoke should avoid hotels that permit smoking and instead stay in completely smoke-free hotels.

California requires disclosure of cleaning ingredients

Makers of cleaning products sold in California will have to reveal ingredients online and on product labels under a first-of-its-kind law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown (D) on Oct. 15. New York is expected to soon finalize a regulation requiring similar disclosure of cleaning product ingredients. “People around the country and especially Californians are demanding more disclosure about the chemicals in products we use,” says California state Sen. Ricardo Lara (D), who sponsored the legislation. The California law applies to ingredients in general cleaning, air care, automobile care, and floor maintenance products. Fragrance compounds that are listed as allergens by the European Union must be disclosed. The chemical identities of other fragrance compounds, ingredients that are trade secrets, and colorants are exempt from disclosure. Manufacturers will have to provide information about ingredients on product websites as of 2020. The law requires ingredients be listed on labels of cleaning products sold

127 The Prevalence of Domestic Violence Reporting Among EMS Agencies in California

California has 40 million inhabitants and the local EMS agencies set policy regarding DV reporting for the paramedics and EMTs within each county. It is unclear how many EMS agencies have written policies for DV reporting or even if there is unifying agreement about paramedics and EMTs being mandated reporters under California law. This was an IRB-approved survey sent by electronic methods to each of 31 local EMS agency medical directors in California to assess their policies and knowledge of California state law regarding mandated reporting by EMS personnel. 26 of 31 California EMS agencies responded (83.9% response rate). Of the 26 respondents, only 7 (26.9% [95% CI 11.6%-47.8%]) stated they have written policies/protocols for reporting suspected victims of domestic violence. 18 (69.2% [95% CI 48.2%-85.7%]) stated they had no protocols in place. One agency was ‘unsure.’ If a victim is not seen by law enforcement or transported, only 9 agencies stated those victims are reported to a law enforcement agency. Eight agencies stated they weren’t and 9 were ‘unsure.’ Of the medical directors, 19 (76% [95% CI 52.2%-88.4%]) stated paramedics were mandated reporters of DV in California, 5 (20% [95% CI 6.6%-39.4%]) were unsure and 1 (4% [95% CI 0.1%-9.6%])) said no. Fifteen respondents (60% 7 (26.9% [95% CI 11.6%-47.8%])) stated EMTs were mandated reporters, 7 (26.9% [95% CI 36.9%-76.6%]) were unsure and 3 (12% 7 [95% CI 2.4%-30.2%]) said no. There is wide variation in practice among EMS agencies in California regarding mandated reporting requirements. While most Medical Directors state there is a legislative requirement for Paramedics and EMTs to report Domestic Violence victims, only 7 agencies state they have protocols and policies in place for reporting. Only 9 agencies state the victims are reported to law enforcement if they are not transported (ie. sign out against medical advice).

Psychiatrists Cross Borders for Collaborative Learning

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article International NewsFull AccessPsychiatrists Cross Borders for Collaborative LearningAaron LevinAaron LevinSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:29 Aug 2017https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2017.8a1AbstractSharing knowledge and developing collegial friendships know no boundaries.Some people want to build walls along the border between the United States and Mexico, while other people want to build bridges and roads to link them closer together.Transnational cooperation was evident at a joint conference convened by Mexican and U.S. psychiatric associations and held on both sides of the border.A few weeks after APA’s 2017 Annual Meeting in San Diego, members of the San Diego Psychiatric Society met with their counterparts from Mexico. Sessions were held in both San Diego and Tijuana, just a short drive away. The theme was “Psychiatry Without Borders” and featured presenters from both Mexico and the United States, said Bernardo Ng, M.D., chair of APA’s Council on International Psychiatry and vice president of La Asociación Psiquiátrica Mexicana (APM). Former APA President Michelle Riba, M.D., of the University of Michigan, offered the opening remarks in Tijuana, while Enrique Chavez, M.D., the president of the APM, closed the event with a talk in San Diego.The collaborative meeting was conceived by Ng, who practices at Sun Valley Behavioral Health in Imperial, Calif., about 100 miles east of San Diego, near the Mexican border, and Steve Koh, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., a professor at the University of California, San Diego, and former president of the San Diego Psychiatric Society. One benefit of the program: all attendees could receive CME credits from their respective societies.“For the first time, we had a meeting that was held concurrently in English and Spanish, where psychiatrists and researchers from both countries attended and presented lectures and symposia,” said Ng.For instance, a symposium on neuromodulation was presented by two experts on ECT, Maria Lapid, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic and Sergio Galvan, M.D., of Mexico’s Hospital Angeles. The segment on transcranial magnetic stimulation was delivered by Simon Kung, M.D., of Mayo and two psychiatrists from the Clinic STIM in Guadalajara, Mexico, Thelma Sanchez, M.D., and Marisela Duran, M.D. A symposium on eating disorders matched Walter Kaye, M.D., of the University of California, San Diego, with Eva Trujillo, M.D., of Volver a Empezar in Mexico. “We are also trying to coordinate training opportunities between U.S. and Mexican institutions to permit rotations in both directions,” said Ng.Drugs—legal and illegal—present questions for both psychiatric societies. Americans often head south to buy drugs, including antipsychotics, which are available in Mexico without prescription. That raises questions about monitoring patients once they return home, said Riba. Meanwhile, the passage of medical marijuana laws in California has resulted in increased smuggling of the weed into Mexico, a reversal of the historical norm, said Ng.The border region extends about 25 miles on either side of the formal boundary and has a very mixed culture, said Ng. The area is so used to free exchange of visitors that it has more in common within the region than with the rest of each country.“If people move elsewhere, it’s like they’re going to another country,” said Ng. “I get one new patient a month who is a college student returning home with psychosis or depression because of culture shock.”Even in a moment of political distancing, he said, commerce, collaboration, and scientific exchange will continue, he said. “We were able to do real-time comparisons in both countries, and we found that there were more similarities than differences. This connection is not going to stop.” ■ ISSUES NewArchived

Генедерная дискриминация в авиационной отрасли: эффективность раздела VII

The publication is translation of paper by Denis Binder (professor of law, Chapman University), published in California Law Review in 1971. The article highlights the important legal issues related to gender discrimination in the workplace. The author analyzes the principle of bona fide professional qualification, its content, interpretation in law enforcement practice as the only legitimate exceptions established by the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s the prohibition of sex discrimination. The author analyzes a broad approach to the interpretation of the principle of bona fide occupational qualifications based on any common characteristics in general are related to gender and a narrow approach of assessing individuals based on individual qualities, not on the basis of common characteristics of the sex. The author substantiates the necessity of narrow interpretation of the principle of bona fide occupational qualifications. Also in the article was analyzed the reasoning by the courts the position of the employer when this employer conceders an additional factors such as presence of children or marital status and using of the developed approaches to disputes of the airlines with the stewardesses. In addition to the prohibition of marriage there also was the age limit for stewardesses, when many airlines were automatically dismissed them upon reaching 32—35 years without taking into account individual characteristics of women, while the age of retirement of male stewards was 65 years. According to the author the collective agreements can be very effective in resolving existing problems for stewardess restrictions, which, however, does not eliminate practices of discrimination completely. The author has argued the necessity of the case law development in order to force the airline to refuse sex discrimination at all stages of employment.

Ending tobacco sales in pharmacies: A qualitative study

ObjectiveThe states of California and Massachusetts are leading the effort to prohibit the sale of tobacco products in pharmacies in the United States. The process of adopting these tobacco-free pharmacy laws remains understudied. This study qualitatively explores the process of adopting and enforcing tobacco-free pharmacy laws. MethodsResearchers performed qualitative semistructured telephone interviews with 23 key informants who were involved in the effort to adopt and implement tobacco-free pharmacy laws in California and Massachusetts. A content analysis was used to study the process of adopting tobacco-free pharmacy laws as well as barriers and facilitators during the process. Two researchers independently coded the interview transcripts and written responses to identify key categories and themes that emerged from the interviews. ResultsThe qualitative study results suggest that the process of adopting the tobacco-free pharmacy laws was fairly smooth, with a few barriers. Local youth groups and independent pharmacies played an important role in raising public awareness and attracting media attention. The results also highlighted the need to regulate the sale of e-cigarettes as a part of tobacco-free pharmacy laws. ConclusionAs the number of cities that have adopted tobacco-free pharmacy laws grows, banning tobacco sales in pharmacies is becoming less controversial and more normative to both pharmacy retailers and the public. Our findings inform the ongoing discussion about tobacco-free pharmacy laws and are useful for decision-makers from communities that are considering such laws.

Review: Speaking Freely: Whitney v. California and American Speech Law by Philippa Strum

Review: Speaking Freely: Whitney v. California and American Speech Law by Philippa Strum

Everyone's a Critic: The Public Speaks on Attorney Malpractice and Mediation Confidentiality

The tentative recommendation approved in June based on Study K‐402 by the California Law Revision Commission—which, if passed into law, would allow new state mediation confidentiality exceptions for proving attorney malpractice—has brought about mixed reviews from ADR professionals, organizations and even state departments operating in the field of mediation.

Expanding the Legal Framework for Child Protection: Recognition of and Response to Child Exposure to Domestic Violence in California Law

AbstractSocial constructionists argue that human behaviors or conditions only become social problems when they are recognized, labeled, and acted upon by a group of people or society. While domestic violence has been recognized as a social problem since the 1970s, child exposure to domestic violence has only recently received similar recognition. Through a review of changes made to California law between 1995 and 2015, appellate court decisions, and policy documents, this article examines the ways in which child exposure to domestic violence is constituted and problematized through law and how these changes expand the legal framework for child protection. Implications for the social services in California and elsewhere are discussed.

Health conditions and motivations for marijuana use among young adult medical marijuana patients and non-patient marijuana users.

While marijuana has been legal for medical purposes in California since 1996, little is known about the health histories of young adult medical marijuana patients who are a significant proportion of medical marijuana patients. We examined whether young adult medical marijuana patients reported health conditions and motivations for use that were consistent with medical use of marijuana in California. Young adults (N=366) aged 18 to 26years were sampled in Los Angeles in 2014-2015 and segmented into medical marijuana 'patients' (n=210), marijuana users with a current recommendation, and non-patient users or 'non-patients' (n=156), marijuana users who never had a medical marijuana recommendation. Differences between patients and non-patients regarding self-reported health histories and past/current motivations for marijuana use were expressed as unadjusted risk ratios. Compared with non-patients, patients were significantly more likely to report a range of lifetime health problems, such as psychological, physical pain and gastrointestinal. In the past 90days, patients were significantly more likely to report motivations for marijuana use than non-patients concerning sleep, anxiety, physical pain and focusing. Psychological and pain problems were the most common health conditions reported to receive a medical marijuana recommendation. Patients were significantly less likely than non-patients to report any privacy concerns about obtaining a medical marijuana recommendation. Patients were significantly more likely to report a range of health conditions and motivations associated with medical use than non-patients. A great majority of patients reported obtaining a medical marijuana recommendation for health problems in accordance with the California law. [Lankenau SE, Ataiants J,Mohanty S, Schrager S, Iverson E, Wong CF.Health conditions and motivations for marijuana use among young adultmedical marijuana patients and non-patient marijuana users. Drug Alcohol Rev 2017;00:000-000].

How California Prepared for Implementation of Physician-Assisted Death: A Primer.

Physician-assisted death is now legal in California, and similar laws are being considered in many other states. The California law includes safeguards, yet health care providers will face practical and ethical issues while implementing physician-assisted death that are not addressed by the law. To help providers and health care facilities in California prepare to provide optimal care to patients who inquire about physician-assisted death, we brought together experts from California, Oregon, and Washington. We convened a conference of 112 stakeholders in December 2015, and herein present their recommendations. Themes of recommendations regarding implementation include (1) institutions should develop and revise physician-assisted death policies; (2) legal physician-assisted death will have implications for California's culturally and socioeconomically diverse population, and for patients from vulnerable groups; (3) conscientious objection and moral distress for health care providers must be considered; and (4) palliative care is essential to the response to the law. The expert conference participants' insights are a valuable guide, both for providers and health care facilities in California planning or revising their response, and for other jurisdictions where physician-assisted death laws are being considered or implemented.

Developing an undue influence screening tool for Adult Protective Services

ABSTRACTThe study purpose was to develop and pilot an undue influence screening tool for California’s Adult Protective Services (APS) personnel based on the definition of undue influence enacted into California law January 1, 2014. Methods included four focus groups with APS providers (n = 33), piloting the preliminary tool by APS personnel (n = 15), and interviews with four elder abuse experts and two APS administrators. Social service literature—including existing undue influence models—was reviewed, as were existing screening and assessment tools. Using the information from these various sources, the California Undue Influence Screening Tool (CUIST) was developed. It can be applied to APS cases and potentially adapted for use by other professionals and for use in other states. Implementation of the tool into APS practice, policy, procedures, and training of personnel will depend on the initiative of APS management. Future work will need to address the reliability and validity of CUIST.

Setting a minimum age for juvenile justice jurisdiction in California

PurposeDespite the existence of minimum age laws for juvenile justice jurisdiction in 18 US states, California has no explicit law that protects children (i.e. youth less than 12 years old) from being processed in the juvenile justice system. In the absence of a minimum age law, California lags behind other states and international practice and standards. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachIn this policy brief, academics across the University of California campuses examine current evidence, theory, and policy related to the minimum age of juvenile justice jurisdiction.FindingsExisting evidence suggests that children lack the cognitive maturity to comprehend or benefit from formal juvenile justice processing, and diverting children from the system altogether is likely to be more beneficial for the child and for public safety.Research limitations/implicationsBased on current evidence and theory, the authors argue that minimum age legislation that protects children from contact with the juvenile justice system and treats them as children in need of services and support, rather than as delinquents or criminals, is an important policy goal for California and for other national and international jurisdictions lacking a minimum age law.Originality/valueCalifornia has no law specifying a minimum age for juvenile justice jurisdiction, meaning that young children of any age can be processed in the juvenile justice system. This policy brief provides a rationale for a minimum age law in California and other states and jurisdictions without one.

Implementing California's Law on Assisted Dying.

On October 5, 2015, Governor Jerry Brown approved bill ABX2 15, the End of Life Option Act, making California the fifth state in the country to allow physician-assisted dying. The law was modeled after Oregon's 1997 Death with Dignity Act. When the legislative special session ended on March 10, 2016, California health care providers had only ninety days to respond to the state mandate before the law would take effect, on June 9, 2016. Experience with the law so far suggests several challenges with implementation.

ENDEMIC INFECTION OF STRANDED SOUTHERN SEA OTTERS (ENHYDRA LUTRIS NEREIS) WITH NOVEL PARVOVIRUS, POLYOMAVIRUS, AND ADENOVIRUS.

Over the past century, the southern sea otter (SSO; Enhydra lutris nereis) population has been slowly recovering from near extinction due to overharvest. The SSO is a threatened subspecies under federal law and a fully protected species under California law, US. Through a multiagency collaborative program, stranded animals are rehabilitated and released, while deceased animals are necropsied and tissues are cryopreserved to facilitate scientific study. Here, we processed archival tissues to enrich particle-associated viral nucleic acids, which we randomly amplified and deeply sequenced to identify viral genomes through sequence similarities. Anelloviruses and endogenous retroviral sequences made up over 50% of observed viral sequences. Polyomavirus, parvovirus, and adenovirus sequences made up most of the remaining reads. We characterized and phylogenetically analyzed the full genome of sea otter polyomavirus 1 and the complete coding sequence of sea otter parvovirus 1 and found that the closest known viruses infect primates and domestic pigs ( Sus scrofa domesticus), respectively. We tested archived tissues from 69 stranded SSO necropsied over 14 yr (2000-13) by PCR. Polyomavirus, parvovirus, and adenovirus infections were detected in 51, 61, and 29% of examined animals, respectively, with no significant increase in frequency over time, suggesting endemic infection. We found that 80% of tested SSO were infected with at least one of the three DNA viruses, whose tissue distribution we determined in 261 tissue samples. Parvovirus DNA was most frequently detected in mesenteric lymph node, polyomavirus DNA in spleen, and adenovirus DNA in multiple tissues (spleen, retropharyngeal and mesenteric lymph node, lung, and liver). This study describes the virome in tissues of a threatened species and shows that stranded SSO are frequently infected with multiple viruses, warranting future research to investigate associations between these infections and observed lesions.

Rape: Brief Histories on the Power of Language within the U.S.

Rape: Brief Histories on the Power of Language within the U.S. Leydy Ruiz I n 2013 the state of New York introduced an “act to amend the penal law, in relation to the definition of the term sexual intercourse as such term applies to sex offenses; and to amend the penal law… establishing the crimes of anal rape and oral rape to replace crimes involving criminal sexual acts.” 1 The penal law constructs differences in the definition of rape and criminal sexual acts, where S130.40, 45, and 50 classify anal and oral acts under criminal sexual acts and not under rape. 2 Both men and women can testify that they have been raped; however, the manner in which they could have been violated is put to question because of this exclusion to include oral and anal acts within the definition of rape. When rape is designed by the law with preconceived notions of marriage, gender, and (hetero) sexuality the discourse that is distributed amongst society is that there are only certain people who can rape or be raped. The discourse produced then comes to exclude crimes between same-sex individuals and rape through anal or oral penetration by suppressing the victims by not defining the crime as rape. By going through a series of court cases this essay demonstrates how legal language and implementation matter. There must be a broader more inclusive definition of rape and sexual offenses for loopholes to be addressed accordingly. While there are numerous topics in how rape cases were handled and who battled against them. I will focus how particular cases debate controversial topics that ultimately lead to redefining and constructing new laws to help advocate for victims that experience rape or injustices. Misconception of Marital Rape The recognition of marital rape, or spousal rape, as a crime was finally established across the United States by 1993; however, the heteropatriarchal beliefs that were established within marital rape continued to dominate personal beliefs within marriages. Historically, marital rape was exempted from ordinary rape laws creating a leeway for the husbands to rape their wives with impunity. Jill Elane Hasday, explains how the discourse on nineteenth century feminists believed that marital rape was a private concern that stayed within the domestic sphere. Hasday explains that this thought was untrue and many advocates, publicly demanded for the right for sexual self-expression in marriage, they pressed the [of marital rape] constantly, at length and in plain language. 3 By understanding that marital rape has not been a recent predicament but instead a legal problem that has long been debated, we can see the urgency if pushing the state to abolish differentiation between marital rape and rape. The exemptions come from a heteropatriarchal belief within masculine spouses that believe marriages allow for the head of the family to dominate the partner in the relationship. Before under the New York penal Law, with accordance to the Blackstone Commentaries from 1966, a married man could not be convicted for raping or sodomizing their wife. 4 However, NY Legis. Assemb. S3710C. Reg. Sess. 2013-2014 February 12, 2013. NY Penal Law S 130.40,45,50. http://ypdcrime.com/penal.law/article130.htm?zoom_highlight=rape#p130.25 Jill Elaine, Hasday, Contest and Consent: A Legal History of Marital Rape. California Law Review 88, no. 5 (2000), pg. 1379. Watchler, PEOPLE v. LIBERTA 64 N.Y.2d 152, 474 N.E.2d 567, 485 N.Y.S.2d 207(1984), pg. 2.

Driverless Vehicles:

Fully-automated driverless vehicles will likely drastically change the way people and goods are transported, implicating land use and transportation. They would not only provide a convenient means of transportation to many, but also become an effective tool to reduce transportation-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which account for a large portion of the total emissions in many jurisdictions throughout the world. To encourage the use of fully-automated driverless vehicles as such a tool, this article proposes several legal mechanisms that should be adopted in California. Although these legal mechanisms have been developed based primarily on existing California laws, countries and jurisdictions throughout the globe that wish to efficiently minimise transportation-related emissions should consider adopting these legal mechanisms because they can readily be adopted in various jurisdictions including those currently lacking a legal framework similar to California’s. This article proposes these legal mechanisms primarily by examining existing California laws intended to reduce the transportation-sector emissions, including the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, or Assembly Bill 32, and the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008, or Senate Bill 375, and the potential impacts that driverless vehicles would have on GHG emissions based on expert opinions and literature review. The legal mechanisms proposed in this article would serve as foundations on which a more comprehensive scheme of GHG emissions reduction measures related to fully-automated driverless vehicles can be developed as driverless vehicle technology further develops.