BILL NUMBER: AB 222	CHAPTERED  07/17/01

	CHAPTER  69
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  JULY 17, 2001
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  JULY 17, 2001
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  JULY 2, 2001
	PASSED THE SENATE  JUNE 28, 2001
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 19, 2001
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 16, 2001

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Wiggins

                        FEBRUARY 13, 2001

   An act to add Section 12656 to the Government Code, relating to
false claims.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 222, Wiggins.  False Claims Act:  qui tam actions.
   Under the False Claims Act, any person who makes any one of
various false claims against the state is liable to the state for
specified damages, costs, and civil penalties, and the Attorney
General is authorized to bring a civil action against a person who
makes a false claim.  The act also authorizes a person to bring a
civil action for a violation of the act for the person and either for
the State of California, if any state funds are involved, or for a
political subdivision of the state, if political subdivision funds
are exclusively involved.
   This bill would require any person or political subdivision that
has commenced a proceeding in which a violation of the act is
alleged, or the application or construction of the act is in issue,
in the California Supreme Court, a state court of appeal, or the
appellate division of a superior court, to serve a copy of each
paper, including briefs, on the Attorney General within 3 days of the
filing.
   The bill would also provide that timely compliance with these
provisions is a jurisdictional prerequisite to the entry of any
specified judgment, order, or decision and would authorize the court,
within the 3-day time period or thereafter, to extend the time for
compliance for good cause.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 12656 is added to the Government Code, to read:

   12656.  (a) If a violation of this article is alleged or the
application or construction of this article is in issue in any
proceeding in the Supreme Court of California, a state court of
appeal, or the appellate division of a superior court, the person or
political subdivision that commenced that proceeding shall serve a
copy of the notice or petition initiating the proceeding, and a copy
of each paper, including briefs, that the person or political
subdivision files in the proceeding within three days of the filing,
on the Attorney General, directed to the attention of the False
Claims Section in Sacramento, California.
   (b) Timely compliance with the three-day time period is a
jurisdictional prerequisite to the entry of judgment, order, or
decision construing or applying this article by the court in which
the proceeding occurs, except that within that three-day period or
thereafter, the time for compliance may be extended by the court for
good cause.
   (c) The court shall extend the time period within which the
Attorney General is permitted to respond to an action subject to this
section by at least the same period of time granted for good cause
pursuant to subdivision (b) to the person or political subdivision
that commenced the proceeding.