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45-425: In California state government , for example, the councils serve unincorporated communities as links to county boards of supervisors under authorization of a 1971 legislative statute, amended in 1978. Such a council is an advisory body of local citizens elected by the community or appointed by the board of supervisors with the purpose of representing the community to the board. Although a municipal advisory council

90-428: A common database of true and false signatures. The best system falsely rejects 10% of true signatures, while it accepts 10% of forgeries. Another system has error rates on both of 14%, and the third-best has error rates of 17%. It is possible to be less stringent and reject fewer true signatures, at the cost of also rejecting fewer forgeries. Computer algorithms: look for a certain number of points of similarity between

135-434: A fake painting to support its authenticity. A notorious case was the signature of Johannes Vermeer on the fake "Supper at Emmaus" made by the art-forger Han van Meegeren . However, the fact that painters' signatures often vary over time (particularly in the modern and contemporary periods) might complicate the issue. The signatures of some painters take on an artistic form that may be of less value in determining forgeries. If

180-487: A grade C−, tied for last with Alabama. By 2008, when the last report was issued, California had a C, which placed it near the bottom of the states. In discussing the results, the report noted that the personnel system is known to be dysfunctional, and that the Human Resources Modernization Project was underway to address the issue. California is divided into counties which are legal subdivisions of

225-573: A hyphen) in February 1961 to impose order on such chaos. Brown appointed the secretaries of the first four superagencies (of eight then planned) in September 1961. The superagencies operate as "umbrella organizations" or "semiautonomous fiefdoms," but their Cabinet-level secretaries are not quite as powerful as they may appear at first glance. The governor continues to directly appoint the leaders of superagency components. The appointments are announced by

270-633: A lot of printed matter, such as celebrities, heads of state or CEOs. More recently, Members of Congress in the United States have begun having their signature made into a TrueType font file. This allows staff members in the Congressman's office to easily reproduce it on correspondence, legislation, and official documents. In the East Asian languages of Chinese , Japanese , and Korean , people traditionally use stamp-like objects known as name- seals with

315-575: A name, contact information, and sometimes quotations and ASCII art . A shortened form of a signature block, only including one's name, often with some distinguishing prefix, can be used to simply indicate the end of a post or response. Some web sites also allow graphics to be used. Note, however, that this type of signature is not related to electronic signatures or digital signatures , which are more technical in nature and not directly understandable by humans. For guidance applicable in England and Wales on

360-405: A painting is abstract or ambiguous , the signature can be the only clue to determine which side is the top. Under British law, the appearance of signatures (not the names themselves) may be protected under copyright law . Under United States copyright law , "titles, names [I c...]; mere variations of typographic ornamentation, lettering, or coloring" are not eligible for copyright; however,

405-459: A signature is a signatory or signer . Similar to a handwritten signature, a signature work describes the work as readily identifying its creator. A signature may be confused with an autograph , which is chiefly an artistic signature. This can lead to confusion when people have both an autograph and signature and as such some people in the public eye keep their signatures private whilst fully publishing their autograph. The traditional function of

450-457: A signature is to permanently affix to a document a person's uniquely personal, undeniable self-identification as physical evidence of that person's personal witness and certification of the content of all, or a specified part, of the document. For example, the role of a signature in many consumer contracts is not solely to provide evidence of the identity of the contracting party, but also to provide evidence of deliberation and informed consent. In

495-517: A signature is true or forged, occurs when election offices decide whether to accept absentee ballots arriving from voters, and possibly when banks decide whether to pay checks . The highest error rates in signature verification are found with lay people, higher than for computers, which in turn make more errors than experts. There have been concerns that signature reviews improperly reject ballots from young and minority voters at higher rates than others, with no or limited ability of voters to appeal

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540-596: A variety of cases, including habeas corpus proceedings, and has discretionary authority to review all the decisions of the California courts of appeal, as well as mandatory review responsibility for cases where the death penalty has been imposed. The courts of appeal are the intermediate appellate courts . The state is geographically divided into six appellate districts. Notably, all published California appellate decisions are binding on all superior courts, regardless of appellate district. The California superior courts are

585-705: Is a bicameral body consisting of the California State Assembly , the lower house with 80 members, and the California State Senate , the upper house with 40 members. Members of the Assembly serve two-year terms; members of the Senate serve four-year terms, with half of the seats up for election on alternate (two year) election cycles. The speaker of the California State Assembly presides over

630-429: Is a governing body, it has no fiscal authority or administrative organization. Because it lacks authority to implement its position directly, it seeks to accomplish its goals through county government. A number of these Municipal Advisory Councils, such as East Palo Alto and Isla Vista , have initiated incorporation proposals to create new cities out of formerly unincorporated areas. The former succeeded in 1999 while

675-492: Is also known as a paraph , a French term meaning flourish, initial or signature. The paraph is used in graphology analyses. Several cultures whose languages use writing systems other than alphabets do not share the Western notion of signatures per se: the "signing" of one's name results in a written product no different from the result of "writing" one's name in the standard way. For these languages, to write or to sign involves

720-520: Is more than most postal ballot verifications have. A more recent study for the US Department of Justice confirms the probabilistic nature of signature verification, though it does not provide numbers. In e-mail and newsgroup usage, another type of signature exists which is independent of one's language. Users can set one or more lines of custom text known as a signature block to be automatically appended to their messages. This text usually includes

765-579: Is the governmental structure of the U.S. state of California as established by the California Constitution . California uses the separation of powers system to structure its government. It is composed of three branches : the executive, consisting of the governor of California and the other constitutionally elected and appointed officers and offices; the legislative, consisting of the California State Legislature , which includes

810-555: The Assembly and the Senate ; and the judicial, consisting of the Supreme Court of California and lower courts. There is also local government, consisting of counties , cities, special districts , and school districts , as well as government entities and offices that operate independently on a constitutional , statutory , or common law basis. The state also allows direct participation of

855-705: The University of California Board of Regents and of the California State University Board of Trustees. Regulatory activity is published in the California Regulatory Notice Register and the general and permanent rules and regulations are codified in the California Code of Regulations . State government is organized into many departments, of which most have been grouped together into several huge Cabinet-level agencies since

900-553: The amount in controversy is below $ 25,000). The state constitution allows direct participation of the electorate by initiative , referendum , and recall . In a 2015 review by the nonprofit Center for Public Integrity of how effectively states promote transparency and procedures to reduce corruption, California received a C−, the second-highest grade in the country. It ranked particularly low in public access to information and judicial transparency. In 2005, Pew Research Center 's Government Performance Project gave California

945-643: The electorate ; propose a state budget ; give the annual State of the State address ; command the state militia ; and grant pardons for any crime, except cases involving impeachment by the Legislature . The lieutenant governor is the president of the California Senate and acts as the governor when the governor is unable to execute the office, including whenever the governor leaves the state. The governor and lieutenant governor also serve as ex officio members of

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990-758: The State Assembly. The lieutenant governor is the ex officio president of the Senate and may break a tied vote, and the president pro tempore of the California State Senate is elected by the majority party caucus. The Legislature meets in the California State Capitol in Sacramento . Its session laws are published in the California Statutes and codified into the 29 California Codes . The judiciary of California interprets and applies

1035-482: The Unincorporated Community" focusing specifically on Stanislaus County. There has been little substantive research on the subject since then. Some residents of unincorporated communities represented by MAC boards have raised concerns about their representatives being appointed rather than elected. This issue arises time and again with Alameda County's Castro Valley MAC, which is purported to be composed of

1080-413: The United States, signatures encompass marks and actions of all sorts that are indicative of identity and intent. The legal rule is that unless a statute specifically prescribes a particular method of making a signature it may be made in any number of ways. These include by a mechanical or rubber stamp facsimile. A signature may be made by the purported signatory; alternatively someone else duly authorized by

1125-457: The administration of Governor Pat Brown . These agencies are sometimes informally referred to as superagencies , especially by government officials, to distinguish them from the general usage of the term "government agency". When Brown took office, he was dismayed to discover that under California law , approximately 360 boards, commissions, and agencies all reported directly to the governor, and proposed his "super-agency" plan (then spelled with

1170-404: The appearance of signatures (not the names themselves) may be protected under copyright law. Uniform Commercial Code §1-201(37) of the United States generally defines signed as "using any symbol executed or adopted with present intention to adopt or accept a writing." The Uniform Commercial Code §3-401(b) for negotiable instruments states "A signature may be made (i) manually or by means of

1215-624: The appointing supervisor's campaign donors. This issue of "elected vs. appointed" arose in Stanislaus County in November 2018 when the county sent letters to their MACs notifying them this change would be implemented. After some protests, Stanislaus County decided to let their MAC boards vote on the issue in January and February 2019. Government of California [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The government of California

1260-586: The board of supervisors. The most common subject of activity is land-use planning. The county often uses the group as a planning advisory council to draft or revise the community's portion of the county general plan. In 1977, the California State Office of Planning and Research conducted an extensive study on Municipal Advisory Councils up to that point evaluating their effectiveness and usefulness. Beth Meyerson-Martinez studied MACs again in her Fall 1985 thesis "Municipal Advisory Councils: An Alternative for

1305-404: The compared signatures ... a wide range of algorithms and standards, each particular to that machine's manufacturer, are used to verify signatures. In addition, counties have discretion in managing the settings and implementing manufacturers' guidelines ... there are no statewide standards for automatic signature verification ... most counties do not have a publicly available, written explanation of

1350-488: The computers would set aside 62% of true signatures, and still wrongly accept 2% of forgeries. Lay people made more mistakes and were doubtful less often, though the study does not report whether their mistakes were to accept more forgeries or reject more true signatures. Voters with short names are at a disadvantage, since experts make more mistakes on signatures with fewer "turning points and intersections." Participants in this study had 10 true signatures to compare to, which

1395-648: The courts of general jurisdiction that hear and decide any civil or criminal action which is not specially designated to be heard before some other court or governmental agency. As mandated by the Constitution, each of the 58 counties has a superior court. The superior courts also have appellate divisions (superior court judges sitting as appellate judges) which hear appeals from decisions of other superior court judges (or commissioners, or judges pro tem) in cases previously heard by inferior courts, such as infractions , misdemeanors , and "limited civil" actions (actions where

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1440-494: The electorate by initiative , referendum , recall and ratification . California's elected executive officers are: All offices are elected separately to concurrent four-year terms, and each officer may be elected to an office a maximum of two times. The governor has the powers and responsibilities to: sign or veto laws passed by the Legislature , including a line item veto ; appoint judges, subject to ratification by

1485-535: The governor rather than by the secretaries, who are merely a layer of management installed to ensure that the components of their respective superagencies can stay outside of the governor's "routine attention span" (unless something goes wrong). Today, the Cabinet-level agencies (superagencies) are the: The independently elected officers run separate departments not grouped within the superagencies, and there are other Cabinet-level departments: Most (but not all) of

1530-407: The later failed twice in 1974 and 1976 and remains orphaned These councils face two ways: toward the county, offering the views of the community; and toward the community, supplying information about county proposals and a place where individuals can air opinions on community problems and perhaps receive help. The councils hold public meetings, survey community opinion and speak for the community to

1575-526: The law, and is defined under the Constitution, law, and regulations. The judiciary has a hierarchical structure with the Supreme Court at the apex. The superior courts are the primary trial courts, and the courts of appeal are the primary appellate courts. The Judicial Council is the rule-making arm of the judiciary. The California Supreme Court consists of the chief justice of California and six associate justices. The court has original jurisdiction in

1620-404: The leaders of these entities are normally appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. Despite their independence, the governor can exert influence on them over time by waiting for incumbent leaders to reach the ends of their terms and appointing new ones who support the governor's current agenda. Examples include the: The California State Legislature is the state legislature. It

1665-415: The name carved in tensho script ( seal script ) in lieu of a handwritten signature. A wet signature is a person's name written in their own hand with ink. Some government agencies require that professional persons or official reviewers sign originals and all copies of originals to authenticate that they personally viewed the content. In many countries, signatures must be made, witnessed and recorded in

1710-456: The presence of a notary public to carry legal force in specific contexts. In the United States this is prevalent with architectural and construction plans. Its intent is to prevent mistakes or fraud but the practice is not known to be effective. Handwriting experts say "it is extremely difficult for anyone to be able to figure out if a signature or other very limited writing sample has been forged." High volume review of signatures, to decide if

1755-494: The rejection. When errors are made with bank checks, the payer can ask the bank for corrections. In 2018, a fifth of adults in the United Kingdom said they sign so rarely they have no consistent signature, including 21% of people 18-24 and 16% of people over age 55. 55% of UK adults said they rarely sign anything. Researchers have published error rates for computerized signature verification. They compare different systems on

1800-512: The same written characters. In some jurisdictions, an illiterate signatory can make a "mark" (often an "X" but occasionally a personalized symbol) on legal documents, so long as the document is countersigned by a literate witness. In some countries, illiterate people place a thumbprint on legal documents in lieu of a written signature. Special signature machines, called autopens , are capable of automatically reproducing an individual's signature. These are typically used by people required to sign

1845-588: The signatory, acting in the signer's presence and at the signatory's direction, may make the signature. Many individuals have much more fanciful signatures than their normal cursive writing, including elaborate ascenders , descenders and exotic flourishes , much as one would find in calligraphic writing. As an example, the final "k" in John Hancock 's famous signature on the US Declaration of Independence loops back to underline his name. This kind of flourish

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1890-477: The signature verification criteria and processes they use. In an experiment, experts rejected 5% of true signatures and 71% of forgeries. They were doubtful about another 57% of true signatures and 27% of forgeries. If computer verification is adjusted to reflect what experts are sure about, it will wrongly reject 5% of true signatures and wrongly accept 29% of forgeries. If computers were adjusted more strictly, rejecting all signatures which experts have doubts about,

1935-473: The state for the local performance of governmental or proprietary functions within limited boundaries". Signature A signature ( / ˈ s ɪ ɡ n ɪ tʃ ər , ˈ s ɪ ɡ n ə tʃ ər / ; from Latin : signare , "to sign") is a depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. Signatures are often, but not always, handwritten or stylized. The writer of

1980-552: The state. There are 58 counties, 482 California cities, about 1,102 school districts, and about 3,400 special districts . Counties and incorporated cities may promulgate local ordinances , which are usually codified in county or city codes, respectively, and are misdemeanor crimes unless otherwise specified as infractions . School districts , which are independent of cities and counties, handle public education. Special Districts deliver specific public programs and public facilities to constituents, and are defined as "any agency of

2025-405: The use of pre-signed signature pages being subsequently attached to documents to effect a "virtual" signing, see Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989#Validity of execution under Mercury . The signature on a painting or other work of art has always been an important item in the assessment of art. Fake signatures are sometimes added to enhance the value of a painting, or are added to

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