Coblentz Family Wealth partner Philip Feldman and Tax partner Jeffry Bernstein are Tax and Estate Plannng Committee Co-Chairs and Host Committee members for the Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund’s 2015 Day of Philanthropy. The annual seminar on October 29, 2015, brings together donors, leaders and professional advisors to explore personal, technical and cutting-edge issues that impact philanthropy today.
Authored by Scott Hall; originally published in the Daily Journal, October 15, 2015
Last week, Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 856, which amends Civil Code Section 1708.8 to define a “physical invasion of privacy” as including knowingly entering “into the airspace above the land” of another person without permission in order to capture images, sounds, or other physical impressions of private activity. The law targets the increasingly aggressive efforts of paparazzi and other “peeping toms” in using drones to capture images of private conduct.
AB 856 passed unanimously and has been widely applauded, not only by celebrities, but by many others who value privacy and harbor reservations about the rapidly expanding uses of drones. The new law, however, was only one of five drone-specific bills to reach the governor’s desk in recent weeks. The four other bills were vetoed by Brown, despite strong bipartisan support.
Less than a week earlier, the governor considered Senate Bills 168, 170 and 271. All three, like AB 856, passed with unanimous votes in the Legislature, but unlike AB 856, were met with a veto. According to Brown, he vetoed those bills because they sought to create “new crimes” that added complexity to California’s voluminous criminal code “without commensurate benefit,” given that much of the activity sought to be prohibited was already covered by other criminal provisions. His rejection of the bills comes as a disappointment to those who hoped the governor would embrace the opportunity to address some of the new and unique legal issues presented by the growing ranks of drones in California’s skies.
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Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Real Estate partner Gregg Miller will be presenting on New Models for a Maker Economy. The presentation is being hosted by SPUR at its Urban Center and will focus on industrial vacancies in the new maker movement and continued expansion of San Francisco’s manufacturing and engineering/design sectors; what the city is doing to ensure the best use of its existing industrial stock; and what innovative approaches to developing and financing new industrial spaces are underway.
SPUR is a civic planning organization that promotes good planning and good government in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Full event and registration information can be found here.
On Thursday, October 8, 2015, Coblentz hosted its seventh annual Women in Conversation program. This year’s event featured Dr. Marcia McNutt, geophysicist and Editor-in-Chief of Science magazine, in conversation with Coblentz partner Brandi Brown. Dr. McNutt is nominated to become the first woman to serve as President of the National Academy of Sciences, and is one of the world’s top geophysicists, an authority on plate tectonics and earthquake prediction, a Navy SEAL-trained explosives expert and a trailblazer for women in oceanography and science. In addition to being the first woman Editor-in-Chief of Science, Dr. McNutt previously served as the first woman director of the United States Geological Survey and Chief Executive Officer of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
Women in Conversation is our annual signature event that brings together talented, inspiring and influential women leaders in science, business, the arts, sports, politics and the community, and allows us to share the stories of celebrated women with our clients, colleagues and friends.
Previous Women In Conversation speakers have included UC President Janet Napolitano, Singer and Artist Linda Ronstadt, ODC Dance Director Brenda Way and Olympic Athlete Jessica Mendoza.
