Mil. & Vet. Code, § 56.1 · Chapter 1. The Military Department
Mil. & Vet. Code, § 56.1
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) A member of the department who intentionally engages in acts of reprisal, retaliation, threats, coercion, or similar acts against any other member or former member of the department, or employee of any department, board, or authority, for having disclosed what the member or former member of the department or employee in good faith believed to be improper activities in the Military Department shall be disciplined by the Governor or the Adjutant General, or by adverse action as provided in Article 1 (commencing with Section 19570) of Chapter 7 of Part 2 of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code, if applicable. If no adverse action is taken by the appointing power for a civil service or other state employee, the State Personnel Board shall begin procedures as if charges were filed pursuant to Section 19583.5 of the Government Code.
(b) Persons subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) who violate Section 56 shall additionally be subject to punishment pursuant to Article 92 of the UCMJ, and subject to adverse administrative action as authorized by state law or federal law.
(c) Any member of the department who violates the prohibitions defined in Section 56 shall be subject to disciplinary action or criminal prosecution as authorized by state or federal law.
(d) For the purposes of this section, all of the following definitions apply:
(1) “Department” means the Military Department.
(2) “Employee” has the same meaning as defined in Section 8547.2 of the Government Code.
(3) “Improper activities” means the same thing as “improper governmental activity” under Section 8547.2 of the Government Code.
(4) “Member of the department” has the same meaning as defined in Section 55.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by Stats. 2019, Ch. 704, Sec. 3. (SB 481) Effective January 1, 2020.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=MVC§ionNum=56.1.
- Text hash
- sha256 be320c2f2b466e36aa7e13bfa6aac3b9d73d7c1ce7f6aad8fa54824bd5c89b5d
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- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Government Code
- Gov. Code, § 8547.2Printed as Section 8547.2 of the Government Code
- Gov. Code, tit. 2, div. 5, pt. 2, ch. 7, art. 1Disciplinary ProceedingsPrinted as Article 1 (commencing with Section 19570) of Chapter 7 of Part 2 of Division 5 of Title 2 of the Government Code
- Gov. Code, § 19583.5Printed as Section 19583.5 of the Government Code
Military and Veterans Code
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.