In California, bicycles are defined as vehicles, so they're allowed to take the whole lane if there isn't a bicycle lane and a car and a bike can't fit side-by-side. Sharrows are an indicator of this state of the law.
a. That's not what he meant. He meant that, "A person riding a bicycle or operating a pedicab upon a highway has all the rights and is subject to all the provisions applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this division,", from VEH 21200. (There's more nuance to it than that quote too, of course.)
