Pepper weevils  have spread north from Southern California  to Santa Clara County and can be quite destructive.  For backyard gardeners, the best advice seems to be to clean up carefully after the pepper growing season to limit t he recurrence the following season. The agricultural advice (for commercial growers) is more detailed in the use of pesticides and  probably beyond the scope of most backyard gardeners.

So, what can you do? You can remove and destroy all the buds from your young plants. This prevents

eggs that were laid from hatching and continuing the cycle. Or you can allow the fruit to set and examine any dropped  or badly disfigured pods for signs of the larva. The key is to keep on top of any potential emerging problems.  Another possibility is to use row cover or mesh to deny the adults access to the plants. This isn't practical in an  agricultural setting, but may be reasonable for a backyard garden.

Resources:

Pepper Weevil Pest Note (targeted at home gardeners)

Pepper Weevil Management Guidelines (targeted at commercial growers)

A summary of research done on the pepper weevil in Santa Clara County (pdf)