Compare Versions


Bill PDF |Add To My Favorites | print page

SB-911 Police animals: offenses.(2017-2018)



Current Version: 04/16/18 - Amended Senate

Compare Versions information image


SB911:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Senate  April 16, 2018

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 911

Introduced by Senator Gaines
(Coauthors: Senators Bates, Fuller, Morrell, Stone, Vidak, and Wilk)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bigelow, Chen, Fong, Kiley, Patterson, and Steinorth)

January 18, 2018

An act to amend Section 600 of the Penal Code, relating to police animals.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 911, as amended, Gaines. Criminal law. Police animals: offenses.
Under existing law, it is a crime to assault, batter, or interfere with, as specified, a police dog or police horse. Under existing law, a violation of these provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor, or, if a serious physical injury is inflicted upon the animal, as a misdemeanor or a felony. Additionally, under existing law, if a person, with the intent to inflict injury or death, causes the death or serious physical injury of the animal, that person is, upon conviction of a felony, punishable by an additional one-year term of imprisonment. Under existing law, for each felony case, a court is required to hold, and a prosecutor is required to attend, a preliminary hearing.
This bill would instead make the intentional killing or infliction of serious physical injury to a police dog or police horse a felony. felony punishable by imprisonment for 2, 3, or 4 years.
By changing the penalty of an existing crime, and by imposing additional duties on local prosecutors by increasing the number of preliminary hearings, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 600 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

600.
 (a) Any A person who willfully and maliciously willfully, maliciously, and with no legal justification strikes, beats, kicks, cuts, stabs, shoots with a firearm, administers any poison or other harmful or stupefying substance to, or throws, hurls, or projects at, or places any rock, object, or other substance which is used in such a manner as to be capable of producing injury and likely to produce injury, on or in the path of, a horse being used by, or a dog under the supervision of, a peace officer in the discharge or attempted discharge of his or her duties, or a volunteer who is acting under the direct supervision of a peace officer in the discharge or attempted discharge of his or her assigned volunteer duties, is guilty of a public offense. If the injury inflicted is a serious injury, as described in subdivision (c), the person shall be punished by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 for 16 months, two or three years, or in a county jail for not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000), or by both a fine and imprisonment. If the injury inflicted is not a serious injury, the person shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both a fine and imprisonment.
(b) Any A person who willfully and maliciously and with no legal justification interferes with or obstructs a horse or dog being used by a peace officer in the discharge or attempted discharge of his or her duties, or a volunteer who is acting under the direct supervision of a peace officer in the discharge or attempted discharge of his or her assigned volunteer duties, by frightening, teasing, agitating, harassing, or hindering the horse or dog shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both a fine and imprisonment.
(c) Any A person who, in violation of this section, and with intent to inflict that injury or death, personally causes the death, destruction, or serious physical injury including bone fracture, loss or impairment of function of any bodily member, wounds requiring extensive suturing, or serious crippling, of a horse or dog is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 for two, three, or four years.
(d) Any A person who, in violation of this section, and with the intent to inflict that injury, personally causes great bodily injury, as defined in Section 12022.7, to any person not an accomplice, shall, upon conviction of a felony under this section, in addition and consecutive to the punishment prescribed for the felony, be punished by an additional term of imprisonment in the state prison for two years unless the conduct described in this subdivision is an element of any other offense of which the person is convicted or receives an enhancement under Section 12022.7.
(e) A defendant convicted of a violation of this section shall be ordered to make restitution to the agency owning the animal and employing the peace officer, to a volunteer who is acting under the direct supervision of a peace officer who is using his or her horse or supervising his or her dog in the performance of his or her assigned duties, or to the agency that provides, or the individual who provides, veterinary health care coverage or veterinary care for a horse or dog being used by, or under the supervision of, a volunteer who is acting under the direct supervision of a peace officer for any veterinary bills, replacement costs of the animal if it is disabled or killed, and, if applicable, the salary of the peace officer for the period of time his or her services are lost to the agency.

SEC. 2.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.