BILL ANALYSIS AB 2131 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 2131 (Niello) As Amended June 17, 2008 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |75-0 |(April 21, |SENATE: |40-0 |(July 2, 2008) | | | |2008) | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: PUB. S. SUMMARY : Provides that a peace officer or firefighter assigned to a canine unit to duty away from his or her home jurisdiction because of a declared federal, state, or local emergency, and in the course and scope of his or her duties shall not be discriminated against in hotels, lodging, and other specified public places by being required to pay an extra charge or deposit for the dog. The Senate amendments : 1)Change the punishment for preventing a peace officer or firefighter assigned to a canine unit, and his/her dog, from exercising specified rights from a misdemeanor to a civil fine not exceeding $1,000. 2)Establish the specific rights of peace officer and firefighter dogs assigned to duty away from home in the Civil Code, rather than the Penal Code. 3)Creates a new misdemeanor for any person, firm, or association who prevents a peace officer or a firefighter assigned to a canine unit and his/her dog from exercising, or interferes in the exercise of, the rights specified in the new Civil Code Section, punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000. 4)Define a peace officer's or firefighter's dog as a dog owned by a public law enforcement agency or fire department and under the control of a peace officer or firefighter assigned to a canine unit that has been trained in matters including but not limited to, discovering controlled substances, explosives, cadavers, victims in collapsed structures and peace officer on-command searches for suspects and victims at crime scenes. AB 2131 Page 2 5)Define "declared emergency" as an emergency declared by the President of the United States, the Governor of a state, or local authorities. 6)State that nothing in this new section is intended to affect any civil remedies available for a violation of this section. 7)Provide that this section is intended to provide accessibility without discrimination to a peace officer or firefighter with a trained, public-owned dog in hotels, lodging places, eating establishments, and public transportation during declared emergencies. 8)Delete the amendments to Penal Code Section 365.5 which defined peace officer and peace officer dog. AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill: 1)Defined a "peace officer" as any peace officer assigned to a canine unit who has been trained in matters including, but not limited to, discovering controlled substances, explosives, cadavers, and on-command searches for suspects at crime scenes. 2)Defined a "peace officer dog" as a dog owned by a public law enforcement agency and under the control of a peace officer assigned to a canine unit that has been trained in matters including, but not limited to, discovering controlled substances, explosives, cadavers, and on-command searches for suspects at crime scenes. 3)Added a peace officer to the Penal Code section which allows blind, deaf or disabled persons who are passengers on any common carrier, airplane, train, bus or other public conveyance and are entitled to have with them specially trained dogs. 4)Added a peace officer dog to the list of specially trained dogs allowed on public conveyances. 5)Added a peace officer and a peace officer dog to the list of persons who shall not be denied admittance to accommodations, facilities, medical facilities, lodging places, places of AB 2131 Page 3 public accommodation, and other places to which the general public is invited within California because of the fact that the person is accompanied by his/her dog. 6)Provided that any person who prevents a peace officer from exercising the rights specified in this section is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding $2,500. 7)Created a new Civil Code section that states that a peace officer assigned to a canine unit on official assignment for travel away from his/her home jurisdiction has the right to be accompanied by a peace officer dog without being required to pay an extra charge or security deposit for the peace officer dog. FISCAL EFFECT : None COMMENTS : According to the author, "AB 2131 will provide peace officers and their dogs the same special access granted to service dogs for the disabled. This legislation is necessary so these highly trained dogs are properly cared for and can travel with their peace officer. By extending the jurisdiction these canine units can travel with their officers to assist in disasters like the recent fires in Southern California." Please see the policy committee analysis for full discussion of this bill. Analysis Prepared by : Kathleen Ragan / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN: 0005668