BILL NUMBER: AB 2296 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 492
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 28, 2008
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 28, 2008
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 22, 2008
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 29, 2008
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 21, 2008
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 19, 2008
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 11, 2008
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 4, 2008
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 2, 2008
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 17, 2008
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 15, 2008
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 23, 2008
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 1, 2008
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Mullin
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Wolk)
(Principal coauthor: Senator Simitian)
FEBRUARY 21, 2008
An act to add Sections 422.4 and 602.12 to the Penal Code,
relating to crimes, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2296, Mullin. Academic research.
Existing law makes it unlawful for any person to willfully engage
in threats to commit a crime resulting in death or great bodily
injury to another person, as specified.
This bill would enact the Researcher Protection Act of 2008, which
would make it a misdemeanor, punishable as specified, for any person
to publish information, as defined, describing or depicting an
academic researcher or his or her immediate family member, or the
location or locations where an academic researcher or his or her
immediate family member may be found, with the intent that another
person imminently use the information to commit a crime involving
violence or a threat of violence against the academic researcher or
his or her immediate family member, and the information is likely to
produce the imminent commission of such a crime. The bill would
authorize an academic researcher to seek a preliminary injunction
against publishers of that information unless the publisher is
protected under other provisions of law.
Existing law makes it unlawful for persons to engage in certain
acts of trespass and punishes most trespasses by a fine not exceeding
$1,000, imprisonment in a county jail for a period not exceeding 6
months, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
This bill would make a person who enters the residential real
property of an academic researcher, as defined, for the purpose of
chilling, preventing the exercise of, or interfering with the
researcher's academic freedom guilty of the crime of trespass, a
misdemeanor. By creating new crimes, the bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
The provisions of the bill would not apply to persons lawfully
engaged in labor union activities.
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.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the
Researcher Protection Act of 2008.
SEC. 2. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that while
individuals are entitled to express their views on animal use in
research and to mount protests that are protected under the First
Amendment to the United States Constitution, the use of physical
threats, violence, or destruction of property is unacceptable and
should not be tolerated. Unlawful acts that threaten and intimidate
researchers or their families at their personal residences are not
protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,
and are a direct threat to the academic researcher's constitutional
right to academic freedom.
SEC. 3. Section 422.4 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
422.4. (a) Any person who publishes information describing or
depicting an academic researcher or his or her immediate family
member, or the location or locations where an academic researcher or
an immediate family member of an academic researcher may be found,
with the intent that another person imminently use the information to
commit a crime involving violence or a threat of violence against an
academic researcher or his or her immediate family member, and the
information is likely to produce the imminent commission of such a
crime, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in a
county jail for not more than one year, a fine of not more than one
thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both a fine and imprisonment.
(b) For the purposes of this section, all of the following apply:
(1) "Publishes" means making the information available to another
person through any medium, including, but not limited to, the
Internet, the World Wide Web, or e-mail.
(2) "Academic researcher" has the same meaning as in Section
602.12.
(3) "Immediate family" means any spouse, whether by marriage or
not, domestic partner, parent, child, any person related by
consanguinity or affinity within the second degree, or any other
person who regularly resides in the household, or who, within the
prior six months, regularly resided in the household.
(4) "Information" includes, but is not limited to, an image,
film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape,
video laser disc, or any other computer-generated image.
(c) Any academic researcher about whom information is published in
violation of subdivision (a) may seek a preliminary injunction
enjoining any further publication of that information. This
subdivision shall not apply to a person or entity protected pursuant
to Section 1070 of the Evidence Code.
(d) This section shall not apply to any person who is lawfully
engaged in labor union activities that are protected under state or
federal law.
(e) This section shall not preclude prosecution under any other
provision of law.
SEC. 4. Section 602.12 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
602.12. (a) Any person who enters the residential real property
of an academic researcher for the purpose of chilling, preventing the
exercise of, or interfering with the researcher's academic freedom
is guilty of trespass, a misdemeanor.
(b) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions
apply:
(1) "Academic researcher" means any person lawfully engaged in
academic research who is a student, trainee, employee, or affiliated
physician of an accredited California community college, a campus of
the California State University or the University of California, or a
Western Association of Schools and Colleges accredited, degree
granting, nonprofit institution. Academic research does not include
routine, nonlaboratory coursework or assignments.
(2) "Academic freedom" means the lawful performance,
dissemination, or publication of academic research or instruction.
(c) This section shall not apply to any person who is lawfully
engaged in labor union activities that are protected under state or
federal law.
(d) This section shall not preclude prosecution under any other
provision of law.
SEC. 5. The provisions of this act are severable. If any provision
of this act or its application is held invalid, that invalidity
shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given
effect without the invalid provision or application.
SEC. 6. 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.
SEC. 7. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to provide protection against escalating acts of violence
against researchers as soon as possible, it is necessary that this
act take effect immediately.