BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2296|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2296
Author: Mullin (D), et al
Amended: 8/19/08 in Senate
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/24/08
AYES: Corbett, Harman, Ackerman, Kuehl, Steinberg
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/19/08 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Academic research
SOURCE : University of California
DIGEST : This bill enacts the Researchers Protection Act
of 2008.
This bill enhances the ability of state law enforcement and
prosecutors to protect academic researchers and their
families who are victims of threatening and destructive
tactics employed by extremists, by identifying those
extremists without jeopardizing legitimate and lawful
expressions of free speech. This bill adds criminal
provisions to state law, as a counterpart to existing
federal and state laws, for the commission of certain
activities intended to chill or interfere with a
researcher's academic freedom.
CONTINUED
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The bill (1) enacts a new misdemeanor law making it a
violation for any person to publish information describing
or depicting an academic researcher or his/her immediate
family member, or the location or locations where an
academic researcher or his/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/her immediate family member, and the information is
likely to produce the imminent commission of such a crime,
(2) enacts a new misdemeanor trespass law, making it a
violation for any person to enter 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, (3) defines "academic
researcher" as any person lawfully engaged in academic
research who is a student, trainee or employee of UC, an
accredited California community college, a campus of the
California State University or a Western Association of
Schools and Colleges accredited, degree-granting, nonprofit
institution. Academic research does not include routine,
non-laboratory coursework or assignments, and (4) defines
"academic freedom" as the lawful performance, dissemination
or publication of academic research or instruction.
ANALYSIS :
Existing federal law, under the Animal Enterprise
Protection Act, prohibits damaging or interfering with the
operations of an animal enterprise; intentionally damaging
or causing the loss of any property (including animals or
records) used by an animal enterprise or a person or entity
having a connection to an animal enterprise; or
intentionally placing a person or family member of a person
in connection with an animal enterprise in reasonable fear
of death or serious bodily injury or by a course of conduct
involving threats, acts of vandalism, property damage,
criminal trespass, harassment, or intimidation.
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.
Existing law makes it unlawful for persons to engage in
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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 six months, or by both that fine
and imprisonment.
This bill enacts the Researcher Protection Act of 2008
This bill states that 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.
This bill provides that any person who publishes
information describing or depicting an academic researcher
or his/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/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.
This bill provides that for the purposes of this bill, 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.
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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.
This bill provides that 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. The bill specifies that
this provision does not apply to a person or entity
protected pursuant to Section 1070 of the Evidence Code.
This bill does not apply to any person who is lawfully
engaged in labor union activities that are protected under
state or federal law.
The provisions of this bill shall not preclude prosecution
under any other provision of law.
This bill provides that 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.
For the purposes of this bill, 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
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coursework or assignments.
2. "Academic freedom" means the lawful performance,
dissemination, or publication of academic research or
instruction.
The provisions of this bill shall not apply to any person
who is lawfully engaged in labor union activities that are
protected under state or federal law.
The provisions of this bill state that this section shall
not preclude prosecution under any other provision of law.
The bill provides that 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.
Background
This bill arises from the reported unlawful activities of
animal rights groups against University of California (UC)
employees, as follows: (1) on three occasion since June
2006, fire bombs have been left near the homes of UCLA
faculty who conduct or oversee research involving animals.
The home of one UCLA researcher sustained over $20,000 in
damages after being flooded by animal extremists who
inserted a garden hose into the house and left a note
threatening to burn the house down in the future, (2) it is
also noted that faculty at UCSF have been subject to death
treats, and in one instance, a burning effigy was left on
the doorstep of a researcher's home. And, in one recent
home attack, masked protesters disrupted a child's birthday
party at the home of a UC Santa Cruz faculty member and
confronted her husband at the door, striking him on the
hand.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/21/08)
Association of Independent California Colleges and
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Universities
BIOCOM
BayBIO
California Biomedical Research Association
California Healthcare Institute
California Institute for Technology
California Postsecondary Education Commission
California State University
Stanford
USC
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office writes,
"Increasingly scientists who conduct research with
laboratory animals have been targets of a campaign of
terrorism, harassment, and violent threats by animal rights
extremists. While traditional targets have included
research and biomedical laboratories, the use of the
Internet has provided extremists with additional ways to
terrorize an increasing number of people. Extremists use
websites to post the personal information, home address,
and photographs of researchers and their families - along
with incitements of violence.
"Therefore, AB 2296 enhances the ability to protect
individuals engaging in work with animal subjects in
California, by creating new civil remedies for threats and
other misconduct made against an animal enterprise engaged
in its constitutional rights pertaining to academic
freedom."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Aghazarian, Anderson, Arambula, Beall,
Benoit, Berg, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Brownley, Caballero,
Charles Calderon, Carter, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre,
De Leon, DeSaulnier, DeVore, Duvall, Dymally, Emmerson,
Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines,
Galgiani, Garcia, Hancock, Hayashi, Hernandez, Horton,
Houston, Huff, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Karnette, Keene,
Krekorian, La Malfa, Laird, Leno, Levine, Lieber, Lieu,
Maze, Mendoza, Mullin, Nakanishi, Nava, Niello, Parra,
Plescia, Portantino, Price, Sharon Runner, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Silva, Smyth, Solorio, Spitzer, Strickland,
Swanson, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Walters, Wolk, Bass
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NO VOTE RECORDED: Garrick, Ma, Nunez, Soto
RJG:do 8/21/08 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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