BILL ANALYSIS AB 2296 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 2296 (Mullin) As Amended August 21, 2008 2/3 vote. Urgency ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: | |(May 19, 2008) |SENATE: |29-0 |(August 22, | | | | | | |2008) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- (vote not relevant) Original Committee Reference: JUD. SUBJECT : Creates a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in the county jail for any person who publishes information describing, depicting, or location of an academic researcher or his/her immediate family member, with the intent that another person imminently use the information to commit a crime involving violence or threat of violence against an academic researcher or his/her immediate family member. The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of this bill, and instead: 1)Name this section the "Researcher Protection Act of 2008." 2)Declare 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 (U.S.) 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 U.S. Constitution, and are a direct threat to the academic researcher's constitutional rights to academic freedom. 3)Provide 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 AB 2296 Page 2 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 $1,000, or by both a fine and imprisonment. 4)Define "publishes" as making the information available to another person through any medium, including, but not limited to, the Internet, the World Wide Web, or e-mail. 5)Define "academic researcher" as any person lawfully engaged in academic research who is a student, trainee, or employee 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. 6)Define "immediate family" as 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. 7)Define "information" to include, but not be limited to, an image film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, or any other computer-generated image. 8)Allow an academic researcher about whom information is published to seek a preliminary injunction enjoining any further publication of that information. 9)Exempt persons lawfully engaged in labor union activities that are protected under state or federal law. 10)Provide 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. EXISTING LAW : AB 2296 Page 3 1)States no person, business, or association shall knowingly publicly post or publicly display on the Internet the home address, home telephone number, or image of any provider, employee, volunteer, or patient of a reproductive health services facility or other individuals residing at the same home address with the intent to do either of the following: a) Incite a third person to cause imminent great bodily harm to the person identified in the posting or display, or to a coresident of that person, where the third person is likely to commit this harm; or, b) Threaten the person identified in the posting or display, or a coresident of that person, in a manner that places the person identified or the coresident in objectively reasonable fear for his/her personal safety. 2)Mandates that very person who, with intent to cause, attempts to cause, or causes, any officer or employee of any public or private educational institution or any public officer or employee to do, or refrain from doing, any act in the performance of his/her duties, by means of a threat, directly communicated to such person, to inflict an unlawful injury upon any person or property, and it reasonably appears to the recipient of the threat that such threat could be carried out, is guilty of a public offense punishable upon a first conviction by a fine not exceeding $10,000, or by imprisonment in the state prison, or in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. 3)Punishes any person who willfully threatens to commit a crime which will result in death or great bodily injury to another person, with the specific intent that the statement, made verbally, in writing, or by means of an electronic communication device, is to be taken as a threat, even if there is no intent of actually carrying it out, which, on its face and under the circumstances in which it is made, is so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific as to convey to the person threatened, a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution of the threat, and thereby causes that person reasonably to be in sustained fear for his or her own safety or for his/her immediate family's safety, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison. AB 2296 Page 4 4)Allows for prosecution against those who refuse or fail to leave land, real property, or structures belonging to or lawfully occupied by another and not open to the general public, upon being requested to leave by a peace officer at the request of the owner, the owner's agent, or the person in lawful possession, and upon being informed by the peace officer that he/she is acting at the request of the owner, the owner's agent, or the person in lawful possession or the owner, the owner's agent, or the person in lawful possession. 5)States that every person other than a public officer or employee acting within the course and scope of his/her employment in performance of a duty imposed by law, who enters or remains in any noncommercial dwelling house, apartment, or other residential place without consent of the owner, his/her agent, or the person in lawful possession thereof, is guilty of a six month misdemeanor. AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill created new civil remedies for threats and other misconduct made against an "animal enterprise" engaged in exercising its constitutional rights pertaining to academic freedom in its use of animals for testing and research. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs. COMMENTS : According to the author, "This bill seeks to deter attacks against University of California (U.C.) animal research employees and their families in their homes by animal rights activists. This bill was prompted by an attempted home invasion that occurred in February 2008 upon a U.C. Santa Cruz faculty member who had used mice for breast cancer research. The Berkeley police department has also identified several animal rights activists who committed acts of vandalism at the residence of six U.C. Berkeley scientists. The names and addresses of these scientists were reportedly posted on animal activist Web sites, along with descriptions of their use of animals in their research." Analysis Prepared by : Nicole J. Hanson / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 AB 2296 Page 5 FN: 0007567