BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2296
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2296 (Mullin)
As Amended August 21, 2008
2/3 vote. Urgency
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|ASSEMBLY: | |(May 19, 2008) |SENATE: |29-0 |(August 22, 2008) |
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(vote not relevant)
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|COMMITTEE VOTE: |6-0 |(August 28, 2008) |RECOMMENDATION: |concur |
|(Public Safety) | | | | |
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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 where 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
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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 $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, non-laboratory 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.
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EXISTING LAW :
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
co-resident 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 co-resident of that person, in a manner that places the
person identified or the co-resident in objectively reasonable
fear for his or 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
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/her own safety or for
his/her immediate family's safety, shall be punished by
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imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or by
imprisonment in the state prison.
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 or 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 or 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 or 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
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