BILL NUMBER: SB 685	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JANUARY 7, 2008
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 10, 2007

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Yee

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2007

    An act relating to gaming.   An act to amend
Section 15211 of, and to repeal and add Section 15212 of, the
Probate Code, relating to pet trusts. 


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 685, as amended, Yee.  Indian Gaming Revenue Sharing
Trust Fund: study.   Pet trusts.  
   Existing law provides that a trust for a noncharitable corporation
or unincorporated society or for a lawful noncharitable purpose may
be performed by the trustee for only 21 years, as specified. Existing
law provides that a trust for the care of a designated domestic or
pet animal may be performed by the trustee for the life of the
animal, whether or not there is a beneficiary who can seek
enforcement or termination of the trust and whether or not the terms
of the trust contemplate a longer duration.  
   This bill would repeal the provisions regarding domestic or pet
animal trusts and enact new provisions that would function as an
exception to the limitation on the duration of trusts for a
noncharitable corporation or unincorporated society or for a lawful
noncharitable purpose, as described above. The bill would provide
that a trust for the care of a designated domestic or pet animal is
valid and terminates when no living animal is covered by the trust,
subject to certain requirements. The bill would require a court to
liberally construe a pet trust to bring it within the bill's
provisions, to presume against an interpretation that would render
the disposition a mere request or an attempt to honor the pet, and to
carry out the general intent of the transfer. The bill would provide
an order of disposition of trust property upon termination of the
trust and would provide authority for the court to name a trustee and
to transfer trust property, as specified.  
   Existing law creates the Indian Gaming Revenue Sharing Trust Fund
for the receipt and deposit of moneys derived from gaming device
license fees that are paid into the fund pursuant to the terms of
tribal-state gaming compacts for the purpose of making distributions
to noncompact tribes.  
   This bill would direct the California Research Bureau to conduct,
using its existing resources, a one-year study to measure the
economic impact that payments from the fund have had on the
noncompact tribal recipients and the improvements to the noncompact
tribes economic conditions since revenue sharing was implemented.
This bill would further require the bureau to report its findings to
the Legislature no later than June 1, 2009. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  yes
  no  . State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    Section 15211 of the   Probate
Code   is amended to read: 
   15211.   A   Except as provided in Section
15212, a  trust for a noncharitable corporation or
unincorporated society or for a lawful noncharitable purpose may be
performed by the trustee for only 21 years, whether or not there is a
beneficiary who can seek enforcement or termination of the trust and
whether or not the terms of the trust contemplate a longer duration.

   SEC. 2.    Section 15212 of the   Probate
Code   is repealed.  
   15212.  A trust for the care of a designated domestic or pet
animal may be performed by the trustee for the life of the animal,
whether or not there is a beneficiary who can seek enforcement or
termination of the trust and whether or not the terms of the trust
contemplate a longer duration. 
   SEC. 3.    Section 15212 is added to the  
Probate Code   , to read:  
   15212.  (a)  Subject to the requirements of this section, a trust
for the care of a designated domestic or pet animal is valid. The
trust terminates when no living animal is covered by the trust. The
governing instrument of the animal trust shall be liberally construed
to bring the transfer within this section, to presume against the
merely precatory or honorary nature of the disposition, and to carry
out the general intent of the transferor. Extrinsic evidence is
admissible in determining the transferor's intent.
   (b) A trust for the care of a designated domestic or pet animal is
subject to the following requirements:
   (1) Except as expressly provided otherwise in the trust
instrument, the principal or income shall not be converted to the use
of the trustee or to any use other than for the trust's purposes or
for the benefit of a covered animal.
   (2) Upon termination of the trust, the trustee shall transfer the
unexpended trust property in the following order:
   (A) As directed in the trust instrument.
   (B) If the trust was created in a nonresiduary clause in the
transferor's will or in a codicil to the transferor's will, under the
residuary clause in the transferor's will.
   (C) If the application of subparagraph (A) or (B) does not result
in transfer of unexpended trust property, to the transferor's heirs
under Section 21114.
   (3) For the purposes of Section 21110, the residuary clause
described in subparagraph (B) of paragraph (2) shall be treated as
creating a future interest under the terms of a trust.
   (4) The intended use of the principal or income may be enforced by
a person designated for that purpose in the trust instrument or, if
none is designated, by a person appointed by a court upon application
to the court by that person.
   (5) Except as ordered by the court or required by the trust
instrument, no filing, report, registration, periodic accounting,
separate maintenance of funds, appointment, or fee is required by
reason of the existence of the fiduciary relationship of the trustee.

   (6) If a trustee is not designated or no designated trustee is
willing or able to serve, a court shall name a trustee. A court may
order the transfer of the trust property to a trustee, if it is
required to assure that the intended use is carried out and if a
successor trustee is not designated in the trust instrument or if no
designated successor trustee agrees to serve or is able to serve. A
court may also make all other orders and determinations as it shall
deem advisable to carry out the intent of the transferor and the
purpose of this section.  
  SECTION 1.    The California Research Bureau of
the California State Library shall conduct a one-year study to
measure the economic impact that payments from the Indian Gaming
Revenue Sharing Trust Fund, as set forth under Section 12012.75 of
the Government Code, have had on the noncompact tribal recipients,
and the improvements to the noncompact tribes economic conditions
since revenue sharing was implemented. The bureau shall conduct the
study using its existing resources, and a report to the Legislature
no later than June 1, 2009.