BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1417
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1417 (Cox)
As Amended August 2, 2010
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :29-0
JUDICIARY 9-0 APPROPRIATIONS 16-0
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|Ayes:|Feuer, Tran, Evans, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Conway, |
| |Hagman, Huffman, Jones, | |Bradford, |
| |Knight, Monning, Saldana | |Charles Calderon, Coto, |
| | | |Davis, |
| | | |De Leon, Gatto, Hall, |
| | | |Miller, Nielsen, Norby, |
| | | |Skinner, Solorio, |
| | | |Torlakson, Torrico |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Establishes new procedures and requirements for the
appointment and confirmation of humane officers by non-profit
humane societies. Specifically, this bill :
1)Repeals Corporations Code Sections 10401 and 10402,
eliminating the requirement that a humane society's articles
of incorporation must be endorsed either by the Department of
Justice or by the judge of the superior court in the county
and instead permits a corporation for the prevention of
cruelty of animals (humane society) to form under the
Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law without the need to
obtain endorsement of its articles or other special
restrictions, except that a humane society formed on or after
January 1, 2011, must state in its articles that the
corporation is formed pursuant to Corporations Code Section
10400.
2)Eliminates the antiquated requirement that a city, county, or
city and county, pay up to $500 per month to a society
actively engaged in enforcing state laws for the prevention of
cruelty to animals or children, and instead authorizes local
governments to enter into contracts with humane societies for
the enforcement of laws for the prevention of cruelty to
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animals, but also permits these societies to enforce these
laws without a contract.
3)Requires that a humane society seeking to appoint a humane
officer shall file a Petition for Order Confirming Appointment
of a Humane Officer with the superior court of the county in
which its principal office is located, in compliance with the
following rules:
a) Prior to filing the Petition, the society must obtain
criminal record offender information regarding the
appointee from the Department of Justice;
b) Prior to filing the Petition, the society shall serve a
copy on: i) the police department having jurisdiction in
the city in which the principal office of the appointing
society is located; ii) the sheriff's department having
jurisdiction in the county in which the principal office of
the appointing society is located; iii) the Department of
the California Highway Patrol; iv) the State Humane
Association of California; and, v) the Department of
Justice;
c) The society must attach to the petition a number of
supporting documents, including: i) proof of proper
incorporation of the society; ii) criminal record
information of the appointee; iii) a copy of the society's
insurance policy for at least $1 million; iv) proof that
the appointee has met training requirements; and, v)
documentation that the society is operating a shelter or
has contracted with another entity to shelter any animals
it seizes, as specified; and,
d) If the society has not previously appointed a humane
officer, then it must also attach to the petition an
affidavit that demonstrates the society's competence to
appoint a humane officer by providing additional
information, such as: i) evidence of partnerships with
other community agencies; ii) current or prior law
enforcement experience or non-profit managerial experience;
iii) cash reserve and donor base of the society; and, iv)
need for the humane officer in the county.
4)Provides that a party that was required to be served with the
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Petition may file an opposition to the Petition, which shall
be filed no later than 15 days after the Petition and is
limited in subject matter to the competency of the society to
appoint and supervise a humane officer, and the
qualifications, background, and fitness of the appointee that
are specific to the work of a humane officer. Permits the
society to file a reply to any opposition to the Petition no
later than 10 days after service of the opposition.
5)Specifies certain conditions upon which the court is required
to deny the petition without further consideration if the
society cannot demonstrate in its submitted materials that:
a) In the case of a Petition to appoint a level 1 humane
officer, at least 5 years have elapsed between the date the
society filed its articles of incorporation and filed the
Petition. In the case of a Petition to appoint a level 2
humane officer, at least one year must have elapsed.
b) The society has a written agreement with another entity,
such as a public or private animal shelter or licensed
veterinary clinic, that: i) provides for the humane care
and treatment of any animals seized by the society; ii) is
capable of preserving evidence that may be used to
prosecute an animal cruelty case; and, iii) is compliant
with all applicable federal, state and local laws,
including licensing laws. Alternatively, the society may
operate its own animal shelter that meets these three
requirements.
6)Requires the court, in determining whether to confirm the
appointment, to review the appointee's qualifications and any
documents that have been provided in support of or in
opposition to confirmation of the appointment. Provides that
if the court finds that the appointee is "qualified and fit to
act as a humane officer", then the court shall issue an order
confirming the appointment, otherwise it may deny the
appointment.
7)Provides that any humane officer confirmed prior to January 1,
2012 shall not be required to seek a new court order
confirming his or her appointment, but that a level 2 humane
officer shall file a certificate of compliance with criminal
background requirements, as specified, with the Department of
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Justice on or before January 1, 2012, or that humane officer's
appointment will be immediately revoked.
8)Requires a party petitioning for a revocation of the
appointment of a humane officer to follow the same law and
motion requirements for filing, service, and format of papers
submitted to the court that apply to the petition to confirm
appointment of the officer.
9)Requires that all level 1 and level 2 humane officers complete
the background checks and physical and mental evaluations
currently required only of level 1 officers. Additionally
requires a level 2 humane officer to provide proof of
compliance with criminal background check requirements, as
specified, by filing a certificate of compliance with the
Department of Justice on or before January 1, 2012, or that
humane officer's appointment will be immediately revoked.
10)Requires humane officers to complete continuing education and
training requirements during each three-year period following
his or her appointment. Requires Level 1 humane officers to
complete additional weapons training and range qualifications
every six months. Requires all humane officers to file
certificates of compliance with the Department of Justice at
the end of the three-year or six-month period. Provides that
failure to comply with the ongoing training requirements shall
result in revocation of the humane officer's appointment at
the end of a three-year term.
11)Requires all humane societies and humane officers to be in
full compliance with Section 14502 on or before January 1,
2012.
12)Authorizes the Department of Justice to charge a reasonable
fee sufficient to cover costs of maintaining various records
of Orders, certificates of compliance, and other documents.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
analysis:
1)For at least the first few years following enactment, the DOJ
would require one-half position, at an annual cost of about
$40,000 to establish a database, ensure timely compliance by
existing and new humane officers with the background check and
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other certification requirements, and maintain all relevant
records. Given the relatively small numbers of humane officers
statewide, over time these costs should decline. In addition
to the standard $32 fee for a criminal background check, the
department, in order to cover its staffing costs, would have
to charge each humane officer a fee of around $1,000 for a
certificate of completion in the first two years. (This
assumes around 40 officers would seek the certification during
this period.) After two years, the fee for a certificate,
assuming 20 per year, would have to be around $2,000 to cover
DOJ's staff costs. Given that the human officers are
volunteers, these fee levels may be unreasonably high, thus
requiring the General Fund to instead bear some portion of
DOJ's costs.
2)The courts, recognizing the limited number of humane officers,
believes that the bill will only result in minor additional
workload, and more importantly, will provide a cost-effective
alternative to improve the existing process for approving new
humane officers.
3)Any costs for local governments, such as sheriffs or police,
are non-reimbursable because they are afforded the
opportunity, but not required, to file an opinion with the
court regarding a pending petition for a humane officer
position.
COMMENTS : This bill is sponsored by the Placer County Board of
Supervisors, the California State Sheriffs' Association, and the
State Humane Association of California, a non-profit membership
association of humane societies with over 130 member
organizations in the state. This bill significantly revises
current law by imposing new procedures and requirements for the
appointment of humane officers by non-profit corporations formed
for the purpose of preventing cruelty to animals (customarily
referred to as "humane societies.")
Humane officers occupy an unusual status in California between
purely private actors and public peace officers. Humane
officers work to enforce the state's animal welfare laws, but
may be appointed only by a private non-profit humane society
formed under California's Corporations Code. Appointment must
be followed by judicial confirmation of the appointment petition
before a person enjoys humane officer authority under the law.
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Existing law explicitly provides that "a humane officer is not a
peace officer, but may exercise the powers of a peace officer at
all places within the state." A humane officer's scope of
powers can vary, depending on the level of training and animal
welfare education, but can include the ability to exercise the
powers of a peace officer in order to prevent animal cruelty,
make arrests, serve search warrants, and carry firearms.
According to the co-sponsor State Humane Association (SHAC),
there are approximately seventy-five humane officers in the
state, the majority of which work for a humane society that is a
member of SHAC and are not authorized to carry firearms. Humane
officers serve the public good by assisting law enforcement
officials enforce animal cruelty laws, and the benefits they
provide typically comes at no cost to the state because officers
are volunteers or work for the non-profit humane society that
appointed them.
By design, this bill creates new obligations and
responsibilities for both the appointing humane society and an
appointee seeking confirmation as a humane officer, which could
conceivably have the effect of preventing some appointees from
being confirmed who under existing law might otherwise be
confirmed. On balance, it is believed that the trade off
between weeding out unqualified or questionable candidates who
should not be granted the privilege of humane officer status
justifies imposing additional obligations and responsibilities
that may potentially deter well-meaning and qualified candidates
from pursuing appointment or forming a new humane society.
Under this bill, the period of time that a humane society must
wait before it can appoint a level 2 humane officer is set at
one year. For appointment of a level 1 humane officer, who
differs mainly because of his or her authority to carry
firearms, there is a waiting period of five years. This period
now starts running at the time of filing the articles of
incorporation, since endorsement of the articles is no longer
required. Furthermore, there is no minimum time requirement for
the operation of a shelter that the petitioning group may
operate or contract with, because the relative age of the
shelter is thought not to be a guarantee of a well-run
operation; instead, strict qualitative benchmarks are imposed on
the evaluation of the shelter to assure it will protect any
seized animals that it shelters in the future.
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Similarly, this bill adds a number of qualitative examples of
documents and evidence that a petitioning society shall submit
in affidavit form to the court to demonstrate its competence to
appoint a humane officer and show it has taken affirmative steps
to ensure success and working relationships in the community for
the future. This assures the court has a wealth of information
on which to evaluate the petition, and also provides a basis for
reducing the waiting period from five years to one year for the
majority of petitions.
This bill makes the procedural and law and motion rules for
revocation proceedings consistent with those to be applied for
confirmation of appointment proceedings.
Current law contains two categories of humane officers (level 1
and level 2) and prescribes the powers and qualifications for
each. This bill requires that both level 1 and level 2 humane
officers be subject to the same disqualification standards,
background checks, and evaluations for physical, emotional, or
mental fitness as currently required for level 1 officers.
These are also some of the same requirements imposed on peace
officers. As previously stated, humane officers are not peace
officers, but they may exercise the powers of a peace officer at
all places within the state in order to prevent cruelty to
animals. Thus, they may serve warrants, make arrests, and use
reasonable force necessary to prevent the perpetration of
cruelty to animals. Because humane officers have some authority
to act under the color of law, it is arguably appropriate to
ensure that they go through heightened background checks for
criminal history and physical and mental evaluations to ensure
that they are capable of carrying out their duties.
Current law requires a city or county to pay up to $500 per
month to a society actively engaged in enforcing state laws for
the prevention of cruelty to animals or children. This bill
would instead authorize local governments to enter into
contracts with humane societies, thereby ensuring that a
contract is in place before a humane society can request payment
for its services. This is intended to eliminate the likelihood
that a humane society could receive payment for services not
sanctioned or requested by a local government. However, humane
societies would still be able to enforce state laws for the
prevention of cruelty to animals in the absence of a contract.
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This code section and some neighboring sections also retain
references to societies for the prevention of cruelty to
children, which are obsolete. Counties no longer contract with
humane societies for child welfare services because counties
have assumed these responsibilities. Accordingly, this bill
would delete the outdated references appropriately.
This bill would require all humane officers to complete
certification of compliance for continuing education and
training during each three-year period following his or her
appointment. A humane society would also be required to obtain
Criminal Record Offender Information on the humane officer no
more than 60 days prior to the end of the three-year period.
The certificate of compliance must be filed with the Department
of Justice, who is authorized to charge a fee to cover the
reasonable cost of filing and processing the certificates of
compliance. Failure to file the certificate of compliance no
later than twenty-one days after the expiration of a three-year
period would result in immediate revocation of the appointment.
If the humane officer is authorized to carry a firearm, he or
she would additionally be required to complete weapons training
and range qualifications every six months, and a certificate
filed with the Department of Justice showing compliance.
Analysis Prepared by : Anthony Lew / JUD. / (916) 319-2334
FN: 0005645