BILL NUMBER: AB 316	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 22, 2011
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 25, 2011
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 17, 2011
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 28, 2011
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 27, 2011
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 30, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Carter
   (Coauthor: Assembly Member Jeffries)
   (Coauthor: Senator Anderson)

                        FEBRUARY 9, 2011

   An act to add Section 487j to the Penal Code, relating to theft.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 316, Carter. Grand theft: copper materials.
   Existing law provides that grand theft is theft when the money,
labor, or real or personal property taken is of a value exceeding
$950 and is punishable as either a misdemeanor or a felony.
   This bill would provide that every person who steals, takes, or
carries away copper materials which are of a value exceeding $950 is
guilty of grand theft, punishable by a fine not exceeding $2,500,
imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that
fine and imprisonment, or by imprisonment in a county jail or the
state prison not exceeding 16 months, or 2 or 3 years and a fine not
to exceed $10,000, as specified.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 487j is added to the Penal Code, to read:
   487j.  Every person who steals, takes, or carries away copper
materials of another, including, but not limited to, copper wire,
copper cable, copper tubing, and copper piping, which are of a value
exceeding nine hundred fifty dollars ($950) is guilty of grand theft.
Grand theft of copper shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding
two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), by imprisonment in a
county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and
imprisonment, or by imprisonment in the state prison not exceeding 16
months, or two or three years and a fine not exceeding ten thousand
dollars ($10,000).
  SEC. 2.  Section 487j is added to the Penal Code, to read:
   487j.  Every person who steals, takes, or carries away copper
materials of another, including, but not limited to, copper wire,
copper cable, copper tubing, and copper piping, which are of a value
exceeding nine hundred fifty dollars ($950) is guilty of grand theft.
Grand theft of copper shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding
two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), by imprisonment in a
county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and
imprisonment, or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of
Section 1170 and a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

  SEC. 3.  Section 2 of this bill incorporates from Assembly Bill
109, which has been chaptered but is not operative, language that a
person guilty of a felony may be imprisoned in a county jail or state
prison. Section 2 shall become operative only if (1) this bill is
enacted and becomes effective on or before January 1, 2012, (2) this
bill amends Section 487j of the Penal Code, and (3) Assembly Bill 109
becomes operative, in which case Section 487j of the Penal Code, as
added by Section 1 of this bill, shall remain operative only until
the operative date of Assembly Bill 109, at which time Section 2 of
this bill shall become operative.