BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1162
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 26, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Mike Feuer, Chair
AB 1162 (Chesbro) - As Amended: April 11, 2011
SUBJECT : Wildlife: poaching DETERRENTS
KEY ISSUE : Should the penalties and fines for egregious
violations of the Fish and Game Code, including violations
involving trophy animals, more accurately reflect the value of
those animals that are illegally taken?
SYNOPSIS
This bill was unanimously approved by the Assembly Water Parks
and Wildlife Committee on April 5, 2011. The laudable measure
seeks to strengthen the state's efforts to deter tragic
poaching. This past decade has seen a surge in illegal poaching
in California, in part fueled by the economic downturn and a
reduction in game wardens in the state. Recent news reports
suggest that a number of the illegal poaching cases involve big
game trophy animals, tragically killed for their parts and
illegal market value. Current criminal and civil penalties are
often significantly less than the thousands of dollars that
illegal poachers can make off of a single illegal kill. This
bill includes several provisions that would enhance the civil
and criminal penalties for various poaching violations,
including trophy poaching and certain egregious practices used
by poachers. The bill thus addresses what has become a growing
and alarmingly widespread criminal enterprise in California that
many fear is inadequately deterred by current law. It would
also increase the amount that Californians are reimbursed for
wildlife stolen from them by illegal poachers to more accurately
reflect the value of those animals. The California Outdoor
Heritage Alliance supports the bill, as does the California Fish
and Game Wardens Association, who notes that wardens are now
seeing unprecedented levels of poaching in the state. The
measure is opposed by the California Sportsman's Lobby which
contends that the bill is unnecessary, as well as the Outdoor
Sportsmen's Coalition of California which contends that existing
law is sufficient to discourage most illegal activity.
SUMMARY : Seeks to strengthen currently inadequate deterrents
against illegal poaching by increasing potential penalties for
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the illegal taking of fish and wildlife, including trophy
animals. Specifically, this bill , amongst other things:
1)Increases the maximum penalty for persons convicted of
violating the Fish and Game Code by taking, possessing,
transporting, importing, receiving, purchasing, and acquiring,
wildlife from $10,000 to $40,000.
2)Creates a new criminal penalty that any person who knowingly
and illegally takes a trophy deer, elk, antelope, or bighorn
sheep outside of the legal season, with the aid of artificial
light, with the aid of bait, or in ways that result in
unnecessary and wanton waste of game, shall be subject to a
fine not less than $5,000 and no more than $40,000, one year
in the county jail, or both.
3)Requires the Fish and Game Commission to adopt regulations to
implement enhanced penalties on poaching of trophy animals,
including a designation and monetary value based on the size
or related characteristics of deer, elk, antelope, bighorn
sheep or wild turkey.
4)Provides that anyone using a signal-emitting device in
conjunction with the take of a bear for the purpose of selling
or trafficking in bear parts shall be subject to a fine of ten
times the market value of the bear parts, or $10,000,
whichever is greater.
5)Authorizes the Department of Fish and Game to revoke a
violator's hunting license for certain egregious violations,
such as: using an artificial light, using bait, taking game
out of season, wasting game meat, or using a signal-emitting
device in connection with the taking of a bear.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that the Department of Fish and Game can impose civil
liability of not more than $10,000 for each animal illegally
taken on anyone that unlawfully exports, imports, transports,
sells, or otherwise possesses or handles wildlife taken in
violation of state or federal law. (Fish and Game Code
Section 2582. All references are to the Fish and Game Code
unless otherwise indicated.)
2)Provides that many violations of the Fish and Game code are
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misdemeanors, with certain enumerated violations classified as
infractions punishable of up to $1,000. (Section 12000.)
3)Provides that anyone who illegally takes or possesses more
than three times the daily bag limit, or illegally possesses
more than three times the legal possession limit of any
wildlife is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable of no less than
$5,000 but no more than $40,000. A person found guilty of
this violation a second time may be punished by a fine of
between $10,000 and $50,000, imprisonment, or both. (Section
12013.)
4)Provides that anyone who illegally takes wildlife for profit
or personal gain is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a
fine of between $5,000 and $40,000, imprisonment, or both. A
person found guilty of this violation a second time may be
punished by a fine of between $10,000 and $50,000,
imprisonment, or both. (Section 12012.)
5)Upon conviction of a violation of the Fish and Game Code,
authorizes a judge to order the seizure of any apparatus or
device that was used to illegally take wildlife. (Section
12157.)
6)Authorizes the Department of Fish and Game to suspend or
permanently revoke a person's hunting license for illegally
taking wildlife for profit or personal gain, or for illegally
taking or possessing more than three times the daily bag
limit. (Section 12154.)
COMMENTS : According to the author, current financial penalties
for the illegal taking of many species of game in California,
especially big game, "do not adequately cover the market value
of those resources." The maximum legal civil penalties for
poaching, enacted in 1988, have not changed in over twenty years
and have not kept pace with the prices poachers get for illegal
kills. The author notes, hunting tags for some big game species
can fetch over $50,000, while current fines for illegally taking
those animals frequently amount to a fraction of that amount.
The purpose of this bill then, is to ensure that poachers pay
back the full value of the wildlife they took from the public by
increasing the penalties and fines for certain serious
violations of the Fish and Game Code, particularly crimes
involving big trophy animals. The author notes that there have
been a number of high-profile big-game poaching cases recently
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in California, with a recent illegal take of a trophy mule deer
from Yosemite National Park, and a shooting and abandonment of
two elk at Fort Hunter Liggett in Monterey County. The author
notes that deer violations are one of the most common violations
of the Fish and Game code, and many illegal hunters target deer
solely for their antlers or size. While increased fines are an
important deterrent against poaching big game animals, financial
penalties are not always enough. Therefore, this bill seeks to
authorize the Department of Fish and Game to revoke a violator's
hunting license for certain egregious violations, such as using
artificial lights, using bait, taking game out of season, and
wasting game meat. The bill also authorizes judges to order
equipment seizures for these serious violations.
California would not be alone in toughening its laws against
illegal poaching of trophy animals. The author notes that
measures such as this one have been enacted in several states
including Montana, Idaho, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Each of these
states allow for higher fines, longer revocation of hunting
privileges and/or felony charges for illegally taking trophy big
game animals. New Mexico law allows for increased civil
liability for illegally taking big game trophy animals, wild
turkey or trout/salmon out of season, with the aid of artificial
light, without a proper license, exceeding the bag limit, or
wasting game.
BACKGROUND : California law currently allows for a maximum civil
penalty of $10,000 for any single animal illegally taken in
California. (Section 2583.) In addition, criminal fines for
certain violations of the fish and game code can reach $40,000
to $50,000 for a second offense. (Sections 12012, 12013.) There
are also certain nonmonetary deterrents that the courts can use,
such as revoking or suspending hunting licenses from people who
take animals illegally for their own personal gain or take or
possess three times more than the legal bag limit. (Section
12154.) Provisions also allow courts to seize apparatus used to
illegally take wildlife in California. (Section 12157.)
As indicated by the author, existing monetary penalties can be
significantly less than the amount a poacher can earn selling
large trophy animals taken within California. Also, recent news
reports of big game poaching in California indicate that current
law does not sufficiently deter big game trophy poachers. AB
1162's provisions enhancing penalties for trophy animal poaching
and certain egregious poaching methods would serve to directly
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address this concern.
The Need for Enhanced Deterrence Measures : According to news
reports, the economic downturn of the past few years has been
met by a surge in the amount of illegal poachers seeking to reap
the monetary rewards of selling illegally poached wildlife. For
example, California state park rangers issued six times as many
hunting arrests and citations in 2009 than in 1999, while state
game wardens issued just short of twice as many citations in
2008 than they had in 2001. (See Matt Weiser, State Park
Poaching on Rise, Sacramento Bee, Oct. 21, 2010,
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/10/21/3120064/state-park-poaching-on-r
ise.html, see also Peter Fimrite, Poaching for Profit in Tough
Economic Times (June 9, 2009), San Francisco Chronicle,
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/06/09/MN9C1
80V4D.DTL&ao=2 .) As the San Francisco Chronicle noted in 2009,
this surge in illegal poaching coincides with a reduction in the
total number of California game wardens; from 325 wardens in
2001, to 230 in 2009. The result is that California has fewer
game wardens per capita than any state in the United States.
(See Fimrite, supra.) To an extent, this has contributed to a
situation where only one in five illegal poachers is caught.
Increasing the monetary and non-monetary penalties for certain
poaching crimes might therefore serve as a deterrent to poachers
without hiring more enforcement personnel. This would also help
fight what has become one of California's largest criminal
enterprises. For example, according to the Department of Fish
and Game, the illegal sale of fish, wildlife, and wildlife parts
in California amounts to $100 million dollars a year, second
only to the sale of illegal drugs. (See Fimrite, supra.)
Recent cases involving poaching of trophy animals indicate the
need to further deter those activities in particular. As the
author indicates, in October of last year, three individuals
were found hunting for mule deer in Yosemite National Park where
hunting is supposed to be banned completely. There have also
been several recent incidents of illegal deer poaching as well.
(Weiser, supra.)
Arguments in Support : The California Outdoor Heritage Alliance
supports this bill because it would allow for increased
penalties for egregious poaching, including the intentional take
of trophy big game animals using illegal hunting methods, and
would help make sure that poachers pay California a more
accurate reflection of the market value of these animals. They
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note that tags for some trophy animals such as, deer, elk,
antelope, and bighorn sheep now sell for close to $100,000, much
more than the maximum civil penalty allowed for each animal
illegally taken.
The California Fish and Game Wardens Association in support of
this bill notes that violations of the Fish and Game code are
prevalent in California with wardens now seeing unprecedented
levels of poaching in the state. They note that current
inappropriately low penalties for egregious poaching serve to
discourage warden morale.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The California Sportsman's Lobby (CSL)
contends that the bill is unnecessary; "Unless there is a
desperate need for higher penalties and it can be shown that the
higher penalties will, in fact, be a significant deterrence,
there is no demonstrated need for the bill. .. CSL is concerned
that the higher penalties will serve as a form of asset
forfeiture that will encourage the imposition of high civil
penalties even if the violation is relatively minor."
The Outdoor Sportsmen's Coalition of California (OSCC) contends
that "Ýe]xisting law should be sufficient to discourage most
illegal activity. If not, the increased penalties proposed in
AB 1162 would not be likely to deter it, either, as only hard
core poachers and other hard core Fish and Game Code violators
would ignore the already large existing penalties. The
relatively few people who are hard core violators would probably
ignore the proposed higher penalties as well?. OSCC is
concerned that the higher penalties might act to simulate law
enforcement behavior similar to that sometimes observed in the
case of asset forfeiture. It would be an opportunity to realize
high returns for lower level violations."
Prior Legislation : AB 708 (Huffman) Chapter 290, Statutes of
2009: Increased financial and criminal penalties for certain
poaching violations, including commercial wildlife violations
and the illegal possession of more than three times the
possession limit of wildlife or parts thereof.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
AB 1162
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Support
California Fish and Game Wardens' Association
California Outdoor Heritage Alliance
National Wild Turkey Federation
PAWPAC
Opposition
California Sportsman's Lobby
Outdoor Sportsmen's Coalition of California
Analysis Prepared by : Drew Liebert and Travis Brooks / JUD. /
(916) 319-2334