BILL NUMBER: AB 47 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 11, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 20, 2013
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 9, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 18, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 13, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Gatto
DECEMBER 19, 2012
An act to add Section 653.01 to the Penal Code, relating
to crimes. 8594.15 to the Government Code, relating to
emergency services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 47, as amended, Gatto. Emergency telephone system:
abuse. Emergency services: hit and run incidents.
Existing law authorizes use of the Emergency Alert System to
inform the public of local, state, and national emergencies. Existing
law requires a law enforcement agency to activate the Emergency
Alert System within the appropriate area if that agency determines
that a child 17 years of age or younger, or an individual with a
proven mental or physical disability, has been abducted and is in
imminent danger of serious bodily injury or death, and there is
information available that, if disseminated to the general public,
could assist in the safe recovery of that person. Existing law also
authorizes the issuance and coordination of a Blue Alert following an
attack upon a law enforcement officer or a Silver Alert relating to
a person who is 65 years of age or older who is reported missing.
This bill would authorize a law enforcement agency to issue a
Yellow Alert if a person has been killed or has suffered serious
bodily injury due to a hit and run incident and the law enforcement
agency has specified information concerning the suspect or the
suspect's vehicle. The bill would require the California Highway
Patrol to activate a Yellow Alert within the requested geographic
area upon request if it concurs with the law enforcement agency that
specified requirements are met.
Under existing law, any person who knowingly allows the use of, or
who uses, the 911 telephone system for any reason other than because
of an emergency is guilty of an infraction. Any person who uses the
911 telephone system with the intent to annoy or harass another
person is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding
$1,000, by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than 6 months,
or by both that fine and imprisonment.
This bill would make any person who calls the 911 telephone system
to dispatch a police, sheriff, fire department, or emergency medical
service personnel response to a residence or place of business where
there is no emergency, with the intent to annoy or harass another
person, and police, sheriff, fire department, or emergency medical
service personnel are dispatched as a result of the call, guilty of a
misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding $2,000, by
imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by both
that fine and imprisonment. Under the bill, the person responsible
for that call is guilty of an offense punishable by a fine not
exceeding $10,000, by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one
year, or for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years, or by both that fine and
imprisonment, if any person sustained great bodily injury as a result
of conduct arising out of and in the course of the police, sheriff,
fire department, or emergency medical service dispatch. The bill
would define "annoy or harass" as knowing and willful conduct
directed at a specific person, or his or her family members, that
seriously alarms, annoys, torments, or terrorizes the person, or his
or her family members, and that serves no legitimate purpose. This
bill would require, upon conviction, that the person shall also be
liable for all reasonable costs incurred by any unnecessary emergency
response. This bill would exempt from its provisions telephone calls
made in good faith. By increasing the penalty for an existing crime,
this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes no .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 8594.15 is added to the
Government Code , to read:
8594.15. (a) For purposes of this section, "Yellow Alert" means a
notification system, activated pursuant to subdivision (b), designed
to issue and coordinate alerts with respect to a hit and run
incident resulting in the death or injury of a person as described in
Section 20001 of the Vehicle Code.
(b) (1) If a hit and run incident is reported to a law enforcement
agency, and that agency determines that the requirements of
subdivision (c) are met, the agency may request the California
Highway Patrol to activate a Yellow Alert. If the California Highway
Patrol concurs that the requirements of subdivision (c) are met, it
shall activate a Yellow Alert within the geographic area requested by
the investigating law enforcement agency.
(2) Radio, television, and cable and satellite systems are
encouraged, but are not required, to cooperate with disseminating the
information contained in a Yellow Alert.
(3) Upon activation of a Yellow Alert, the California Highway
Patrol shall assist the investigating law enforcement agency by
issuing a be-on-the-lookout alert, an Emergency Digital Information
Service message, or an electronic flyer.
(c) A law enforcement agency may request that a Yellow Alert be
activated if that agency determines that both of the following
conditions are met in regard to the investigation of the hit and run
incident:
(1) A person has been killed or has suffered serious bodily injury
due to a hit and run incident.
(2) The investigating law enforcement agency has additional
information concerning the suspect or the suspect's vehicle,
including, but not limited to, any of the following:
(A) The complete license plate number of the suspect's vehicle.
(B) A partial license plate number and the make, style, and color
of the suspect's vehicle.
(C) The identity of the suspect.
SECTION 1. Section 653.01 is added to the Penal
Code, to read:
653.01. (a) Any person who calls the 911 telephone system to
dispatch a police, sheriff, fire department, or emergency medical
service personnel response to a residence or place of business where
there is no emergency, with the intent to annoy or harass another
person and if police, sheriff, fire department, or emergency medical
service personnel are dispatched as a result of the telephone call,
is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than two
thousand dollars ($2,000), by imprisonment in a county jail for not
more than one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(b) Any person who calls the 911 telephone system to dispatch a
police, sheriff, fire department, or emergency medical service
personnel response to a residence or place of business where there is
no emergency, with the intent to annoy or harass another person and
if police, sheriff, fire department, or emergency medical service
personnel are dispatched and any person sustains great bodily injury
as a result of conduct arising out of and in the course of the
police, sheriff, fire department, or emergency medical service
personnel being dispatched to the residence or place of business, is
guilty of an offense punishable by a fine of not more than ten
thousand dollars ($10,000), by imprisonment in a county jail not
exceeding one year, or, pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170,
for 16 months, or two or three years, or by both that fine and
imprisonment.
(c) This section does not preclude punishment under any other law
providing for greater punishment, including, but not limited to,
involuntary manslaughter as defined in subdivision (b) of Section
192.
(d) For purposes of this section, "emergency" means any condition
in which emergency services will result in the saving of a life, a
reduction in the destruction of property, quicker apprehension of
criminals, or assistance with potentially life-threatening medical
problems, a fire, a need for rescue, an imminent potential crime, or
a similar situation in which immediate assistance is required.
(e) For purposes of this section, "annoy or harass" means knowing
and willful conduct directed at a specific person, or his or her
family members, that seriously alarms, annoys, torments, or
terrorizes the person, or his or her family members, and that serves
no legitimate purpose.
(f) Upon conviction of this section, a person shall also be liable
for all reasonable costs, including property damage, incurred by an
unnecessary police, sheriff, fire department, or emergency medical
service personnel response.
(g) This section shall not apply to telephone calls made in good
faith.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this
act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local
agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a
new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or
changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of
Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a
crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution.