BILL NUMBER: AB 1100	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 24, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly  Member   Bloom
  Members   Low   and Bloom 

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2015

   An act to amend Section  422 of the Penal Code, relating
to criminal threats.   9001 of the Elections Code,
relating to ballot initiatives. 


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1100, as amended,  Bloom   Low  .
 Crimes: criminal threats.   Ballot initiatives:
filing fees.  
   Existing law requires a fee of $200 to be paid by the proponents
when a proposed ballot initiative or referendum is submitted to the
Attorney General for preparation of a circulating title and summary.
 
   This bill would increase the filing fee from $200 to $8,000. The
bill would also make nonsubstantive changes to this provision. 

   Existing law provides that a person is guilty of a crime if he or
she willfully threatens to commit a crime that will result in death
or great bodily injury to another person with the specific intent
that the statement, made verbally, in writing, or by means of an
electronic communication device, is to be taken as a threat, as
specified.  
   This bill would clarify that this provision also applies when the
threatening statement is published on an Internet Web page. 

   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  no
  yes  . State-mandated local program: no.


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

   SECTION 1.    Section 9001 of the  
Elections Code   is amended to read: 
   9001.  (a)  Prior to   Before  the
circulation of  any   an  initiative or
referendum petition for signatures, the text of the proposed measure
shall be submitted to the Attorney General with a written request
that a circulating title and summary of the chief purpose and points
of the proposed measure be prepared. The electors presenting the
request shall be known as the "proponents." The Attorney General
shall preserve the written request until after the next general
election.
   (b) Each and every proponent of  any   a
 proposed initiative measure shall, at the time of submitting
the text of the proposed measure, provide both of the following:
   (1) An original signed certification stating that "I, (insert
name), declare under penalty of perjury that I am a citizen of the
United States, 18 years of age or older, and a resident of (insert
county), California."
   (2) Public contact information.
   (c) The proponents of  any   an 
initiative measure, at the time of submitting the text of the
proposed measure to the Attorney General, shall pay a fee  of
two hundred dollars ($200), which   to the Attorney
General of eight thousand dollars ($8,000) that  shall be placed
in a trust fund in the office of the Treasurer and refunded to the
proponents if the measure qualifies for the ballot within two years
from the date the summary is furnished to the proponents. If the
measure does not qualify within that period, the fee shall be
immediately paid into the General Fund of the state.
   (d) All referenda and proposed initiative measures must be
submitted to the Attorney General's Initiative Coordinator located in
the Sacramento Attorney General's Office via U.S. Postal Service,
alternative mail service, or personal delivery. Only printed
documents will be accepted, facsimile or e-mail delivery will not be
accepted.
   (e) The Attorney General's office shall not deem a request for a
circulating title and summary submitted until all of the requirements
of this section are met. 
  SECTION 1.    Section 422 of the Penal Code is
amended to read:
   422.  (a) Any person who willfully threatens to commit a crime
which will result in death or great bodily injury to another person,
with the specific intent that the statement, made verbally, in
writing, or by means of an electronic communication device, including
publication on an Internet Web page, is to be taken as a threat,
even if there is no intent of actually carrying it out, which, on its
face and under the circumstances in which it is made, is so
unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific as to convey to
the person threatened, a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect
of execution of the threat, and thereby causes that person
reasonably to be in sustained fear for his or her own safety or for
his or her immediate family's safety, shall be punished by
imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or by
imprisonment in the state prison.
   (b) For purposes of this section, "immediate family" means any
spouse, whether by marriage or not, parent, child, any person related
by consanguinity or affinity within the second degree, or any other
person who regularly resides in the household, or who, within the
prior six months, regularly resided in the household.
   (c) "Electronic communication device" includes, but is not limited
to, telephones, cellular telephones, computers, video recorders, fax
machines, or pagers. "Electronic communication" has the same meaning
as the term defined in Subsection 12 of Section 2510 of Title 18 of
the United States Code.