BILL NUMBER: AB 1543 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Brough
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Hadley)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Harper and O'Donnell)
(Coauthor: Senator Bates)
MAY 20, 2015
An act to amend Section 597 of the Penal Code, relating to
animals, making an appropriation therefor, and declaring the urgency
thereof, to take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1543, as introduced, Brough. Animals: abuse.
Existing law prohibits, subject to exceptions, specified acts of
animal abuse including, among others, the malicious and intentional
maiming, mutilation, torture, or wounding of a living animal. Under
existing law, a violation of those provisions is punishable as a
felony by imprisonment in a county jail for 16 months, or 2 or 3
years, or by a fine of not more than $20,000, or by both that fine
and imprisonment, or alternatively, as a misdemeanor by imprisonment
in a county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more
than $20,000, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
This bill would require a person who violates the animal abuse
prohibitions described above to be punished by a fine of not more
than $5,000 for each violation, in addition to the fines described
above. The bill would require those additional fines to be deposited
into the Victims of Animal Abuse Fund, which would be established by
the bill. The bill would require the Veterinary Medical Board to
administer the fund, and would continuously appropriate all money
deposited in the fund to the board for the bill's purposes. The bill
would generally require the board to use the money in the fund to
compensate the owner or caretaker of an animal that requires medical
care, rehabilitation, or recovery as a result of a violation of the
animal abuse prohibitions described above for the costs incurred by
the owner or caretaker for the animal's medical care, rehabilitation,
or recovery. The bill would also require, in addition to any other
penalty provided by law, a person who violates the animal abuse
prohibitions described above in a rehabilitative facility for animals
to pay for and successfully complete an appropriate counseling
course, as determined by the court, designed to evaluate and treat
behavior or conduct disorders. The bill would define "rehabilitative
facility for animals" for these purposes as a facility at which
medical care or rehabilitative services are provided to animals,
including, but not limited to, an animal sanctuary, animal shelter,
or aquarium. By increasing the penalties for existing crimes, the
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.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 597 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
597. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (c) of this section or
Section 599c, every a person who
maliciously and intentionally maims, mutilates, tortures, or wounds a
living animal, or maliciously and intentionally kills an animal, is
guilty of a crime punishable pursuant to subdivision (d).
(b) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (a) or (c),
every a person who overdrives,
overloads, drives when overloaded, overworks, tortures, torments,
deprives of necessary sustenance, drink, or shelter, cruelly beats,
mutilates, or cruelly kills any an
animal, or causes or procures any an
animal to be so overdriven, overloaded, driven when overloaded,
overworked, tortured, tormented, deprived of necessary sustenance,
drink, shelter, or to be cruelly beaten, mutilated, or cruelly
killed; and whoever, having the charge or custody of any
an animal, either as an owner or
otherwise, subjects any an animal to
needless suffering, or inflicts unnecessary cruelty upon the animal,
or in any manner abuses any an animal,
or fails to provide the animal with proper food, drink, or shelter or
protection from the weather, or who drives, rides, or otherwise uses
the animal when unfit for labor, is, for each offense, guilty of a
crime punishable pursuant to subdivision (d).
(c) Every A person who maliciously
and intentionally maims, mutilates, or tortures any
a mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, or fish, as
described in subdivision (e), is guilty of a crime punishable
pursuant to subdivision (d).
(d) (1) A violation of subdivision (a), (b),
or (c) is punishable as a felony by imprisonment pursuant to
subdivision (h) of Section 1170, or by a fine of not more than twenty
thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment,
or alternatively, as a misdemeanor by imprisonment in a county jail
for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than twenty
thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.
(2) (A) A person who violates subdivision (a), (b), or (c) shall,
in addition to the fines imposed pursuant to paragraph (1), be
punished by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000)
for each violation.
(B) The fines required by subparagraph (A) shall be deposited into
the Victims of Animal Abuse Fund, which is hereby established in the
State Treasury. For purposes of this paragraph, "fund" means the
Victims of Animal Abuse Fund.
(C) The Veterinary Medical Board shall administer the fund
consistent with this paragraph. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the
Government Code, all money deposited in the fund is hereby
continuously appropriated to the Veterinary Medical Board, without
regard to fiscal years, for the purposes of this paragraph.
(D) Except as provided in subparagraph (E), the Veterinary Medical
Board shall use the money in the fund to compensate the owner or
caretaker, including a nonprofit organization, of an animal that
requires medical care, rehabilitation, or recovery as a result of a
violation of subdivision (a), (b), or (c) for the costs incurred by
the owner or caretaker for the animal's medical care, rehabilitation,
or recovery.
(E) (i) If the owner or caretaker of an animal that requires
medical care, rehabilitation, or recovery as a result of a violation
of subdivision (a), (b), or (c) is the person who violated any of
those subdivisions, the owner or caretaker shall not receive money
from the fund, and instead, money in the fund may be used to
compensate another person, including a nonprofit organization, who
incurs costs for the animal's medical care, rehabilitation, or
recovery.
(ii) If an animal that requires medical care, rehabilitation, or
recovery as a result of a violation of subdivision (a), (b), or (c)
has no identifiable owner or caretaker, money in the fund may be used
to compensate a person, including a nonprofit organization, who
incurs costs for the animal's medical care, rehabilitation, or
recovery.
(F) The Veterinary Medical Board may promulgate regulations to
implement this paragraph.
(3) (A) Except as provided in subdivision (h), a person who
violates subdivision (a), (b), or (c) in a rehabilitative facility
for animals shall, in addition to any other penalty provided by law,
pay for and successfully complete an appropriate counseling course,
as determined by the court, designed to evaluate and treat behavior
or conduct disorders. If the court finds that a defendant is
financially unable to pay for that counseling, the court may develop
a sliding fee schedule based upon the defendant's ability to pay. An
indigent defendant may negotiate a deferred payment schedule, but
shall pay a nominal fee if the defendant has the ability to pay the
nominal fee. If an indigent defendant cannot pay the nominal fee, the
fee shall be waived.
(B) For purposes of this paragraph, "rehabilitative facility for
animals" means a facility at which medical care or rehabilitative
services are provided to animals, including, but not limited to,
animal sanctuary, animal shelter, or an aquarium.
(e) (1) Subdivision (c) applies to
any a mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, or fish
which that is a creature described as
follows:
(1)
(A) Endangered species or threatened species as
described in Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 2050) of Division 3
of the Fish and Game Code.
(2)
(B) Fully protected birds described in Section 3511 of
the Fish and Game Code.
(3)
(C) Fully protected mammals described in Chapter 8
(commencing with Section 4700) of Part 3 of Division 4 of the Fish
and Game Code.
(4)
(D) Fully protected reptiles and amphibians described
in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 5050) of Division 5 of the Fish
and Game Code.
(5)
(E) Fully protected fish as described in Section 5515
of the Fish and Game Code.
(2) This subdivision does not supersede or
affect any provisions of law relating to taking of
the described species, including, but not limited to, Section 12008
of the Fish and Game Code.
(f) For the purposes of subdivision (c), each act of malicious and
intentional maiming, mutilating, or torturing a separate specimen of
a creature described in subdivision (e) is a separate offense. If
any a person is charged with a
violation of subdivision (c), the proceedings shall be subject to
Section 12157 of the Fish and Game Code.
(g) (1) Upon the conviction of a person charged with a violation
of this section by causing or permitting an act of cruelty, as
defined in Section 599b, all animals lawfully seized and impounded
with respect to the violation by a peace officer, officer of a humane
society, or officer of a pound or animal regulation department of a
public agency shall be adjudged by the court to be forfeited and
shall thereupon be awarded to the impounding officer for proper
disposition. A person convicted of a violation of this section by
causing or permitting an act of cruelty, as defined in Section 599b,
shall be liable to the impounding officer for all costs of
impoundment from the time of seizure to the time of proper
disposition.
(2) Mandatory seizure or impoundment shall not apply to animals in
properly conducted scientific experiments or investigations
performed under the authority of the faculty of a regularly
incorporated medical college or university of this state.
(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law,
if a defendant is granted probation for a conviction under this
section, the court shall order the defendant to pay for, and
successfully complete, counseling, as determined by the court,
designed to evaluate and treat behavior or conduct disorders. If the
court finds that the defendant is financially unable to pay for that
counseling, the court may develop a sliding fee schedule based upon
the defendant's ability to pay. An indigent defendant may negotiate a
deferred payment schedule, but shall pay a nominal fee if the
defendant has the ability to pay the nominal fee. County mental
health departments or Medi-Cal shall be responsible for the costs of
counseling required by this section only for those persons who meet
the medical necessity criteria for mental health managed care
pursuant to Section 1830.205 of Title 9 of the California Code of
Regulations or the targeted population criteria specified in Section
5600.3 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. The counseling specified
in this subdivision shall be in addition to any other terms and
conditions of probation, including any term of imprisonment and any
fine. This provision subdivision
specifies a mandatory additional term of probation and is not to be
utilized as an alternative in lieu of imprisonment pursuant to
subdivision (h) of Section 1170 or county jail when that sentence is
otherwise appropriate. If the court does not order custody as a
condition of probation for a conviction under this section, the court
shall specify on the court record the reason or reasons for not
ordering custody. This subdivision shall not apply to cases involving
police dogs or horses as described in Section 600.
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.
SEC. 3. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to provide victims of animal abuse with restitution for
the costs associated with medical care and recovery for animals
resulting from that abuse at the earliest possible time, it is
necessary for this act to take effect immediately.