BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2755|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2755
Author: Gallagher (R), et al.
Amended: 4/11/16 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 6-0, 6/14/16
AYES: Jackson, Moorlach, Anderson, Leno, Monning, Wieckowski
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hertzberg
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 4/28/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Agriculture: bees: civil remedies
SOURCE: California State Beekeepers Association
DIGEST: This bill provides for treble damages, as specified,
plus an amount in fair compensation for the time and money
properly expended by the plaintiff in recovering or replacing
the bees, in any civil action for: (1) the wrongful and willful
taking, possessing, harboring, or transporting of a beehive; (2)
the wrongful and willful removal of bees from their beehive; or
(3) the wrongful and willful killing or destroying of bees
without the consent of the owner or the person lawfully in
possession of those bees. This bill includes legislative intent
language to that end, and sets forth various legislative
findings and declarations relating to bees.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
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1)Provides that for every wrong there is a remedy.
2)Provides that every person is bound, without contract, to
abstain from injuring the person or property of another, or
infringing upon any of his or her rights.
3)Provides that one who obtains a thing without the consent of
its owner, or by a consent afterwards rescinded, or by an
unlawful exaction which the owner could not at the time
prudently refuse, must restore it to the person from whom it
was thus obtained, unless he has acquired a title thereto
superior to that of such other person, or unless the
transaction was corrupt and unlawful on both sides.
4)Governs, under the Apiary Protection Act, bee management and
beekeepers and establishes enforcement mechanisms and
specifies various penalties for violations of the Act.
Existing law finds and declares that a healthy and vibrant
apiary industry is important to the economy and welfare of the
people of the State of California, and that the protection and
promotion of this important industry is in the interest of the
people of the State of California.
5)Provides that every person who feloniously steals, takes,
carries, leads, or drives away the personal property of
another is guilty of theft, as specified.
6)Provides that "grand theft" is any theft where the money,
labor, or real or personal property taken, or when the
property is taken from the person of another is of a value
exceeding $950, except as specified.
7)Provides that theft in other cases is petty theft and is
punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by imprisonment
in the county jail not exceeding six months, or both.
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This bill:
1)Provides that in any civil action for the wrongful and willful
taking, possessing, harboring, or transporting of a beehive,
for the wrongful and willful removal of bees from their
beehive, or for the wrongful and willful killing or destroying
of bees without the consent of the owner or the person
lawfully in possession of those bees, the damage caused to the
plaintiff shall be three times the value of the bees at the
time of the taking, possessing, harboring, transporting,
destroying, or vandalizing of the bees, plus an amount in fair
compensation for the time and money properly expended by the
plaintiff in recovering or replacing the bees.
2)Sets forth various findings and declarations, including:
California has the largest beekeeping industry of any
state in the United States. Nearly 500,000 colonies of bees
are operated by 400 commercial and semicommercial
beekeepers;
Nearly three-fourths of the country's documented
commercial honeybee crop pollination is conducted in
California;
Drastic reductions in populations of native insect
pollinators have created a great need for honeybee
pollination to ensure reseeding and perpetuation of wild
plants. These plants serve as sources of fruits, nuts, and
vegetation for consumption by various birds and mammals;
and
In recent months, there has been a significant reduction
in the honeybee population due to Colony Collapse Disorder
and other problems such as poor nutrition due to lack of
available "bee pasture," that is, pollen- and
nectar-producing flowers. This has created a serious threat
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to our food supply, and this crisis threatens to wipe out
production of crops dependent on bees for pollination.
1)States the intent of the Legislature to create specific civil
remedies for wrongfully taking, possessing, harboring,
transporting, destroying, or vandalizing bees.
Background
California law, the Apiary Protection Act, recognizes the
importance of a healthy and vibrant apiary industry to the
economy and welfare of the people of the State of California,
and declares that the protection and promotion of this important
industry is in the interest of this state. Accordingly, the Act
governs bee management and beekeepers, and in doing so
establishes various enforcement mechanisms and penalties for
violations of the Act. (See Food & Agr. Code Sec. 29000 et
seq.)
According to various reports, in recent years, thieves have been
stealing commercial beehives, disrupting operations for
beekeepers and almond growers (which rely on pollination). For
example, an article from February of this year detailed how one
California beekeeping family discovered that 280 of their
beehives were missing as they were about to be moved into nearby
almond orchards-a loss estimated at $100,000, which includes
both pollination income and the overall value of the hives. That
same article detailed that about 240 beehives were stolen from
two other bee yards in Glenn County in January, and another 210
were stolen from a beekeeper in Kern County. (See Souza,
AgAlert, Beehive Thefts Add to Pressures at Bloom Time (Feb. 10,
2016)
Page 5
in all the way from the East Coast. As the pollinators
continue to die off each year, it's becoming harder and more
expensive to sustain important crops such as the almonds.
To make matters worse, counties in California are now
reporting that mass beehive thefts are on the rise. Butte
County Sheriff's Detective, Jay Freeman, says the bee hive
thefts have been "picking up this year" which "could be due to
the increased prices and pollination fees and also a shortage
of bees coming into California as well." At least a half dozen
thefts have been reported in Glenn, Kern, Colusa and Sutter
Counties. In Butte County, the thefts have become a big deal.
According to the Butte County Sheriff's Office, "information
that over 500 beehives have been reported stolen in two
separate incidents which took place in two neighboring
counties over the last two weeks." (Devon, Natural News,
Honeybee Populations Are Collapsing So Rapidly That Bee Hive
Thefts Are Now on the Rise (Feb. 19, 2016)
Page 6
without the consent of the owner or the person lawfully in
possession of those bees.
Comments
As stated by the author:
Bees pollinate some of California's most valuable crops, such
as almonds. Our farmers are struggling with a dwindling bee
population and increasing costs associated with crop
pollination. Beekeepers throughout the state are under a
tremendous amount of pressure to keep up with the demand for
pollination and to overcome many environmental circumstances
to maintain healthy bee hives. Bee hive thefts have been on
the rise this year, therefore now is the time to protect
beekeepers' property and to keep this segment of our
agricultural economy vibrant.
AB 2755 provides for civil damages of three times the value of
bees that are unlawfully taken, possessed, harbored, or
transported from their beehive. These civil damages [ . . . ]
will dis-incentivize the theft of bees and assist in restoring
the losses of bee keepers.
The sponsor of this bill, the California State Beekeepers
Association writes in support that "due to the increasing costs
and high demand for commercial hives, there has been a rash of
beehive thefts across the state. This problem has reached
epidemic levels. Since January 1, 2016, 1,734 hive thefts have
been reported to the California State Beekeepers Association.
The theft of 200 beehives might be a $36,000 loss up front, but
the damage is often three times worse, when growers factor in
what the bees could have made pollinating crops."
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:NoLocal: No
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SUPPORT: (Verified6/17/16)
California State Beekeepers Association (source)
California Citrus Mutual
California Farm Bureau Federation
Community Alliance with Family Farmers
Sierra Club California
OPPOSITION: (Verified6/17/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 4/28/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Dahle, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,
Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mayes, McCarty,
Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell,
Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Chávez, Daly, Mathis, Olsen
Prepared by:Ronak Daylami / JUD. / (916) 651-4113
6/17/16 15:03:48
**** END ****
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