BILL NUMBER: AB 2580	CHAPTERED  09/20/00

	CHAPTER   546
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 20, 2000
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   SEPTEMBER 18, 2000
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   AUGUST 22, 2000
	PASSED THE SENATE   AUGUST 18, 2000
	AMENDED IN SENATE   JUNE 19, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 24, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 4, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Cox
   (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Dickerson)

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2000

   An act to repeal Section 8101 of the Health and Safety Code, and
to amend Section 594.3 of, and to add Section 594.35 to the Penal
Code, relating to vandalism.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2580, Cox.  Vandalism:  cemeteries and places of worship.
   (1) Existing law provides that a person is guilty of a felony or a
misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the state prison or by
imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed one year who
maliciously commits specified acts relating to the destruction or
mutilation of cemetery graves and markers.
   This bill would transfer this provision from the Health and Safety
Code to the Penal Code.
   (2) Existing law provides that any person who knowingly commits
any act of vandalism to a church, synagogue, building owned and
occupied by a religious educational institution, or other place
primarily used as a place of worship where religious services are
regularly conducted is guilty of a crime punishable by imprisonment
in a state prison or by imprisonment in the county jail for not
exceeding one year.
   Existing law further provides that any person who knowingly
commits any act of vandalism to a church, synagogue, building owned
and occupied by a religious educational institution, or other place
primarily used as a place of worship where religious services are
regularly conducted, which is shown to have been committed by reason
of the race, color, religion, or national origin of another
individual or group of individuals and to have been committed for the
purpose of intimidating and deterring persons from freely exercising
their religious beliefs, is guilty of a felony punishable by
imprisonment in the state prison.
   This bill would make both of these provisions applicable to acts
of vandalism to a cemetery.
   By creating new crimes, 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.


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


  SECTION 1.  Section 8101 of the Health and Safety Code is repealed.

  SEC. 2.  Section 594.3 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
   594.3.  (a) Any person who knowingly commits any act of vandalism
to a church, synagogue, building owned and occupied by a religious
educational institution, or other place primarily used as a place of
worship where religious services are regularly conducted or a
cemetery is guilty of a crime punishable by imprisonment in the state
prison or by imprisonment in the county jail for not exceeding one
year.
   (b) Any person who knowingly commits any act of vandalism to a
church, synagogue, building owned and occupied by a religious
educational institution, or other place primarily used as a place of
worship where religious services are regularly conducted or a
cemetery, which is shown to have been committed by reason of the
race, color, religion, or national origin of another individual or
group of individuals and to have been committed for the purpose of
intimidating and deterring persons from freely exercising their
religious beliefs, is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment
in the state prison.
  SEC. 3.  Section 594.35 is added to the Penal Code, to read:
   594.35.  Every person is guilty of a crime and punishable by
imprisonment in the state prison or by imprisonment in a county jail
for not exceeding one year, who maliciously does any of the
following:
   (a) Destroys, cuts, mutilates, effaces, or otherwise injures,
tears down, or removes any tomb, monument, memorial, or marker in a
cemetery, or any gate, door, fence, wall, post or railing, or any
inclosure for the protection of a cemetery or mortuary or any
property in a cemetery or mortuary.
   (b) Obliterates any grave, vault, niche, or crypt.
   (c) Destroys, cuts, breaks or injures any mortuary building or any
building, statuary, or ornamentation within the limits of a
cemetery.
   (d) Disturbs, obstructs, detains or interferes with any person
carrying or accompanying human remains to a cemetery or funeral
establishment, or engaged in a funeral service, or an interment.
  SEC. 4.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIIIB 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 XIIIB of the California Constitution.