BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 561
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 22, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                 AB 561 (Carter) - As Introduced:  February 25, 2009 

          Policy Committee:                              Public  
          SafetyVote:  7-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill revises the definition of highway worker, for purposes  
          of determining enhanced assault and battery penalties on highway  
          workers, to include employees of a city or county who perform  
          maintenance or construction on local streets and roads  
          infrastructure. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)No direct state cost. 

          2)Unknown nonreimbursable local incarceration costs, offset to a  
            degree by increased fine revenue. 

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . The author contends that local street and road  
            construction and maintenance workers merit additional  
            protection from a perceived increase in motorist impatience,  
            aggressive driving, and road rage when workers are blamed by  
            irate motorists as the cause of traffic congestion and delay. 

           2)Current assault and battery law  is, a "a confounding plethora"  
            and "tangled patchwork" as noted by the Senate Public Safety  
            Committee in an analysis of SB 1509 (Lowenthal, Statutes of  
            2008), which increased the penalty for assault or for battery  
            committed against a highway worker engaged in the performance  
            of his or her duties from a fine of up to $1,000 and/or up to  
            six months in county jail, to a fine of up to $2,000 and/or up  
            to one year in county jail. 









                                                                  AB 561
                                                                  Page  2

            In short, however, simple assault (in which great bodily  
            injury is not likely to occur) is a misdemeanor, punishable by  
            up to six months in county jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000.  

          and simple battery (battery not causing injury requiring medical  
            attention), is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months  
            in county jail and/or a fine of up to $2,000.

            If the victim of a simple assault is a custodial officer,  
            traffic officer, firefighter, EMT, physician or nurse  
            providing emergency care, lifeguard, process server, traffic  
            officer, code enforcement officer, or animal control officer  
            engaged in the performance of his or her duties, the crime is  
            punishable by up to one year in county jail and/or a fine of  
            up to $2,000. 

            If the victim of a simple battery is a traffic control  
            officer, code enforcement officer, peace officer, custodial  
            officer, firefighter, EMT, emergency physician, lifeguard,  
            process server, or animal control officer engaged in the  
            performance of his or her duties, whether on or off duty,  
            including when the peace officer is in a police uniform, or a  
            nonsworn employee of a probation department engaged in the  
            performance of his or her duties, whether on or off duty, or a  
            physician or nurse engaged in rendering emergency medical care  
            outside a hospital, clinic, or other health care facility,  
            school employee, senior, or domestic violence victim, the  
            crime is punishable by up to one year in county jail and/or a  
            fine of up to $2,000.
           
           

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081