Bill Text: CA AB2824 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 2824

Bill Title: Battery: public transportation provider.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-04-23 - In committee: Hearing postponed by committee. [AB2824 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB2824-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly March 21, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2824

Introduced by Assembly Member McCarty

February 15, 2024

An act to amend Section 243.3 of the Penal Code, relating to crimes.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2824, as amended, McCarty. ~~Battery.~~ Battery: public transportation provider.

Existing law provides that when a battery is committed against the person of an operator, driver, or passenger on a bus, taxicab, streetcar, cable car, trackless trolley, or other motor vehicle, as specified, and the person who commits the offense knows or reasonably should know that the victim is engaged in the performance of their duties, the penalty is imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, a fine not exceeding $10,000, or both the fine and imprisonment. Existing law also provides that if the victim is injured, the offense would be punished by a fine not exceeding $10,000, by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year or in the state prison for 16 months, 2, or 3 years, or by both that fine and imprisonment.

~~This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this provision.~~
This bill would expand this crime to apply to an employee or contractor of a public transportation provider. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, 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.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NOYES Local Program: NOYES

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 243.3 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

243.3.

When a battery is committed against the person of an operator, driver, or passenger on a bus, taxicab, streetcar, cable car, trackless trolley, or other motor vehicle, including a vehicle operated on stationary rails or on a track or rail suspended in the air, used for the transportation of persons for hire, or against a schoolbus driver, or against the person of a station agent or ticket agent for the entity providing the transportation, or against an employee or contractor of a public transportation provider as defined in Section 243.35, and the person who commits the offense knows or reasonably should know that the victim, in the case of an operator, driver, or agent, employee, or contractor, is engaged in the performance of their duties, or is a passenger, the offense shall be punished by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. If an injury is inflicted on that victim, the offense shall be punished by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year or in the state prison for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years, or by both that fine and imprisonment.

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.