Bill Text: CA AB829 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Chaptered

California Assembly Bill 829

Bill Title: Crime: animal abuse.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-10-08 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 546, Statutes of 2023. [AB829 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB829-Chaptered.html

Assembly Bill No. 829

CHAPTER 546

An act to amend Section 597 of, and to add Section 600.8 to, the Penal Code, relating to crime.

[ Approved by Governor October 08, 2023. Filed with Secretary of State October 08, 2023. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 829, Waldron. Crime: animal abuse.

Existing law makes it a crime to maliciously and intentionally maim, mutilate, torture, wound, or kill a living animal. If a defendant is granted probation for a conviction of this offense, existing law requires the court to order the defendant to complete counseling designed to evaluate and treat behavior or conduct disorders.

This bill would delete the requirement that a defendant granted probation complete counseling and would, instead, require the court to order a defendant convicted of specified offenses, including the above-described offense, against animals and granted probation to successfully complete counseling designed to evaluate and treat behavior or conduct disorders. The bill would require the court to consider whether to order the defendant to undergo a mental health evaluation by an evaluator chosen by the court. Upon evaluation, if the evaluating mental health professional deems a higher level of treatment is necessary, the bill would require the defendant to complete such treatment as directed by the court. The bill would generally require the defendant to pay for counseling, the mental health evaluation, and subsequent treatment but would exempt a person who meets specified criteria from paying any costs and would otherwise authorize the court to establish a sliding fee schedule based on the defendant’s ability to pay. The bill would additionally make records related to this evaluation and treatment confidential, as specified.

By requiring local government to offer counseling as part of a defendants’ probation for a conviction of specified offenses, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

The California Constitution provides for the Right to Truth-In-Evidence, which requires a ²/₃ vote of the Legislature to exclude any relevant evidence from any criminal proceeding, as specified.

By excluding relevant evidence from a criminal proceeding, this bill would require a ²/₃ vote of the Legislature.

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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Vote: 2/3 Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YES

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

SECTION 1.

This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Animal Cruelty and Violence Intervention Act of 2023.

SEC. 2.

Section 597 of the Penal Code is amended to read:

597.

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (c) of this section or Section 599c, 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), a person who overdrives, overloads, drives when overloaded, overworks, tortures, torments, deprives of necessary sustenance, drink, or shelter, cruelly beats, mutilates, or cruelly kills an animal, or causes or procures 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 an animal, either as owner or otherwise, subjects an animal to needless suffering, or inflicts unnecessary cruelty upon the animal, or in any manner abuses 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) A person who maliciously and intentionally maims, mutilates, or tortures a mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, or fish, as described in subdivision (e), is guilty of a crime punishable pursuant to subdivision (d).

(d) 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.

(e) (1) Subdivision (c) applies to a mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, or fish that is a creature described as follows:

(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.

(B) Fully protected birds described in Section 3511 of the Fish and Game Code.

(C) Fully protected mammals described in Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 4700) of Part 3 of Division 4 of the Fish and Game Code.

(D) Fully protected reptiles and amphibians described in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 5050) of Division 5 of the Fish and Game Code.

(E) Fully protected fish as described in Section 5515 of the Fish and Game Code.

(2) This subdivision does not supersede or affect any 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 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 an animal shelter 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.

SEC. 3.

Section 600.8 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

600.8.

(a) For a defendant who is granted probation for an offense specified in subdivision (d), the court shall order the defendant to successfully complete counseling, as determined by the court, designed to evaluate and treat behavior or conduct disorders, unless the defendant is ordered to complete treatment as specified in subdivision (b).

(b) The court shall consider whether to order the convicted person to undergo a mental health evaluation by an evaluator chosen by the court. Upon evaluation, if the evaluating mental health professional deems a higher level of treatment than described in subdivision (a) is necessary, the defendant shall complete such treatment as directed by the court.

(c) Counseling or mental health evaluations and any subsequent treatment described in subdivisions (a) and (b) shall be paid for by the defendant. The court shall determine the defendant’s ability to pay. If the court finds that the defendant is financially unable to pay, the court may develop a sliding fee schedule based on the defendant’s ability to pay. A person who meets the criteria set forth in Section 68632 of the Government Code shall not be responsible for any costs. The counseling specified in this section shall be in addition to any other terms and conditions of probation, including any term of imprisonment and fine.

(d) This section applies to a conviction for any of the following offenses:

(1) Section 286.5.

(2) Section 596.

(3) Section 597.

(4) Section 597.1.

(5) Section 600.5.

(e) A finding that the defendant suffers from a mental disorder, and any progress reports concerning the defendant’s treatment, or any other records created pursuant to this section, shall be confidential and shall not be released or used in connection with any civil or criminal proceeding without the defendant’s consent.

SEC. 4.

The Legislature finds and declares that Section 3 of this act, which adds Section 600.8 to the Penal Code, imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:

In order to protect the privacy of defendants with respect to mental health evaluations and treatment, it is necessary that records of those evaluations and that treatment remain confidential.

SEC. 5.

If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.