Bill Text: CA SB1242 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Crimes: fires.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-0)
Status: (Passed) 2024-08-16 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 173, Statutes of 2024. [SB1242 Detail]
Download: California-2023-SB1242-Chaptered.html
Senate Bill
No. 1242
CHAPTER 173
An act to amend Section 452 of the Penal Code, relating to crimes.
[
Approved by
Governor
August 16, 2024.
Filed with
Secretary of State
August 16, 2024.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1242, Min.
Crimes: fires.
Existing law prohibits unlawfully causing a fire by recklessly setting fire to, burning, or causing to be burned, any structure, forest land, or property. A violation of this prohibition is punishable as either a misdemeanor or a felony.
This bill would, for the purposes of sentencing for a violation of these provisions, make it a factor in aggravation that the offense was carried out within a merchant’s premises in order to facilitate organized retail theft. By increasing the punishment for a 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.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 452 of the Penal Code is amended to read:452.
A person is guilty of unlawfully causing a fire when they recklessly set fire to, burn, or cause to be burned any structure, forest land, or property.(a) Unlawfully causing a fire that causes great bodily injury is a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, four, or six years, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine, or by both such imprisonment and fine.
(b) Unlawfully causing a fire that causes an inhabited structure or inhabited property to burn is a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years, or by
imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine, or by both such imprisonment and fine.
(c) Unlawfully causing a fire of a structure or forest land is a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, two or three years, or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six months, or by a fine, or by both such imprisonment and fine.
(d) Unlawfully causing a fire of property is a misdemeanor. For purposes of this paragraph, unlawfully causing a fire of property does not include one burning or causing to be burned their own personal property unless there is injury to another person or to another person’s structure, forest land, or property.
(e) In the case of any person
convicted of violating this section while confined in a state prison, prison road camp, prison forestry camp, or other prison camp or prison farm, or while confined in a county jail while serving a term of imprisonment for a felony or misdemeanor conviction, any sentence imposed shall be consecutive to the sentence for which the person was then confined.
(f) For purposes of sentencing for a violation of this section, the fact that the offense was carried out within a merchant’s premises in order to facilitate organized retail theft, as defined in Section 490.4, shall be a factor in aggravation.
