BILL NUMBER: AB 140 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Hertzberg
JANUARY 11, 1999
An act to add Article 4.6 (commencing with Section 11415) to
Chapter 3 of Title 1 of Part 4 the Penal Code, relating to terrorism.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 140, as introduced, Hertzberg. Prevention of terrorism.
Existing law proscribes various acts of terrorism.
This bill would enact the California Prevention of Terrorism Act
to make it a crime for any person, with specified exceptions, to
possess, develop, manufacture, produce, transfer, acquire, or retain
any weapon of mass destruction, as defined, or a delivery system for
enabling its use. The bill would also penalize the use of a weapon
of mass destruction against a person, an animal, the food or water
supply, or the environment. With specified exceptions, the bill
would furthermore make it a crime to possess restricted biological
agents, as defined. The bill would require a peace officer who
encounters any of the restricted biological agents to immediately
consult with a local public health officer for specified purposes.
By creating new crimes and expanding the duties of local peace
officers and public health officers, 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, including the creation of a State Mandates Claims Fund
to pay the costs of mandates that do not exceed $1,000,000 statewide
and other procedures for claims whose statewide costs exceed
$1,000,000.
This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no
reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that,
if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains
costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall
be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Article 4.6 (commencing with Section 11415) is added to
Chapter 3 of Title 1 of Part 4 of the Penal Code, to read:
Article 4.6. California Prevention of Terrorism Act
11415. This article shall be known and may be cited as the
California Prevention of Terrorism Act.
11416. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the threat
of terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction, including, but
not limited to, chemical, biological, nuclear, or radiological
agents, is a significant public safety concern. The Legislature also
recognizes that terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction
could result in an intentional disaster placing residents of
California in great peril. The Legislature also finds it necessary
to sanction the possession, manufacture, use, or threatened use of
chemical, biological, nuclear, or radiological weapons, as well as
the intentional use or threatened use of industrial or commercial
chemicals as weapons against persons or animals.
11417. (a) For the purposes of this article, the following terms
have the following meanings:
(1) "Weapon of mass destruction" includes chemical warfare agents,
biological warfare agents, nuclear agents, or radiological agents,
the intentional release of industrial agents as a weapon, or any
destructive device or explosive in excess of five pounds or 2.26
kilograms. "Weapon of mass destruction" does not include the
development, production, transfer, acquisition, retention, or
possession of any biological agent, toxin, or delivery system
utilized for prophylactic, protective, or peaceful purposes by any
university, research institution, private individual, or hospital
which is registered with the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) pursuant to Part 113 (commencing with Section 113.1)
of Subchapter E of Chapter 1 of Title 9 of the Code of Federal
Regulations, or any successor provisions.
(2) "Chemical agents" includes, but is not limited to, the
following nerve agents:
(A) Tabun (GA).
(B) Sarin (GB).
(C) Soman (GD), GF, and VX.
(D) Choking Agents.
(E) Phosgene (CG) and Diphosgene (DP).
(F) Blood Agents.
(G) Hydrogen Cyanide (AC), Cyanogen Chloride (CK), Arsine (SA).
(H) Blister Agents, including mustards (H, HD (sulfur mustard),
HN-1, HN-2, HN-3 (nitrogen mustard)), arsenicals, such as Lewisite
(L), urticants, such as CX; and incapacitating agents, such as BZ, or
any analog of these agents.
(3) "Biological or biologic agents" includes pathogens, such as
bacteria, viruses, rickettsia, yeasts, fungi, or genetically
engineered pathogens, toxins, and endogenous biological regulators
(EBRs). "Biological or biologic agents" include any microorganism,
virus, or infectious substance capable of causing deleterious changes
in the environment; damaging food, water, or equipment supplies; or
causing diseases, death, or biological malfunction in humans, plants,
or other living organisms.
(4) "Nuclear or radiological agents" includes any improvised
nuclear device (IND) which is any explosive device designed to cause
a nuclear yield; any radiological dispersal device (RDD) which is any
explosive device utilized to spread radioactive material; or a
simple radiological dispersal device (SRDD) which is any act or
container designed to release radiological material as a weapon
without an explosion.
(b) The intentional release of a dangerous chemical or hazardous
material generally utilized in an industrial or commercial process
shall be considered use of a weapon of mass destruction when a person
knowingly utilizes those agents with the intent to cause harm and
the use places persons or animals at risk of serious injury, illness,
or death, or endangers the environment.
(c) The knowing synthesis, deployment, use, or possession of any
destructive device or explosive in excess of five pounds or 22.6
kilograms, or the knowing possession of the components necessary to
make the destructive device or explosive, with the intent to cause
injury or death, shall be considered use of a weapon of mass
destruction. The lawful use of chemicals for legitimate industrial,
agricultural, or commercial purposes is not proscribed by this
article.
11418. (a) Any person, without lawful authority, who possesses,
develops, manufactures, produces, transfers, acquires, or retains any
weapon of mass destruction, or a deliver system for enabling its
use, shall be guilty of a felony punishable in the state prison for
8, 10, or 12 years, provided that any person who has been previously
convicted of Section 11411, 11412, 11413, 11460, 12303.1, 12303.2, or
12303.3 shall be punished in the state prison for a period of 16,
20, or 24 years.
(b) (1) Any person who uses or directly employs a weapon of mass
destruction against another person shall be punished by life in
prison. If a human death or serious injury results no parole shall
be available.
(2) Any person who uses a weapon of mass destruction against the
water or food supply shall be punished by life in the state prison.
(3) Any person who maliciously uses a weapon of mass destruction
against animals or to knowingly cause harm to the environment shall
be punished by a fine of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000),
imprisonment in the state prison for 4, 8, or 12 years, or both.
(c) Any person who knowingly threatens, attempts to develop, or
use a chemical, biological, nuclear or radiological weapon, or who
uses recombinant technology or any other biological advance to create
new pathogens or more virulent forms of existing pathogens for those
purposes, shall be punished by a fine of two hundred fifty thousand
dollars ($250,000), imprisonment in the state prison for 4, 8, or 12
years, or both.
11419. (a) (1) Any person or entity possessing any of the
restricted biological agents enumerated in paragraph (b) shall be
punished by a fine of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000),
imprisonment in the state prison for 4, 8, or 12 years, or both.
(2) Any university, research institution, private company, or
individual registered with the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) pursuant to Part 113 (commencing with Section 113.1)
of Subchapter E of Chapter 1 of Title 9 of the Code of Federal
Regulations, or any successor provisions, shall not be subject to
this section.
(b) For the purposes of this section, "restricted biological
agents" means the following:
(1) Viruses: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, eastern
equine encephalitis virus, ebola viruses, equine morbillivirus, lassa
fever virus, marburg virus, Rift Valley fever virus, South African
hemorrhagic fever viruses (Junin, Machupo, Sabia, Flexal, Guanarito),
tick-borne encephalitis complex viruses, variola major virus
(smallpox virus), Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, viruses
causing hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, yellow fever virus.
(2) Bacteria: bacillus anthracis (commonly known as anthrax),
brucella abortus, brucella melitensis, brucella suis, burkholderia
(pseudomonas) mallei, burkholderia (pseudomonas) pseudomallei,
clostridium botulinum, francisella tularensis, yersinia pestis
(commonly known as plague).
(3) Rickettsiae: coxiella burnetii, rickettsia prowazekii,
rickettsia rickettsii.
(4) Fungi: coccidioides immitis.
(5) Toxins: abrin, aflatoxins, botulinum toxins, clostridium
perfringens epsilon toxin, conotoxins, diacetoxyscirpenol, ricin,
saxitoxin, shigatoxin, staphylococcal enterotoxins, tetrodotoxin, T-2
toxin.
(c) (1) This section shall not apply to any physician,
veterinarian, pharmacist, or licensed medical practitioner authorized
to dispense a prescription under Section 11026 of the Health and
Safety Code, or universities, research institutions, or
pharmaceutical corporations, or any person possessing the agents
pursuant to a lawful prescription issued by a person defined in
Section 11026 of the Health and Safety Code, if the person possesses
vaccine strains of the viral agents Junin virus strain #1, Rift
Valley fever virus strain MP-12, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus
strain TC-83 and yellow fever virus strain 17-D; any vaccine strain
described in Section 78.1 of Subpart A of Part 78 of Subchapter C of
Chapter 1 of Title 9 of the Code of Federal Regulations, or any
successor provisions, and any toxin for medical use, inactivated for
use as vaccines, or toxin preparation for biomedical research use at
a median lethal dose for vertebrates of more than 100 ng/kg, as well
as any national standard toxin required for biologic potency testing
as described in Part 113 (commencing with Section 113.1) of
Subchapter E of Chapter 1 of Title 9 of the Code of Federal
Regulations, or any successor provisions.
(2) For the purposes of this section, no person shall be deemed to
be in possession of an agent if the person is naturally exposed to,
or innocently infected or contaminated with, the agent.
(d) Any peace officer who encounters any of the restricted agents
mentioned above shall immediately consult with a local public health
officer to ensure proper consideration of any public health risk,
identify public health and disease control hazards, and initiate any
necessary public health response.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution for certain
costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district
because in that regard 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.
However, notwithstanding Section 17610 of the Government Code, if
the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains
other 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. If the statewide cost of the claim for
reimbursement does not exceed one million dollars ($1,000,000),
reimbursement shall be made from the State Mandates Claims Fund.
Notwithstanding Section 17580 of the Government Code, unless
otherwise specified, the provisions of this act shall become
operative on the same date that the act takes effect pursuant to the
California Constitution.