BILL ANALYSIS
SB 237
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Date of Hearing: July 9, 2001
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
John Dutra, Chair
SB 237 (Vincent) - As Amended: July 16, 2001
SENATE VOTE : 31-3
SUBJECT : Streets and highways: abandoned animals
SUMMARY : This bill establishes new measures to address the
problem of abandoned animals on the state's highways.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the placement of roadside signs relating to the
illegal abandonment or dumping of animals.
2)Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to include,
within the California Driver's Handbook, language regarding
the abandonment and/or dumping of animals.
3)Requires DMV to include one question relative to the dumping
or abandonment of animals
on the drivers license test on a rotational basis.
EXISTING LAW requires the Department of Transportation
(Caltrans) and local authorities in their respective
jurisdictions, to place and maintain, or cause to be placed and
maintained, appropriate signs, signals, and other traffic
control devices. Under various provisions of existing law, the
abandonment of animals is prohibited and penalties are imposed.
For example, existing law provides that any person who willfully
abandons any animal is guilty of a misdemeanor. In addition,
Penal Code Sec. 597f and 597.1 further provide that any "owner,
driver, or possessor of any animal, who permits an animal to be
without proper care and attention, is guilty of a misdemeanor."
Lastly, Vehicle Code Sec. 22520 (d) prohibits any vehicle from
making a non-emergency stop on a freeway.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : Despite penalties and prohibitions addressing the
problem of abandonment of unwanted animals, such abandonment
continues to impact the state's citizens, highways, and law
enforcement agencies.
SB 237
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Traffic accident statistics from the California Highway Patrol
(CHP) show a rather significant number of animal-involved
traffic accidents in the state, 1990-1999 (total injuries and
fatalities were 38, 828). These figures reflect all
animal-involved accidents, including farm and wild animals, and
not just simply incidents involving unwanted and abandoned
family pet animals. In addition, a number of these traffic
accidents occur in more rural areas of the state where traffic
congestion is not an issue.
This bill requires Caltrans to place and maintain on each major
highway entering the state, within 500 feet of the state line, a
sign stating that the abandonment or dumping of any animal is a
crime punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or by confinement in
a county jail of up to six months, or both. This, coupled with
the bill's other provisions referencing abandonment of animals
in DMV's California Drivers Handbook and requiring a question on
the state's driver's license test on this same issue, is
arguably a reasonable approach to a very real problem.
According to proponents, the problem of unwanted and abandoned
animals is widespread and costly, resulting in the euthanising
of an estimated four to five million of abandoned animals
annually in the U.S., many of them healthy and adoptable. While
many of these animals are given over directly or eventually make
it to animal control facilities for adoption or disposal, an
untold number are simply abandoned on the public roadways, where
they face injury, starvation, and can become a public nuisance
and public safety issue. In addition, these animals can, in
some instances, adversely affect the balance of nature and
detrimentally impact endangered species.
The Sacramento Bee, in a recent article on unwanted animals,
discussed "a nationwide movement known as animal rescue, a field
that has seen thousands of groups crop up in the past decade to
play a key role in addressing the all-but-insurmountable problem
of pet neglect and overpopulation, a crisis that many animal
advocates see as the nation's hidden shame." Commenting on the
traffic safety issue of this problem, the sponsor of this
measure, Animal Issues Movement, has noted that "(u)nwanted
animals dumped on freeways create a serious danger to motorists,
requiring stops or swerving to avoid them as they run across
lanes of moving traffic. This often causes serious
multiple-vehicle accidents and frequently results in freeways
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being shut down for substantial periods to clear them of stray
or dead animals. These incidents are not just hazardous to
motorists, they are costly and also dangerous for law
enforcement personnel, animal control, and Department of
Transportation employees."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Animal Issues Movement (sponsor)
Actors and Others for Animals
Avis Rent a Car System, Inc.
Bob Barker Productions, Inc.
California Animal Control Directors' Association
California Federation for Animal Legislation
California Turtle & Tortoise Club
Contra Costa Humane Society
Driving School Association of California
Friends of the Long Beach Animal Shelter
Humane Society of the United States
Los Angeles County
Neighborhood Networks and Animal Watch
Political Animals ROAR
SEAACA
The Ark Trust, Inc.
United Activists for Animal Rights
United Activists for Animal Rights
Various California citizens
SB 237
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Opposition
None received
Analysis Prepared by : Joseph Furtado / TRANS. / (916)
319-2093