BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 703|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 445-6614 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 703
Author: Florez (D), et al
Amended: 8/18/04
Vote: 21
ALL SENATE VOTES NOT RELEVANT
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 8/25/04 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Grand theft: diesel fuel
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This is a new bill. As this bill left the
Senate, it declared the intent of the Legislature to
establish cost-effective agricultural and water pumping
electricity rate schedules that are competitive with diesel
rates to prevent additional conversions of agricultural
irrigation pumps to diesel-driven engines. Those
provisions were deleted in the Assembly.
As amended, this bill specifies that grand theft is
committed when diesel fuel of a value exceeding $100 is
taken from agricultural property.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. States that every person who takes steals or drives away
the personal property of another is guilty of theft.
CONTINUED
SB 703
Page
2
2. Provides that when the value of the property taken is
over $400, the taking constitutes grand theft.
3. States that notwithstanding the value, grand theft is
committed in the following cases:
A. When domestic fowls, avocados, olives, citrus and
other specified farm crops of a value exceeding $100
are taken.
B. When fish, shellfish, mollusks, crustaceans, kelp,
algae or other aquacultural products are taken from a
commercial or research operation, of a value
exceeding $100.
C. When the money, labor real or personal property is
taken by a servant, agent or employee from his or her
principal and aggregates $400 or more in any 12-month
period.
D. When the property is taken from the person of
another.
E. When the property taken is any of the following:
(1) an automobile, horse, mare, gelding, any bovine
animal, any caprine animal, mule, jack, jenny, sheep,
lamb, hog, sow, boar, gilt, barrow, or pig, or (2) a
firearm.
F. When the property taken is the carcass of
specified animals, which was misappropriated or
killed without the consent of the owner.
G. Conversion of real estate of the value of $100 or
more into personal property by severance from the
realty of another person.
H. Taking or stealing of a dog of another person of a
value exceeding $400.
4. Provides that all other theft is petty theft.
This bill increases the penalties for theft of diesel fuel
SB 703
Page
3
from agricultural property. Specifically, this bill makes
the theft of diesel fuel from agricultural property of a
value exceeding $100 a grand theft, an alternate
felony/misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the state
prison for 16 months, two or three years or in the county
jail not exceeding one year.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/25/04)
California Farm Bureau Federation
Kern County Sheriff's Department
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the California Farm
Bureau Federation, fuel theft in the San Joaquin Valley has
quadrupled over the past year. Statistics from the
Agricultural Crime Technology Information and Operations
Network show that in an eight-county radius including
Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Fresno, Kern and
Kings Counties, the amount of diesel fuel theft has gone up
from 33,380 gallons in 2003 to 41,065 gallons between
January and April 2004. The overall number of thefts
reported has risen from 26 in the entire 2003 calendar year
to 47 in just the first four months of this year. The
network has already recorded over $82,000 worth of diesel
fuel stolen in 2004, a 100 percent increase over last year.
The Kern County Sheriff's Department has stated that the
recent rise in diesel fuel prices is one of many factors
causing the increase in farm diesel thefts. Stolen diesel
from farms is resold to truckers on the black market for a
cheaper price, costing farmers tens of thousands of dollars
each year.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Aghazarian, Bates, Benoit, Berg, Bermudez, Bogh,
Calderon, Campbell, Canciamilla, Chan, Chavez, Chu,
Cogdill, Cohn, Corbett, Correa, Cox, Daucher, Diaz,
Dutra, Dutton, Dymally, Firebaugh, Frommer, Garcia,
Goldberg, Hancock, Harman, Haynes, Jerome Horton, Shirley
Horton, Houston, Jackson, Keene, Kehoe, La Malfa, La
SB 703
Page
4
Suer, Laird, Leno, Leslie, Levine, Lieber, Liu,
Longville, Lowenthal, Maddox, Maldonado, Matthews, Maze,
McCarthy, Montanez, Mountjoy, Mullin, Nakanishi, Nakano,
Nation, Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, Pacheco, Parra, Pavley,
Plescia, Reyes, Richman, Ridley-Thomas, Runner, Salinas,
Samuelian, Simitian, Spitzer, Steinberg, Strickland,
Vargas, Wesson, Wiggins, Wolk, Wyland, Yee, Nunez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Koretz
RJG:mel 8/26/04 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****