Bill Text: CA SB769 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

---

Bill Title: Mountain lions: display, exhibition, or storage.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2011-09-30 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 388, Statutes of 2011. [SB769 Detail]

Download: California-2011-SB769-Amended.html

---

BILL NUMBER: SB 769	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 25, 2011
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MARCH 25, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Fuller
    (   Principal coauthor:   Assembly Member
  Huffman   ) 

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2011

   An act to amend Section 4800 of the Fish and Game Code, relating
to mountain lions, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 769, as amended, Fuller. Mountain lions: display or exhibition.

   Proposition 117, an initiative measure approved by the electors at
the June 5, 1990, primary election, enacted the California Wildlife
Protection Act of 1990. The act establishes  that  the
mountain lion  (genus Felis)  is a specially
protected mammal under the laws of this state, and makes it unlawful
to take, injure, possess, transport, import, or sell any mountain
lion or any part or product thereof. The act establishes certain
exemptions from that prohibition, including exemptions for zoos and
bona fide scientific institutions  under certain circumstances
 . The act prohibits the Legislature from changing the act, with
specified exceptions, except by a 4/5 vote of the membership of both
houses of the Legislature and then only if consistent with, and in
furtherance of, the purposes of the act.
   This bill would establish an exemption for the possession 
or sale  of a mountain lion carcass or any part or product
 thereof, not taken in violation of the act, prepared for
display or exhibition for a bona fide scientific or educational
purpose   of a mountain lion carcass, if the carcass or
carcass part or product is prepared or being prepared for display or
exhibition, for a bona fide scientific or education purpose, at a
nonprofit or government-owned museum generally open to the  
public or at an educational institution, if the mountain lion was
taken in California consistent with the requirements of the act and
any other applicable law and was provided to the museum or
educational institution by the department  . The bill would find
and declare that the amendments made by the bill are consistent
with, and further the purposes of, the act.
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
   Vote: 4/5. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 4800 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to
read:
   4800.  (a) The mountain lion (genus  Felis)  
Puma)  is a specially protected mammal under the laws of this
state.
   (b)  (1)    It is unlawful to take, injure,
possess, transport, import, or sell any mountain lion or any part or
product thereof, except as specifically provided in this chapter or
in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 2116) of Division 3. 
This 
    (2)     This  chapter does not
prohibit the sale or possession of any mountain lion or any part or
product thereof, when the owner can demonstrate that the mountain
lion, or part or product thereof, was in the person's possession on
June 6, 1990.  This chapter does not prohibit the possession
or sale of a mountain lion carcass or any part or product thereof,
not taken in violation of this chapter, prepared for display or
exhibition for a bona fide scientific or educational purpose.
 
   (3) This chapter does not prohibit the possession of a mountain
lion carcass or any part or product of a mountain lion carcass, if
all of the following requirements are met:  
   (A) The carcass or carcass part or product is prepared or being
prepared for display or exhibition, for a bona fide scientific or
education purpose, at a nonprofit or government-owned museum
generally open to the public or at an educational institution,
including a public or private postsecondary institution.  
   (B) The mountain lion was taken in California consistent with the
requirements of this chapter and any other applicable law and was
provided to the museum or educational institution by the department.

   (c) Any violation of this section is a misdemeanor punishable by
imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or a fine
of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both that
fine and imprisonment. An individual is not guilty of a violation of
this section if it is demonstrated that, in taking or injuring a
mountain lion, the individual was acting in self-defense or in
defense of others.
   (d) Section 219 does not apply to this chapter. Neither the
commission nor the department shall adopt any regulation that
conflicts with or supersedes any of the provisions of this chapter.
  SEC. 2.  The Legislature finds and declares that the amendments
made by this act to Section 4800 of the Fish and Game Code are
consistent with, and further the purposes of, the California Wildlife
Protection Act of 1990.
  SEC. 3.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to allow museums or other educational or scientific
institutions to display or exhibit mountain lion carcasses or parts
thereof for a bona fide scientific or educational purpose as soon as
possible, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.