republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-794.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal acts against law enforcement animals."
description: "Existing law makes it a crime punishable by a fine or imprisonment, or both, to willfully and maliciously and with no legal justification strike, beat, kick, cut, stab, shoot with a firearm, administer any poison or other harmful or stupefying substance to, or throw, hurl, or project at, or place any rock, object, or other substance which is used in such a manner as to be capable of producing injury and likely to produce injury, on or in the path of, a horse being used by, or any dog under the supervision of, any peace officer in the discharge or attempted discharge of his or her duties. Existing law also makes it a crime punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by both a fine and imprisonment, to willfully and maliciously and with no legal justification interfere with or obstruct a horse or dog being used by a peace officer in the discharge or attempted discharge of his or her duties by frightening, teasing, agitating, harassing, or hindering the horse or dog. Existing law requires a person who is convicted of a crime pursuant to these provisions to make restitution to the agency owning the animal and employing the peace officer for any veterinary bills, replacement costs of the animal if it is disabled or killed, and the salary of the peace officer for the period of time his or her services are lost to the agency."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 794"
citation: "California AB 794 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal acts against law enforcement animals."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Linder"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 21
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2015-02-25"
last_action: "2015-08-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e5c7417f-2998-4e4d-8e43-b77827a58a52"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB794"
source_hash: "0d42c17f39022d7b7ceb71794743ce32bac5eb7c1fb2c696422bea083bd513c0"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 794 (20152016) — Criminal acts against law enforcement animals.

Existing law makes it a crime punishable by a fine or imprisonment, or both, to willfully and maliciously and with no legal justification strike, beat, kick, cut, stab, shoot with a firearm, administer any poison or other harmful or stupefying substance to, or throw, hurl, or project at, or place any rock, object, or other substance which is used in such a manner as to be capable of producing injury and likely to produce injury, on or in the path of, a horse being used by, or any dog under the supervision of, any peace officer in the discharge or attempted discharge of his or her duties. Existing law also makes it a crime punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by both a fine and imprisonment, to willfully and maliciously and with no legal justification interfere with or obstruct a horse or dog being used by a peace officer in the discharge or attempted discharge of his or her duties by frightening, teasing, agitating, harassing, or hindering the horse or dog. Existing law requires a person who is convicted of a crime pursuant to these provisions to make restitution to the agency owning the animal and employing the peace officer for any veterinary bills, replacement costs of the animal if it is disabled or killed, and the salary of the peace officer for the period of time his or her services are lost to the agency.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/25/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB794&version=20150AB79499INT)
2. **04/08/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB794&version=20150AB79498AMD)
3. **08/13/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB794&version=20150AB79496CHP)
4. **AB794** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB794)
5. **07/08/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB794&version=20150AB79497ENR)

## Votes

- AB 794 LINDER Consent Calendar Second Day — **77–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass — **6–0** (pass) · upper
- Special Consent #4 — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Linder — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2015-02-25** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2015-02-26** From printer. May be heard in committee March 28.
- **2015-03-12** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-07** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2015-04-08** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on PUB. S. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-09** Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-15** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 14). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-22** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (April 22). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-23** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-04-30** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 1225.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-30** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2015-05-14** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-16** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 16). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-06-29** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 29). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-06-30** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-07-01** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2015-07-06** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1790.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-07-06** In Assembly. Ordered to Engrossing and Enrolling. `committee-passage`
- **2015-08-03** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2015-08-13** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-08-13** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 201, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e5c7417f-2998-4e4d-8e43-b77827a58a52`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).