republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/sb-1221.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Mammals: use of dogs to pursue bears and bobcats."
description: "Existing law makes it unlawful to permit or allow a dog to pursue any big game mammal, as defined, during the closed season, or any fully protected, rare, or endangered mammal at any time. Existing law authorizes employees of the Department of Fish and Game to capture any dog not under the reasonable control of its owner or handler, that is in violation of that provision, or that is inflicting, or immediately threatening to inflict, injury in violation of this provision. Existing law generally prohibits a person from using dogs to hunt, pursue, or molest bears,, but allows the use of one dog per hunter for the hunting of bears during open deer season, and the use of more than one dog per hunter during the open bear season except during the period when archery deer seasons or regular deer seasons are open. Under existing law, except as excluded, violations of the Fish and Game Code are misdemeanors."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "SB 1221"
citation: "California SB 1221 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Mammals: use of dogs to pursue bears and bobcats."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Lieu"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 25
vote_count: 10
first_action: "2012-02-23"
last_action: "2012-09-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/cec741f4-029a-4d1e-a76d-7c3d40e23918"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1221"
source_hash: "367997525410f6ed18b2aa9d10bc1b0e74d3d95404d72f74af6bcffe56b369bd"
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 SB 1221 (20112012) — Mammals: use of dogs to pursue bears and bobcats.

Existing law makes it unlawful to permit or allow a dog to pursue any big game mammal, as defined, during the closed season, or any fully protected, rare, or endangered mammal at any time. Existing law authorizes employees of the Department of Fish and Game to capture any dog not under the reasonable control of its owner or handler, that is in violation of that provision, or that is inflicting, or immediately threatening to inflict, injury in violation of this provision. Existing law generally prohibits a person from using dogs to hunt, pursue, or molest bears,, but allows the use of one dog per hunter for the hunting of bears during open deer season, and the use of more than one dog per hunter during the open bear season except during the period when archery deer seasons or regular deer seasons are open. Under existing law, except as excluded, violations of the Fish and Game Code are misdemeanors.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/23/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1221&version=20110SB122199INT)
2. **03/26/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1221&version=20110SB122198AMD)
3. **08/20/12 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1221&version=20110SB122197AMD)
4. **09/26/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1221&version=20110SB122195CHP)
5. **SB1221** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1221)
6. **08/30/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB1221&version=20110SB122196ENR)

## Votes

- Unfinished Business SB1221 Lieu Concurrence — **22–13** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading — **22–15** (pass) · upper
- Place on Appropriations suspense file refused. — **2–4** (fail) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **8–4** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended. — **12–5** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **6–4** (fail) · lower
- SB 1221 Lieu Senate Third Reading By BLUMENFIELD — **46–30** (pass) · lower
- Set first hearing. Failed passage. Reconsideration granted. — **8–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **5–3** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Lieu — primary (person)
- Steinberg — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2012-02-23** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2012-02-24** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 25.
- **2012-03-08** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-26** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `reading-2, reading-1, committee-passage, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-03-29** Re-referred to Com. on N.R. & W. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-30** Set for hearing April 24.
- **2012-04-24** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 3. Page 3265.) (April 24). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-04-27** Set for hearing May 7.
- **2012-05-08** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 5. Noes 2. Page 3445.) (May 7). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-05-09** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-05-21** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 22. Noes 15. Page 3557.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-05-21** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2012-06-04** Referred to Com. on W., P. & W. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-28** Set, first hearing. Failed passage in committee. Reconsideration granted. `committee-failure`
- **2012-07-02** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 8. Noes 4.) (July 2). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-08** Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2012-08-16** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (August 16). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-20** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2012-08-21** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-22** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 46. Noes 30. Page 6148.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-22** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2012-08-27** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 22. Noes 13. Page 4874.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2012-08-31** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11:15 p.m.
- **2012-09-26** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-09-26** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 595, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/cec741f4-029a-4d1e-a76d-7c3d40e23918`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).