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State
California
PC Sec 11415-11419 The Hertzberg-Alarcon California Prevention of Terrorism Act

PENAL CODE
SECTION 11415-11419





11415. This article shall be known and may be cited as the
Hertzberg-Alarcon California Prevention of Terrorism Act.



11416. The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the threat of
terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction, including, but not
limited to, chemical, biological, nuclear, or radiological agents, is
a significant public safety concern. The Legislature also
recognizes that terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction could
result in an intentional disaster placing residents of California in
great peril. The Legislature also finds it necessary to sanction
the possession, manufacture, use, or threatened use of chemical,
biological, nuclear, or radiological weapons, as well as the
intentional use or threatened use of industrial or commercial
chemicals as weapons against persons or animals.



11417. (a) For the purposes of this article, the following terms
have the following meanings:
(1) "Weapon of mass destruction" includes chemical warfare agents,
weaponized biological or biologic warfare agents, restricted
biological agents, nuclear agents, radiological agents, or the
intentional release of industrial agents as a weapon, or an aircraft,
vessel, or vehicle, as described in Section 34500 of the Vehicle
Code, which is used as a destructive weapon.
(2) "Chemical Warfare Agents" includes, but is not limited to, the
following weaponized agents, or any analog of these agents:
(A) Nerve agents, including Tabun (GA), Sarin (GB), Soman (GD),
GF, and VX.
(B) Choking agents, including Phosgene (CG) and Diphosgene (DP).
(C) Blood agents, including Hydrogen Cyanide (AC), Cyanogen
Chloride (CK), and Arsine (SA).
(D) Blister agents, including mustards (H, HD (sulfur mustard),
HN-1, HN-2, HN-3 (nitrogen mustard)), arsenicals, such as Lewisite
(L), urticants, such as CX; and incapacitating agents, such as BZ.
(3) "Weaponized biological or biologic warfare agents" include
weaponized pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses, rickettsia, yeasts,
fungi, or genetically engineered pathogens, toxins, vectors, and
endogenous biological regulators (EBRs).
(4) "Nuclear or radiological agents" includes any improvised
nuclear device (IND) which is any explosive device designed to cause
a nuclear yield; any radiological dispersal device (RDD) which is any
explosive device utilized to spread radioactive material; or a
simple radiological dispersal device (SRDD) which is any act or
container designed to release radiological material as a weapon
without an explosion.
(5) "Vector" means a living organism or a molecule, including a
recombinant molecule, or a biological product that may be engineered
as a result of biotechnology, that is capable of carrying a
biological agent or toxin to a host.
(6) "Weaponization" is the deliberate processing, preparation,
packaging, or synthesis of any substance for use as a weapon or
munition. "Weaponized agents" are those agents or substances
prepared for dissemination through any explosive, thermal, pneumatic,
or mechanical means.
(7) For purposes of this section, "used as a destructive weapon"
means to use with the intent of causing widespread great bodily
injury or death by causing a fire or explosion or the release of a
chemical, biological, or radioactive agent.
(b) The intentional release of a dangerous chemical or hazardous
material generally utilized in an industrial or commercial process
shall be considered use of a weapon of mass destruction when a person
knowingly utilizes those agents with the intent to cause harm and
the use places persons or animals at risk of serious injury, illness,
or death, or endangers the environment.
(c) The lawful use of chemicals for legitimate mineral extraction,
industrial, agricultural, or commercial purposes is not proscribed
by this article.
(d) No university, research institution, private company,
individual, or hospital engaged in scientific or public health
research and, as required, registered with the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) pursuant to Part 113 (commencing with
Section 113.1) of Subchapter E of Chapter 1 of Title 9 or pursuant to
Part 72 (commencing with Section 72.1) of Subchapter E of Chapter 1
of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor
provisions, shall be subject to this article.



11418. (a) (1) Any person, without lawful authority, who possesses,
develops, manufactures, produces, transfers, acquires, or retains
any weapon of mass destruction, shall be punished by imprisonment in
the state prison for 4, 8, or 12 years.
(2) Any person who commits a violation of paragraph (1) and who
has been previously convicted of Section 11411, 11412, 11413, 11418,
11418.1, 11418.5, 11419, 11460, 12303.1, 12303.2, or 12303.3 shall be
punished by imprisonment in the state prison for 5, 10, or 15 years.

(b) (1) Any person who uses or directly employs against another
person a weapon of mass destruction in a form that may cause
widespread, disabling illness or injury in human beings shall be
punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life.
(2) Any person who uses or directly employs against another person
a weapon of mass destruction in a form that may cause widespread
great bodily injury or death and causes the death of any human being
shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life
without the possibility of parole. Nothing in this paragraph shall
prevent punishment instead under Section 190.2.
(3) Any person who uses a weapon of mass destruction in a form
that may cause widespread damage to or disruption of the food supply
or "source of drinking water" as defined in subdivision (d) of
Section 25249.11 of the Health and Safety Code shall be punished by
imprisonment in the state prison for 5, 8, or 12 years and by a fine
of not more than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000).
(4) Any person who maliciously uses against animals, crops, or
seed and seed stock, a weapon of mass destruction in a form that may
cause widespread damage to or substantial diminution in the value of
stock animals or crops, including seeds used for crops or product of
the crops, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for
4, 8, or 12 years and by a fine of not more than one hundred thousand
dollars ($100,000).
(c) Any person who uses a weapon of mass destruction in a form
that may cause widespread and significant damage to public natural
resources, including coastal waterways and beaches, public parkland,
surface waters, ground water, and wildlife, shall be punished by
imprisonment in the state prison for 3, 4, or 6 years.
(d) (1) Any person who uses recombinant technology or any other
biological advance to create new pathogens or more virulent forms of
existing pathogens for use in any crime described in subdivision (b)
shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for 4, 8, or 12
years and by a fine of not more than two hundred fifty thousand
dollars ($250,000).
(2) Any person who uses recombinant technology or any other
biological advance to create new pathogens or more virulent forms of
existing pathogens for use in any crime described in subdivision (c)
shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for three, six,
or nine years and by a fine of not more than two hundred fifty
thousand dollars ($250,000).
(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent
punishment instead pursuant to any other provision of law that
imposes a greater or more severe punishment.




11418.1. Any person who gives, mails, sends, or causes to be sent
any false or facsimile of a weapon of mass destruction to another
person, or places, causes to be placed, or possesses any false or
facsimile of a weapon of mass destruction, with the intent to cause
another person to fear for his or her own safety, or for the personal
safety of others, is guilty of a misdemeanor. If the person's
conduct causes another person to be placed in sustained fear, the
person shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for not
more than one year or in the state prison for 16 months, or two or
three years and by a fine of not more than two hundred fifty thousand
dollars ($250,000). For purposes of this section, "sustained fear"
has the same meaning as in Section 11418.5.



11418.5. (a) Any person who knowingly threatens to use a weapon of
mass destruction, with the specific intent that the statement as
defined in Section 225 of the Evidence Code or a statement made by
means of an electronic communication device, is to be taken as a
threat, even if there is no intent of actually carrying it out,
which, on its face and under the circumstances in which it is made,
is so unequivocal, immediate, and specific as to convey to the person
threatened, a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of
execution of the threat, and thereby causes that person reasonably to
be in sustained fear for his or her own safety, or for his or her
immediate family's safety shall be punished by imprisonment in a
county jail for up to one year or in the state prison for 3, 4, or 6
years, and by a fine of not more than two hundred fifty thousand
dollars ($250,000).
(b) For the purposes of this section, "sustained fear" can be
established by, but is not limited to, conduct such as evacuation of
any building by any occupant, evacuation of any school by any
employee or student, evacuation of any home by any resident or
occupant, any isolation, quarantine, or decontamination effort.
(c) The fact that the person who allegedly violated this section
did not actually possess a biological agent, toxin, or chemical
weapon does not constitute a defense to the crime specified in this
section.
(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent
punishment instead pursuant to any other provision of law that
imposes a greater or more severe punishment.



11419. (a) Any person or entity possessing any of the restricted
biological agents enumerated in subdivision (b) shall be punished by
imprisonment in the state prison for 4, 8, or 12 years, and by a fine
of not more than two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000).
(b) For the purposes of this section, "restricted biological
agents" means the following:
(1) Viruses: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus, eastern
equine encephalitis virus, ebola viruses, equine morbilli virus,
lassa fever virus, marburg virus, Rift Valley fever virus, South
African hemorrhagic fever viruses (Junin, Machupo, Sabia, Flexal,
Guanarito), tick-borne encephalitis complex viruses, variola major
virus (smallpox virus), Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, viruses
causing hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, yellow fever virus.
(2) Bacteria: bacillus anthracis (commonly known as anthrax),
brucella abortus, brucella melitensis, brucella suis, burkholderia
(pseudomonas) mallei, burkholderia (pseudomonas) pseudomallei,
clostridium botulinum, francisella tularensis, yersinia pestis
(commonly known as plague).
(3) Rickettsiae: coxiella burnetii, rickettsia prowazekii,
rickettsia rickettsii.
(4) Fungi: coccidioides immitis.
(5) Toxins: abrin, aflatoxins, botulinum toxins, clostridium
perfringens epsilon toxin, conotoxins, diacetoxyscirpenol, ricin,
saxitoxin, shigatoxin, staphylococcal enterotoxins, tabtoxin,
tetrodotoxin, T-2 toxin.
(6) Any other microorganism, virus, infectious substance, or
biological product that has the same characteristics as, or is
substantially similar to, the substances prohibited in this section.

(c) (1) This section shall not apply to any physician,
veterinarian, pharmacist, or licensed medical practitioner authorized
to dispense a prescription under Section 11026 of the Health and
Safety Code, or universities, research institutions, or
pharmaceutical corporations, or any person possessing the agents
pursuant to a lawful prescription issued by a person defined in
Section 11026 of the Health and Safety Code, if the person possesses
vaccine strains of the viral agents Junin virus strain #1, Rift
Valley fever virus strain MP-12, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus
strain TC-83 and yellow fever virus strain 17-D; any vaccine strain
described in Section 78.1 of Subpart A of Part 78 of Subchapter C of
Chapter 1 of Title 9 of the Code of Federal Regulations, or any
successor provisions, and any toxin for medical use, inactivated for
use as vaccines, or toxin preparation for biomedical research use at
a median lethal dose for vertebrates of more than 100 ng/kg, as well
as any national standard toxin required for biologic potency testing
as described in Part 113 (commencing with Section 113.1) of
Subchapter E of Chapter 1 of Title 9 of the Code of Federal
Regulations, or any successor provisions.
(2) For the purposes of this section, no person shall be deemed to
be in possession of an agent if the person is naturally exposed to,
or innocently infected or contaminated with, the agent.
(d) Any peace officer who encounters any of the restricted agents
mentioned above shall immediately notify and consult with a local
public health officer to ensure proper consideration of any public
health risk.
(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent
punishment instead pursuant to any other provision of law that
imposes a greater or more severe punishment.