BILL REQ. #:  H-1178.2 

Read first time 01/30/09.   Referred to Committee on Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness.

     AN ACT Relating to crimes against livestock belonging to another person; adding a new section to chapter 16.52 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 4.24 RCW; and prescribing penalties.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 16.52 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) It is unlawful for a person to, with malice, kill or cause substantial bodily harm to livestock owned or bred for commercial or subsistence purposes belonging to another person, without consent of the owner.
     (2) This section does not apply to individuals meeting the definition of slaughterer or packer, as those terms are defined in RCW 16.50.110, who, when conducting activities consistent with those definitions, do so in furtherance of their responsibilities in the regular course of employment.
     (3) For the purposes of this section:
     (a) "Livestock" means any domesticated or semidomesticated breed or population of animal intentionally reared in an agricultural setting for the purposes of profit or subsistence, whether for food, fiber, dairy, draft, breeding, sport, or other product or labor, and includes bison, cattle, deer, donkeys, goats, hogs, horses, llamas, mules, pigs, rabbits, sheep, other fur bearing animals, and other mammals, farmed birds such as chickens, geese, pigeons, turkeys, and other birds, and ratites such as emus, ostriches, and rheas, but does not include fish, shellfish, frogs, and reptiles.
     (b) "Malice" has the same meaning as provided in RCW 9A.04.110, but applied to acts against livestock.
     (4) A violation of this section constitutes a class B felony.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   A new section is added to chapter 4.24 RCW to read as follows:
     Any owner of livestock, as defined in section 1 of this act, who suffers damage as a result of an unauthorized act described in section 1 of this act may bring an action against the person or persons committing the act in a court of competent jurisdiction for exemplary damages up to three times the actual damages sustained, plus reasonable attorneys' fees.