Crimes: threats.

Assembly Member Patel's legislation expands California's criminal code to address threats targeting specific locations, establishing new penalties for individuals who make credible threats against daycares, schools, universities, workplaces, houses of worship, or medical facilities. The measure creates a distinct offense for threats made through any medium, including digital platforms and social media, while maintaining separate prosecution pathways from existing threat-related statutes.

Under the proposed law, threats must meet specific criteria to constitute a criminal act: they must be unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific enough to cause reasonable, sustained fear for safety at the targeted location. For adults, violations would be prosecutable as either misdemeanors carrying up to one year in county jail or felonies punishable by 16 months to three years imprisonment. The law would classify all violations by minors under age 18 as misdemeanors.

The bill creates a state-mandated local program without providing reimbursement to affected agencies and jurisdictions, as the costs stem directly from the establishment of a new criminal offense. A non-duplication clause prevents individuals from being convicted under both this new section and existing threat statutes for the same incident.