(a) In addition to any other penalty provided by law, a person who violates this article, or any rule or regulation adopted pursuant to this article, shall be liable for a civil penalty of no more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for each day the person is in violation.
(b) An action against a person who violates this article, or any rule or regulation adopted pursuant to this article, may be brought by the Attorney General, the department, the Department of Food and Agriculture, a district attorney, a city attorney, or a city prosecutor in a city or city and county that has a full-time city prosecutor.
(c) Civil penalties collected pursuant to this section shall be deposited according to the following:
(1) (A) Subject to subparagraph (B), moneys collected by the Attorney General shall be deposited in the General Fund.
(B) If the department, as the investigating agency, refers the matter to the Attorney General for prosecution, 50 percent of the moneys collected shall be deposited in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund and 50 percent shall be deposited in the General Fund.
(2) Moneys collected by the department shall be deposited in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund. The moneys collected pursuant to this section shall be allocated, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the department for law enforcement purposes.
(3) Moneys collected by the Department of Food and Agriculture shall be deposited in the Circus Cruelty Prevention Account, which is hereby created in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund, created pursuant to Section 221 of the Food and Agricultural Code. Moneys in the Circus Cruelty Prevention Account shall be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Department of Food and Agriculture for the purposes of enforcing this article.
(4) (A) Subject to subparagraph (B), moneys collected by a district attorney, a city attorney, or a city prosecutor in a city or city and county that has a full-time city prosecutor shall be deposited in that city’s, county’s, or city and county’s general fund.
(B) If the department, as the investigating agency, refers the matter to the office of a prosecutor described in subparagraph (A), 50 percent of the moneys collected shall be deposited in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund and 50 percent shall be deposited in the city’s, county’s, or city and county’s general fund.
(Amended by Stats. 2020, Ch. 370, Sec. 118. (SB 1371) Effective January 1, 2021.)