Senate Bill 221

Introduced by Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa)

Overview of SB 221

Senate Bill 221 was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on October 10, 2025. This landmark legislation addresses a critical gap in California’s stalking statutes. It acknowledges that stalkers frequently use threats against a victim’s beloved animals as a tool for psychological warfare, intimidation, and coercive control.

“This bill expands the definition of a ‘credible threat’ to ensure that when a stalker targets an animal to terrorize a victim, the law treats it with the same severity as a direct threat to the person.”

Key Changes to the Penal Code

The bill specifically amends Section 646.9 of the Penal Code. Previously, a “credible threat” in stalking cases primarily focused on the safety of the individual or their immediate family. SB 221 expands this scope:

  • Expanded Definition: A “credible threat” now includes any threat to the safety of a person’s pet, service animal, emotional support animal, or horse.
  • Intent to Terrorize: The law recognizes that harm to an animal is often intended to place the human victim in reasonable fear for their own safety or the safety of their household.
  • Closing the Loophole: By including animals, prosecutors no longer have to prove that a threat to an animal was a “proxy” for a human threat; the threat to the animal itself now satisfies the criteria for stalking.

Why This Matters

Victim advocacy groups and law enforcement supported SB 221 because of the high correlation between animal abuse and domestic violence or stalking. For many victims, the fear of what might happen to their pet prevents them from leaving a dangerous situation or reporting their stalker.

By providing legal protection for animals within stalking statutes, the state offers victims a more robust path to obtaining restraining orders and holding abusers accountable before violence escalates to human targets.

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