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Fish & G. Code, § 2017 · Chapter 1. Taking and Possessing in General

Fish & G. Code, § 2017

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

(a) Unless otherwise authorized under state law, it is unlawful for a person in this state to import, cause to be imported, export, cause to be exported, transport, sell, offer for sale, possess with the intent to sell, receive, acquire, or purchase any fish, wildlife, or plant that was taken, possessed, transported, or sold in violation of any law or statute of any state or of any law, treaty, or statute of the United States with regard to fish, wildlife, or plants in effect on January 19, 2025.

(b) Nothing in this section shall prohibit a person from transporting, selling, receiving, acquiring, or purchasing any cannabis or hemp as allowed under state law.

(c) Notwithstanding Section 802 of the Penal Code, prosecution of an offense punishable under this section shall be commenced within three years after the commission of the offense.

(d) For a violation of this section or any rule, regulation, or order adopted pursuant to this section, the following criminal penalties shall be imposed:

(1) For a first conviction, the offense shall be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than five thousand dollars ($5,000) nor more than forty thousand dollars ($40,000), or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.

(2) For a second or subsequent conviction, the offense shall be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) nor more than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000), or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.

(e) Upon conviction or other entry of judgment for a violation of this section, any seized evidence shall be forfeited and, upon forfeiture, either maintained by the department, donated by the department to a bona fide educational or scientific institution, or destroyed.

(f) (1) This section shall become inoperative on December 31, 2031, and, as of January 1, 2032, is repealed.

(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), an action brought to enforce this section on or before December 31, 2031, may proceed to final judgment.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Added by Stats. 2025, Ch. 638, Sec. 1. (AB 1319) Effective January 1, 2026. Inoperative December 31, 2031, by its own provisions. Repealed as of January 1, 2032, by its own provisions.

Source of truth

Edition
As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=FGC&sectionNum=2017.
Text hash
sha256 f7a73e900e93ab506e913c7d854c73e86796d479f3d8604846c091872467ec6b
Composed by
compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

This section cites

Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.