A New Auto Burg Bill and Some Good, Old Fun Learning About Burglary and Theft Law

From the Classroom: Theft and burglary case law review
By: Ray Hill Professor Emeritus, Santa Rosa Junior College 

Legislative Update 

State Sen. Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco) has introduced SB905, which could be a major change in the auto burglary statute, currently a second-degree felony/wobbler. As you know, currently your investigation must establish evidence to prove a vehicle was locked or there were reasonable precautions to secure it for the burglary statute to be charged. SB905 would amend the statute to read that any forcible entry into a vehicle, regardless of “locked status,” is burglary. So, if a perpetrator smashed a window to enter without checking whether the vehicle was locked, the corpus of burglary would apply (in other words the perp wasn’t abiding by the traditional fire service motto “Try before you pry!”).

Weiner introduced similar legislation in 2018 and 2019, but the bills died in the legislature. Let’s hope he has better luck this time around. 

This amendment seems to make sense in light of the present day M.O. of perpetrators, it would avoid the inconvenience to crime victims who would have to travel to testify, and it would certainly facilitate charging this crime. 

Test Your Theft Knowledge 

Let’s try a quiz on case law relating to the burglary and theft statutes in the Penal and Vehicle Codes: 

1) Which of the following statements is correct when determining value of property stolen for the purposes of grand theft or petty theft  

     a) Sentimental value can be added to the victim’s estimate of loss. 

     b) Labor costs for reinstallation of the stolen property can be added to value of the property taken. 

     c) Wholesale cost. 

     d) Highest price obtainable in the marketplace between a willing seller and buyer. 

     e)  Retail replacement value. 

2) For the purposes of determining the value of the property stolen, California sales tax can be added in determining total property loss. 

     TRUE FALSE 

3) When several petty thefts are committed against the same victim according ....

© 2026 Legal Updates, LLC.
This content is protected by copyright law. Republishing or redistribution in any form without written permission is strictly prohibited. For licensing or reprint requests, contact support@legalupdates.com.