ARTICLE 1. Colorado River Crime Enforcement Compact [853.1. - 853.2.]

Cal. Penal Code - PEN 1.

in effect

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 853.1. Section 853.1.

(a) Pursuant to the authority vested in this state by Section 112 of Title 4 of the United States Code, the Legislature of the State of California hereby ratifies the Colorado River Crime Enforcement Compact as set forth in Section 853.2. (b) The purpose of this compact is to promote the interests of justice with regard to crimes committed on the Colorado River by avoiding jurisdictional issues as to whether a criminal act sought to be prosecuted was committed on one side or the other of the exact boundary of the channel, and thus avoiding the risk that an offender may go free on technical grounds because neither state is able to establish that the offense was committed within its boundaries. (c) This compact shall become operative when ratified by law in the State of Arizona; and shall remain in full force and effect so long as the provisions of this compact, as ratified by the State of Arizona, remain substantively the same as the provisions of this compact, as ratified by this section. This compact may be amended in the same manner as is required for it to be ratified to become operative.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 853.2. Section 853.2.

(a) All courts and officers now or hereafter having and exercising jurisdiction in any county which is now or may hereafter be formed in any part of this state bordering upon the Colorado River, or any lake formed by, or which is a part of, the Colorado River, shall have and exercise jurisdiction in all criminal cases upon those waters concurrently with the courts of and officers of the State of Arizona, so far and to the extent that any of these bodies of water form a common boundary between this state and the State of Arizona. In addition, the officers shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the officers of the State of Arizona on any land mass within 25 air miles of the Colorado River, or within 25 air miles of any lake formed by, or that is a part of, the Colorado River. (b) This section applies only to those crimes which are established in common between the States of Arizona and California; and an acquittal or conviction and sentence by one state shall bar a prosecution for the same act or omission by the other. (c) This compact shall not be construed to bar the enforcement of the penal laws of either state not established in common with the other, provided that the act or omission proscribed occurs on that state’s side of the river channel boundary. (d) This compact does not apply to Division 3.5 (commencing with Section 9840) of the Vehicle Code, relating to registration of vessels, or to Section 658.7 of the Harbors and Navigation Code, relating to the display of a ski flag.

Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026