One Year After Fatal Mountain Lion Attack, Partisan Democrats Inflict More Harm on Brooks Family

UPDATE BELOW: Partisan politics was on full display at the California State Capitol Tuesday, with Democrats using their supermajority to kill an important Republican bill, just because they can.

A tragic mountain lion attack in 2024, which killed one El Dorado County brother and seriously wounded the other, precipitated a bill to authorize houndsmen to use specially trained dogs to “tree and free” mountain lions, effectively retraining the animals to fear humans again. This necessary bill was hijacked by Democrats Tuesday with amendments sure to kill it.

On March 23, 2024, a male mountain lion attacked brothers Taylen and Wyatt Brooks near a Forest Service road in El Dorado County. The attack was unprovoked, explained Senator Marie Alvarado Gil (R-Jackson), as she introduced Senate Bill 818, “Taylen and Wyatt’s Law” in the Senate Committee on Natural Resources Tuesday. 21-year-old Taylen Brooks was pronounced dead at the scene, and Wyatt was severely injured. Both boys knew the woods and were familiar with predatory animals, Alvarado Gil said.

There has been significant increase in mountain lion encounters in El Dorado County – more than any other county in the state, El Dorado County Sheriff Jeff Leikauf told the committee. Sheriff Leikauf said that livestock and pet killings by mountain lions is up at an astronomical level.

The Globe was told the day before the hearing that Democrats were planning to boycott the bill – just because they are Democrats and do mean spirited stunts like that. Even if the bill is a good, necessary common sense bill, Democrats don’t want Republicans to get credit for it.

The committee lacked a quorum, and notably, none of the other Democrats were present except Committee Chairwoman Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara).

Sen. Alvarado Gil said the Brooks family wants to honor their son’s life and advocate for stronger public safety measures to prevent such a tragedy from happening again in California through Senate Bill 818.

Notably, SB 818 is a “district bill,” meaning that it only applies to El Dorado County. Senator Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) noted that because SB 818 is a district bill, Sen. Alvarado Gil should have the full bipartisan support of committee members as it does not impact their counties or districts, nor are they familiar with or experiencing what El Dorado County is with mountain lions. And she said that anyone from another county in the state shouldn’t question the necessity of Alvarado Gil’s bill because she and the Sheriff were elected by the people, and are representing those people at the hearing on a matter of public safety in El Dorado County.

According to Sen. Alvarado Gil, “[Since] Proposition 117 in 1990, mountain lion encounters have increased substantially, with El Dorado County becoming the hot spot. Well over 200 domestic animals were killed in 2024 alone. Livestock kills also increased – even with deterring methods in place such as fencing, locking animals up at night, the use of lights, radios and even trained guard dogs. There have also been sightings of lions in broad daylight at schools, in suburban neighborhoods, and even near a crowded movie theater. All of which are extremely unusual for these naturally nocturnal and highly elusive animals. In March 2024 two of my constituents were attacked, unprovoked, with one of them, 21-year old Taylen Brooks, being killed in broad daylight in the early afternoon. SB 818 simply would establish a pilot program to be utilized only in El Dorado County which would allow the use of houndsmen permitted by the department to pursue problem mountain lions only in areas deemed by the department and local enforcement personnel to be appropriate with the intent to “tree and free” them and encourage them to remain in more forested less populated areas. The intent being to push lions out of populated areas and back into forested, unpopulated landscapes away from people and deter them from coming back into populated areas by restoring their traditional desire to avoid people and dogs. SB 818 would mitigate public safety concerns and diminish loss of domestic animals in El Dorado County and lessen the need for the department to issue lethal depredation permits to kill problem lions. In doing so, SB 818 would not harm mountain lions, rather it would save the lives of numerous lions.”

Opposition to the bill came from mostly well-funded philanthropic groups not located in El Dorado County, which claimed absurdities such as using houndsmen and dogs is “illegal,” is for “recreation,” and “harasses” and “displaces” the mountain lions.

Sen. Alvarado Gil rebutted the claims and said “we are trying to save lives.” She added that the program will pay for itself through the permitting cost of the houndsmen, and will not cost the state anything.

Committee Chairwoman Monique Limón said she met with the Brooks family and because of what the family and Senator Alvarado Gil shared with her, her position is to get the bill through. BUT, Limón and her fellow Democrats tried to force an amendment onto SB 818 to “provide the dedicated Human-Wildlife Conflicts program to address human-wildlife conflicts and improve wildlife incident responses; to support safe human-wildlife interactions; and to increase understanding, awareness and appreciation of wildlife in California.”

Up to this point, Sen. Alvarado Gil had confirmed several times that there will be no cost to the state for SB 818. However, the committee’s amendment would change that.

Senator Grove challenged Sen. Limón on the amendment and said it was being forced as it is solely designed to kill the bill in the Senate Appropriations committee. Sen. Limón insisted that because the Fish & Wildlife agency has to issue the permits, and create a new program, there is a cost to SB 818. Sen. Grove again confirmed with Sen. Alvarado Gil that the permit costs will cover any costs to Fish & Wildlife. “Forcing amendments on an author… because the state can’t afford it… is not right,” Grove said.

Senator Alvarado Gil asked to confer with the Brooks family and witnesses.

She finished her closing statement: “Part of the reason I was elected was to speak on behalf of my constituents. This is a bill that an entire community, family and agencies have worked on for over a year. Every letter in the bill we have crafted with experts. We held town halls. We spoke with constituents.”

“We are not taking the amendment by this body,” Sen. Alvarado Gil said. “We will continue to work on this in the community and district.”

“I can’t take the amendment and still represent my constituents.”

Following the hearing, Sen. Alvarado Gil spoke to media: “We do not do good policy that benefits the community.” She said she was “ashamed and angry today” at the lack of bipartisanship in the committee on what is a very important bill to El Dorado County. She said the Brooks family entrusted her to get this bill through. “Without SB 818, this will happen again.”

Someone added, “and the blood will be on this committee.”

In the afternoon I was told that the committee would likely make the amendments offered this morning into hostile amendments. Sure enough, the committee passed SB 818 with their unwanted, forced amendments.

UPDATE: Senator Alvarado Gil issued a statement Wednesday after the hearing:

“The version of SB 818 that passed the Senate Natural Resources Committee yesterday is not the bill the Brooks family and I fought for, but it has not been pulled. After consulting with the family, they chose not to support the amended version — a decision I fully respect. Despite this, the committee forced those hostile amendments through — a shady, all too common tactic the Democratic supermajority uses to quietly kill legislation. I’m grateful to the Brooks family and to my constituents in El Dorado County for standing with us. I remain committed to finding a path forward, and to delivering a bill truly worthy of the name ‘Taylen and Wyatt’s Law.’”