The state took the pressure off a would-be good samaritan wanting to save an animal trapped in a hot car this weekend.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed the new “hot dog” bill into law Saturday, according to the Governor’s Office.

The bill furthers existing legislation enacted in 2006, which makes it illegal to leave a pet in a hot car. Current law allows for a peace officer or a first responder “to take all steps reasonably necessary to remove an animal from a motor vehicle because the animal’s safety appears to be in immediate danger.”

The bill passed without a vote of opposition in any committee. Several lawmakers even took “hot car challenges” in support of the legislation.

The new bill expands this authorization to an average person, exempting them from “criminal liability for actions taken reasonably and in good faith to remove an animal from a vehicle under the circumstances (of it being trapped in a hot car), providing the person is “immediately turning the animal over to a representative from law enforcement, animal control, or other emergency responder who responds to the scene.”

The bill also exempts said person from civil liability for property damage or trespass to a motor vehicle if the property damage or trespass occurred while the person was rescuing an animal pursuant to these provisions. “The bill would additionally provide that a person may be required to pay for charges that have accrued for the maintenance, care, medical treatment, or impoundment of the animal removed from the vehicle,” according to the text of the bill.

Advocates of the bill, which was authored by Marc Steinorth, D-Rancho Cucamonga, noted each year annually, “thousands of our companion animals (overwhelmingly, dogs) succumb to heatstroke in hot, unattended vehicles.” according to an advocacy website, mydogiscool.com.

“These temperatures are unbearable for any person, but especially for animals who do not have sweat glands like humans and can more easily succumb to organ failure, brain damage and even death in a matter of minutes in a hot car.”

The bill passed with no opposition on the Assembly floor, 77-0, and three abstentions. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita voted in favor, as did Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale.