BILL NUMBER: AB 1428 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 23, 2005
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Levine
FEBRUARY 22, 2005
An act relating to business. An act to add
Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 122330) to Part 6 of Division 105
of the Health and Safety Code, relating to animals.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1428, as amended, Levine. Commercial pet cloning.
Cloned and Genetically Modified Pets.
Existing law regulates the sale of cats, dogs, and birds.
This bill would enact the Cloned and Genetically Modified Pet and
Consumer Protection Act, which would prohibit any person from
engaging in the retail sale or transfer of cloned or genetically
modified pets within California. The bill would permit any person to
file a complaint with the State Department of Health Services, under
penalty of perjury, alleging a violation of this prohibition. By
expanding the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
This bill would also permit the Director of Health Services, after
appropriate notice and opportunity for hearing, by order, to levy
administrative penalties against any person who violates this
prohibition in the amount of $500,000 per violation, which would be
deposited in the General Fund.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Existing law provides for the regulation of various types of
businesses by the Department of Consumer Affairs.
This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to prohibit
the commercial sale and transfer of cloned or genetically modified
pet animals within California.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no
yes .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 122330) is added to
Part 6 of Division 105 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:
CHAPTER 7. CLONED AND GENETICALLY MOFIFIED PETS
Article 1. General Provisions
122330.
This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Cloned and
Genetically Modified Pet and Consumer Protection Act.
Article 2. Definitions
122331.
(a) "Clone" means the practice of creating or attempting to create
an animal by transferring the nucleus or chromosomes/chromatin from
a cell (nuclear or chromatin transfer) from whatever source into an
egg cell from which the nucleus or chromosomes have been removed for
the purpose of creating a cloned embryo, or by implanting a cloned
embryo to initiate a pregnancy that could result in the birth of an
animal or by any cloning technology seeking to create an animal
genetically identical to another animal, whether living or dead.
(b) "Department" means the State Department of Health Services.
(c) "Genetically Modified" or "Transgenic" means genetically
altered by introducing DNA from another species or through engineered
endogenous constructs by means including, but not limited to,
recombinant DNA and RNA techniques to produce gene addition,
deletion, and doubling, or changing the position of the gene. This
definition excludes hybridization between closely related species, as
in traditional hybridization.
(d) "Person" means any individual, partnership, firm, joint stock
company, corporation, association, trust, estate, or other legal
entity.
(e) "Pet" means any amphibian, bird, fish, mammal, or reptile that
is kept for companionship rather than utility.
(f) "Retail Sale" has the same meaning as that term is defined in
Section 6007 of the Revenue and Taxation Code.
Article 3. Prohibition
122332.
No person may engage in the retail sale or transfer of cloned or
genetically modified pets within California.
Article 4. Violations and Penalties
122333.
Any person may file a complaint with the department alleging a
violation of this chapter. The complaint shall provide specific
information regarding the alleged violation, including, but not
limited to, the time, date, place, and person involved, and the names
of any other witnesses who may be called to testify. The complaint
shall be in writing, notarized, and signed under penalty of perjury.
122334.
The Director of Health Services may, after appropriate notice and
opportunity for hearing, by order, levy administrative penalties
against any person who violates this chapter in the amount of five
hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) per violation. Any administrative
penalties received shall be deposited in the General Fund.
Article 5. Severability
122335.
The provisions of this chapter are severable. If any provision of
this chapter or its application is held invalid, that invalidity
shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given
effect without the invalid provision or application.
Article 6. Exemption
122336.
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as interfering with
properly conducted scientific experiments or investigations performed
under the authority of the faculty of an accredited medical school
in this state.
SEC. 2.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of
Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs
that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be
incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction,
eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime
or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government
Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.
SECTION 1.
The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The short but well-documented history of the cloning and
genetic modification of animals offers indisputable evidence that
technological developments come at great cost to the animals
involved. A preponderance of scientific studies have demonstrated
that cloned and genetically modified animals are subject to
abnormally high rates of miscarriage, still birth, early death,
deformity, disease, and other serious medical conditions.
(b) California and the United States have established historical
and legal precedents requiring that the potential for suffering
inflicted on humans or animals by scientific research be balanced
against the potential for advancements in animal or human health and
society's general welfare.
(c) Scientific laboratories which perform closed door experiments
in animal cloning and genetic modification are avoiding public
oversight that mandates basic standards of animal care and use. These
laboratories have failed to offer persuasive, authenticated
documentation of how many animals are used in their laboratories,
where they come from, or their fate.
(d) Public or private corporations experimenting on and selling
genetically modified and cloned animals are treating science solely
as proprietary information to be exploited for capital gain while
offering no potential benefit to society's animal or human health or
society's general welfare. These corporations compromise, rather than
contribute to, the advancement of science, animal welfare, or
veterinary medicine.
(e) To date, private corporations operating in conjunction with
closed door laboratories have engaged in all of the following:
(1) The production and sale of cats that are marketed to
California consumers as cloned replicas, despite the fact that
current animal cloning technology cannot guarantee that clones will
be identical in appearance or exhibit the behavioral traits of their
donors.
(2) The collection of DNA and cash payments toward the future
cloning of species, including dogs, that have never been successfully
cloned in any form.
(3) The marketing and sale of transgenic species, including
hypoallergenic cats, that do not exist and therefore have not been
studied to assess possible threats to consumer safety or risks to
public health. This behavior conclusively demonstrates predatory
marketing practices that capitalize on consumer hopes while
exhibiting blatant disregard for scientific reality and an absence of
concern for public safety.
(f) Each year, an estimated 1.5 million dogs and cats pass through
California's animal shelters, where two out of every three are
euthanized, costing state and local governments more than fifty
million taxpayer dollars ($50,000,000), despite the fact that it is
the official policy of California that no adoptable or treatable
animal should be euthanized (Section 1834.4 of the Civil Code and
Section 17005 of the Food and Agriculture Code). In pursuit of this
ideal, which underscores a shared concern for the welfare of humans
and animals, it is antithetical to permit a new commercial practice
that promotes consumer demand for stylized pets as a value which
outweighs ethical concerns for the suffering of animals.
SEC. 2.
It is the intent of the Legislature to prohibit the commercial
sale and transfer of cloned or genetically modified pet animals
within California.