BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    







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          |Hearing Date:January 14, 2008  |Bill No:SB                |
          |                               |986                       |
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               SENATE COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND ECONOMIC  
                                     DEVELOPMENT
                          Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas, Chair

                     Bill No:        SB 986Author:Ridley-Thomas
                   As Amended:January 7, 2008         Fiscal:  No

          
          SUBJECT:   Pet Stores.
          
          SUMMARY:  Revises the definition of a pet store to exclude  
          the selling or offering for sale animals for purposes  
          directly related to an agricultural operation as defined.

          Existing law:

          1)Establishes the Pet Store Animal Care Act, which  
            regulates the care and maintenance of animals in the  
            custody of a pet store and provides limits on the sale or  
            transfer of those animals.

          2)Provides that the Legislature does not intend, by this  
            Act, to regulate the care of handling of animals in or on  
            farms, ranches, livestock or horse auctions, livestock  
            markets, slaughtering facilities, or any place other than  
            pet stores.

          3)Defines a "pet store" as any retail establishment open to  
            the public and selling or offering for sale of animals.

          This bill:  Revises the definition of "pet store" in the  
          Pet Store Animal Care Act to exclude the selling or  
          offering for sale animals for purposes directly related to  
          an agricultural operation for the commercial growing and  
          harvesting of crops or the raising of livestock or poultry  
          on a farm or a ranch.







                                                                     AB 986
                                                                     Page 2



          FISCAL EFFECT:  This bill was keyed non-fiscal by  
          Legislative Counsel.

          COMMENTS:
          
          1.Purpose.  The sponsor of this measure is the Pet Industry  
            Joint Advisory Council  .  According to the Sponsor, this  
            bill is a minor clean-up to last year's AB 1347  
            (Caballero) (Chap. 703, Statutes of 2007) which enacted  
            the California Pet Store Animal Care Act (Act) that will  
            go into effect on January 1, 2009.  This bill in its  
            current form addresses a request made by the California  
            Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to ensure that  
            agricultural establishments are not considered pet stores  
            for purposes of the Act.  As the Sponsor indicates, the  
            Act included this exemption in intent language, but it  
            did not include the agricultural exclusion in the text of  
            the law itself.  As a condition of CDFA's support for AB  
            1347, it was agreed that the agricultural exclusion  
            language be placed in the substantive text of the law  
            itself.  This bill takes care of that issue in a way that  
            "pet store" is defined in the new law.


          
          SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:
          
           Support:  

          Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council (Sponsor)
          PETCO Animal supplies, Inc.

            Opposition:  

           None on file as of January 10, 2008


          Consultant:Bill Gage