BILL NUMBER: AB 1249	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Galgiani

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2009

   An act to amend Section 19348 of the Food and Agricultural Code,
relating to animals.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1249, as introduced, Galgiani. Dead animal haulers.
   Existing law prohibits a dead animal hauler or any other person
from transporting any dead animal to any place, other than to certain
specified facilities or destinations, unless a certain waiver is
granted by the State Veterinarian. Existing law makes a violation of
these provisions a crime.
   This bill would also make that prohibition inapplicable when a
waiver is granted by the State Veterinarian in conjunction with
implementation of a state of emergency or local emergency, as
defined. The bill would authorize the State Veterinarian to issue a
master or individual permit to a licensed dead animal hauler or an
individual hauling his or her own animal that allows transport of a
dead animal to an appropriately permitted landfill under certain
circumstances.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) The rendering industry is a critical health and safety
infrastructure for California. Rendering is an effective tool to
eliminate many human and animal disease pathogens, protects our
groundwater and air resources, and greatly reduces greenhouse gas
emissions compared to other alternative disposal options.
   (b) Rendering is the process of recycling waste animal tissue into
stable, value-added materials. Every year rendering recycles
approximately 59 billion pounds of perishable material generated by
the livestock and poultry meat and poultry processing, food
processing, supermarket, and restaurant industries. The rendering
industry turns this material into valuable ingredients such as
biofuels, various soaps, paints and varnishes, cosmetics, explosives,
toothpaste, pharmaceuticals, leather, textiles, and lubricants used
daily in most households.
   (c) Following a heat wave in California's San Joaquin Valley where
thousands of livestock perished, overwhelming our carcass handling
infrastructure, the Department of Food and Agriculture (DFA) and the
California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) formed the
Emergency Animal Disposal Workgroup. The mission of the workgroup is
to make recommendations in regards to improvement of any legal,
procedural, technical, or other issues related to the existing
emergency animal disposal structure to streamline emergency animal
carcass disposal while protecting public health, animal health, and
the environment. The workgroup is cochaired by DFA and CalEPA and has
members who represent local, state, and federal government agencies,
animal agriculture, renderers, and the waste management industry.
  SEC. 2.  Section 19348 of the Food and Agricultural Code is amended
to read:
   19348.  (a) Unless a waiver is granted by the State Veterinarian
in conjunction with implementation of Section 9562  or a
declaration of a state of emergency or local emergency, as defined in
subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 8558 of the Government Code,
pursuant to the California Emergency Services Act (Chapter 7
(commencing with Section 8550) of Division 1 of Title 2 of the
Government Code)  , no dead animal hauler or any other person
shall transport any dead animal to any place, other than to a
licensed rendering plant, a licensed collection center, an animal
disease diagnostic laboratory acceptable to the department, the
nearest crematory, or to a destination in another state that has been
approved for that purpose by the appropriate authorities in that
state. 
   (b) The State Veterinarian may issue a master or individual permit
to a dead animal hauler licensed pursuant to Section 19320 or an
individual hauling his or her own animal that allows transport of a
dead animal to an appropriately permitted landfill under either of
the following circumstances:  
   (1) During a proclaimed state of emergency or local emergency, as
defined in subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 8558 of the Government
Code.  
   (2) When the licensed hauler has certification from a licensed
renderer, in a manner defined by the department, that the licensed
renderer cannot process the dead animal due to operational conditions
or legal or regulatory requirements or constraints.  
   (b) 
    (c)  Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to
conflict with any state or federal environmental or zoning law, or to
prohibit an owner of a live animal from burying the animal on the
owner's property after the animal dies if the burial is within three
miles of where the animal died. 
   (c) 
    (d)  Subdivision (a) does not apply to the Department of
Transportation or to local agencies having jurisdiction over a road
or highway when engaged in removing animal carcasses from the road or
highway.