BILL ANALYSIS AB 2270 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 14, 2010 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair AB 2270 (Committee on Agriculture) - As Introduced: February 18, 2010 Policy Committee: AgricultureVote:8 - 0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: SUMMARY This bill makes various changes to the Equine Medication Monitoring Program (EMMP) as it relates to the assessment of fees for horse show events lasting more than one day. Specifically, this bill: 1)Requires event managers of horse shows to complete an assessment report for the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) for each registered event. 2)Requires managers to keep event records for two years. 3)Clarifies that an event held over multiple consecutive days with the same manager and at the same site will be considered one event for the purposes of fee assessment. 4)Adds additional civil penalties for event managers that violate the requirements of the EMMP. FISCAL EFFECT Costs associated with this legislation are minor and would be absorbable within the existing EMMP fund. COMMENTS 1)Rationale . The sponsors of the bill, the California Horse Council, believe that these changes to the EMMP will simplify current law by clarifying how event managers should collect drug fees for multi-day events. In addition, this legislation AB 2270 Page 2 will create a clear mechanism for CDFA to verify that appropriate fees were collected and remitted under the program. Under current law, event managers are only required to complete an assessment report and submit the collected fees to CDFA. This bill would require them to maintain records from their registered shows for two years which allows for audit reviews and other verifications. 2)The Equine Medication Monitoring Program . The EMMP was established in 1971, under the jurisdiction of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The purpose of the program was to prevent the abuse of medications in show and sale horses. Each year, approximately 1,800 events register with the EMMP drug testing program. Blood and urine samples taken at events are submitted for chemical analysis to the Kenneth L. Maddy Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory at U.C. Davis. Horses are randomly selected for drug sampling with the emphasis placed on class winners at shows. The EMMP is overseen by an advisory committee made up of 19 members representing the horse show industry, academia, veterinary professionals, and one public member. All of the members of the advisory committee are appointed by the Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Funding for the program comes from a $5 fee per event fee charged to the owner of every horse entered in a horse show in the state. Generally, over $600,000 per year is collected to fund the EMMP. Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916) 319-2081