BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2689|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2689
Author: Smyth (R)
Amended: 4/22/10 in Assembly
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/9/10
AYES: Alquist, Cedillo, Leno, Negrete McLeod, Pavley
NO VOTE RECORDED: Strickland, Aanestad, Cox, Romero
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 5/6/10 - See last page for vote
(Consent)
SUBJECT : Rabies vaccinations
SOURCE : City of Los Angeles
DIGEST : This bill authorizes the responsible city,
county, or city and county in a designated rabies area to
specify the means by which a dog owner is required to
provide proof of his or her dog's rabies vaccination,
including, but not limited to, by electronic means or
facsimile.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1.Requires the state Public Health Officer to designate
rabies areas.
2.Requires, in rabies areas, every dog owner after his or
her dog attains the age of four months to not more often
CONTINUED
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than once a year have his or her dog vaccinated against
rabies by a licensed veterinarian.
3.Makes a violation of these requirements an infraction.
This bill authorizes the responsible city, county, or city
and county in a designated rabies area to specify the means
by which a dog owner is required to provide proof of his or
her dog's rabies vaccination, including, but not limited
to, by electronic means or facsimile.
Background
In 1957, California passed the original Rabies Control Act
(SB 1231, Chapter 1781, Statutes of 1957) with the purpose
of controlling and eliminating rabies with animal control
measures and animal vaccination programs as an important
element of the law.
Rabies is a viral disease that affects the central nervous
system that infects wild and domestic animals, as well as
humans. The virus is usually passed through the bite of a
rabid animal, but may be transmitted via saliva. In
California, domestic animals account for three percent of
animal rabies, with the rest occurring in wild animals.
Provisional data from the Department of Public Health
reports one case of rabies in a dog in the past 15 months.
The California Code of Regulations requires a current valid
official vaccination certificate in order for a dog owner
to receive a dog license. Vaccination certificates are
required to include, among other things, the signature of
the veterinarian administering the vaccine or a signature
authorized by him or her.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/10/10)
City of Los Angeles (source)
Actors and Others for Animals
Animal Issues Movement
Concerned Dog Owners of California
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English Shepherd Club
Humane Society of the United States
Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association
League of California Cities
Lost Coast Kennel Club of California
Save Our Dogs
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The City of Los Angeles claims
this bill is a technical measure to modernize state
statutes and bring the dog licensing process into the 21st
century. By making on-line dog licensing feasible, the
city believes more dogs will be licensed. The city also
believes that by replacing hand-processing with the
efficiency of modern technology, license issuers will
realize much-needed cost savings. They claim that this
bill would more than double their productivity, and could
result in an increase of 40,000 additional licenses being
processed annually.
The city states that most jurisdictions are lucky if they
are able to license 20 to 40 percent of the dogs who live
in their jurisdictions. The city claims that streamlining
procedures through online licensing will increase those
numbers, which they believe will ensure more vaccinations
and also enable more lost dogs to be reunited with their
families, which should reduce the cost of animal
sheltering.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De
Leon, DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani,
Garrick, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande,
Niello, Nielsen, Norby, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino,
Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio,
Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico,
Tran, Villines, Yamada, John A. Perez
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NO VOTE RECORDED: Bass, Block, De La Torre, Gilmore,
Mendoza
CTW:nl 6/10/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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