BILL NUMBER: SJR 22 CHAPTERED BILL TEXT RESOLUTION CHAPTER 135 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 7, 2010 ADOPTED IN SENATE AUGUST 25, 2010 ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 16, 2010 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 2, 2010 INTRODUCED BY Senator Florez FEBRUARY 10, 2010 Relative to horses. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SJR 22, Florez. Horses. This measure would memorialize the Congress to support federal legislation to protect American horses from slaughter for human consumption. WHEREAS, California voters enacted a ban on the slaughter of horses for human consumption and the sale of horsemeat for human consumption in 1998; and WHEREAS, California horses continue to be transported and sold out of state, making protection of our horses difficult and dependent on the passage of a federal ban on the movement of horses for purposes of slaughter for human consumption; and WHEREAS, The slaughter of American horses has continued unabated despite the closing in 2007 of the three slaughter houses then still operating within the United States; and WHEREAS, Federal legislation has been introduced, the Conyers-Burton Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2009, that would prohibit the possession, shipping, transporting, purchasing, selling, delivering, or receiving of horses and other equines in interstate or foreign commerce for slaughter for human consumption; and WHEREAS, Horse slaughter is not humane euthanasia and methods used to kill American horses in Canada and Mexico are cruel and crude, causing suffering to these animals; and WHEREAS, Horse slaughter has been detrimental to the communities where slaughtering facilities have been located, with significant negative impacts to these communities ranging from nuisance odors to chronic sewer and environmental violations; and WHEREAS, Horse slaughter provides a quick and likely untraceable avenue for disposal of stolen horses; and WHEREAS, Horse slaughter is not a means of controlling numbers of unwanted, abandoned, or neglected horses, but, rather, is a for-profit operation driven by a demand for horsemeat in some foreign countries; and WHEREAS, American horses are not raised, fed, or medicated within the FDA guidelines established for food animals, making them potentially unfit and unsafe for human consumption; and WHEREAS, In America, horses are an icon of our history, traditions, and culture, revered for their contributions to the building of this country, their companionship, and their special bond with people; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature hereby urges Congress to support federal legislation to protect American horses from slaughter for human consumption; and be it further Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate is hereby authorized and directed to transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, the Majority Leader of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.