BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 339|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 339
Author: Dickinson (D), et al.
Amended: 6/25/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 5-1, 6/18/13
AYES: Hancock, Block, De León, Liu, Steinberg
NOES: Knight
NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 63-10, 5/23/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Sale of animals at swap meets
SOURCE : Born Free USA
State Humane Association of California
DIGEST : This bill, beginning January 1, 2016, makes it
unlawful to sell animals at a swap meet unless the local
jurisdiction has adopted an ordinance that includes specified
requirements relating to the care and treatment of the animals.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Defines "swap meet" to include a flea market or an open-air
market and means an event at which two or more persons offer
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merchandise for sale or exchange and that meets one of the
following conditions:
A. A fee is charged for the privilege of offering or
displaying merchandise for sale or exchange;
B. A fee is charged to prospective buyers for parking or
for admission to the area where merchandise is offered or
displayed for sale or exchange; or
C. The event is held more than six times in any 12-month
period.
1.Makes it unlawful, with specified exceptions, for any person
to willfully sell or offer for sale, display, or give away or
offer to give away as part of a commercial transaction a live
animal on any street, highway, public right-of-way, parking
lot, carnival, or boardwalk.
2.Makes it an alternate felony/misdemeanor punishable by
imprisonment in the county jail, a fine not to exceed $20,000,
or both a fine and imprisonment for every person who
maliciously and intentionally maims, mutilates, tortures,
wounds or kills a living animal, except as specified, or who
overloads, overworks, denies sustenance, cruelly beats,
mutilates, or cruelly kills any animal, and whoever having
custody of an animal, either as owner or otherwise, subjects
an animal to needless suffering or inflicts unnecessary
cruelty upon the animal, or in any manner abuses any animal,
or fails to provide an animal with proper food, drink, or
shelter or proper protection from the weather.
3.Regulates, under the Lockyer-Polanco-Farr Pet Protection Act
(Act) the sale and care of dogs and cats by pet dealers, as
defined, and provides for civil penalties enforced by the
local district attorney or city attorney in an amount up to
$1000 for violations of the Act and requires, in part, a pet
dealer to maintain facilities where dogs are kept in a
sanitary condition and provide adequate nutrition, potable
water, and space appropriate to the age, size, weight, and
breed of dog.
This bill:
1.Provides that a swap meet operator may permit a vendor to
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offer animals for sale at a swap meet if the local
jurisdiction has adopted standard for care and treatment of
animals for sale at a swap meets.
2.Provides that it does not apply to the sale of a particular
species of animal if a local jurisdiction has adopted a local
ordinance prior to January 1, 2013, that applies to the sale
of that species at swap meets.
3.Provides that any ordinance adopted will at minimum require
the vendor to do all of the following:
A. Maintain the facilities used for keeping of animals in a
sanitary condition.
B. Provide proper heating and ventilation for the
facilities used for the keeping of animals.
C. Provide adequate nutrition for, and humane care and
treatment of all animals that are under his/her care and
control.
D. Take reasonable care to release for sale, trade, or
adoption only those animals that are free of disease or
injuries.
E. Provide adequate space appropriate to the size, weight,
and species of animal.
F. Provide a program of routine care, preventive care,
disease control and prevention and veterinary treatment and
euthanasia that is established by the vendor in
consultation with a licensed veterinarian. A veterinarian
shall visit the swap meet premises at least once a year.
G. Provide buyers of an animal with general written
recommendations for the generally accepted care of the type
of animal sold, including recommendations as to the housing
equipment, cleaning, environment, and feeding of the
animal. The written information can be in a form
determined by the vendor.
H. Present for inspection and display a current business
license issued by the local jurisdiction where the animals
are principally housed.
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I. Maintain records for identification purposes of the
person from whom the animals offered for sale were acquired
including the person's name, address, email address, and
telephone number and the date the animals were acquired.
1.Provides that a swap meet vendor, who offers animals for sale
at a swap meet in a local jurisdiction that has not adopted an
ordinance authorizing that sale, is guilty of an infraction
punishable by a fine not to exceed $100 plus penalty
assessments.
2.Provides that a swap meet vendor who has a second or
subsequent violation is guilty of an infraction punishable by
a fine not to exceed $500 per violation plus penalty
assessments. The courts shall weigh the gravity of the
violation in setting the amount of the fine.
3.Provides that it does not apply to:
A. Events held by 4-H Clubs, Junior Farmers Clubs or Future
Farmers Clubs.
B. The California Exposition and State Fair, District
Agricultural Association Fairs or County Fairs.
C. Regulated stockyards.
D. The sale of specific farm animals at public sales for
those animals.
E. Live animal markets regulated under Penal Code Section
597.3.
F. A public animal control agency or shelter, society for
the prevention of cruelty to animals, shelter, human
society shelter, or rescue group as defined.
G. The sale of fish or shellfish, live or dead, from a
fishing vessel or registered aquaculture facility, at a
pier or wharf, or at a licensed farmer's market.
H. A cat show, dog show or bird show under specified
conditions.
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I. A pet store as defined.
J. Any reptile or aquatic trade show under specified
conditions.
1.This bill has a delayed operative date of January 1, 2016.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/9/13)
Born Free USA (co-source)
State Humane Association of California (co-source)
Action for Animals
AFSCME
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Animal Place
Avian Welfare Coalition
California Animal Control Directors Association
Central California SPCA
Central Coast Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
County of San Bernardino, District Attorney Michael Ramos
House Rabbit Society
Humane Society of the United States
Humane Society of Ventura County
Humane Society Silicon Valley
Inland Valley Humane Society
Lake Tahoe Humane Society
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
Marin Humane Society
Orange County SPCA
Palo Alto Humane Society
Pasadena Humane Society & SPCA
Paw PAC
Protecting Earth & Animals with Compassion & Education
Public Interest Coalition
RedRover
Sacramento Council of Dog Clubs
Sacramento SPCA
San Francisco SPCA
Santa Cruz SPCA
Santa Maria Valley Humane Society
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Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles
SPCA for Monterey County
The Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association
Valley Humane Society
Yolo County SPCA
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author:
Animals are frequently sold at flea markets and swap meets
in terrible conditions. These venues provide little
oversight of the seller and no accountability to the
consumer. Laws that apply to pet shops do not apply to the
sale of animals at flea markets and swap meets. Swap meets
and flea markets have also historically been prime outlets
for the sale of smuggled birds presenting conservation,
welfare and disease risk concerns. The bargain-sales
atmosphere of flea markets and swap meets encourages
impulse-buying and leads to increased costs to local
government for sheltering discarded animals.
AB 339 would prohibit the sale of animals at swap meets and
flea markets unless the local jurisdiction at minimum
adopts standards as set forth in the bill, for the care and
treatment of animals at such venues by January 1, 2016. As
a result, the bill will prevent the suffering of animals,
protect consumers, and eliminate the public health and
safety risks and risks of other disease outbreaks
associated with such sale situations.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 63-10, 5/23/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Cooley,
Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hagman, Hall,
Roger Hernández, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Maienschein,
Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk,
Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Weber,
Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Bigelow, Conway, Dahle, Donnelly, Linder, Logue, Morrell,
Olsen, Patterson, Salas
NO VOTE RECORDED: Grove, Harkey, Holden, Jones, Waldron,
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Vacancy, Vacancy
JG:ej 8/12/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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