Amended in Assembly March 16, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 147

Introduced by Assembly Member Dababneh

(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Waldron)

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bloom, Linder, Mullin, Wilk, and Williams)

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(Coauthor: Senator Leno)

January 15, 2015

An act to add Section 66017.7 to the Education Code, relating to postsecondary education.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 147, as amended, Dababneh. Postsecondary education: animal research.

Existing law establishes a state policy that no adoptable animal should be euthanized if it can be adopted into a suitable home.

Existing law authorizes the State Department of Public Health to prescribe rules under which approval shall be granted to persons who wish to keep or use animals for diagnostic purposes, education, or research. Existing law authorizes the State Department of Public Health to make, promulgate, modify, amend, or rescind reasonable rules and regulations relating to the use of animals in diagnostic procedures and medical research. A person who violates these provisions is guilty of a misdemeanor.

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Existing law establishes

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begin insert Under existing law, the segments of postsecondary education in this state include end insert the University of California, the California State University, the California Community Colleges, and independent institutions of higher education, as begin delete defined, as the 4 segments of postsecondary education in this state end delete begin insert defined end insert .

This bill would require begin delete any public postsecondary educational institution, as defined to include end delete any campus of the University of California, the California State University, or the California Community Colleges, or an independent institution of higher education, as defined, or begin insert an end insert employee or student thereof, that confines dogs or cats for science or research begin delete purposes and intends to destroy the dog or cat used for those purposes end delete begin insert purposes, if the institution determines, after the completion of any testing or research, that an animal’s destruction is not required and the animal is no longer needed and if the institution’s existing procedures for adopting the animal do not result in an adoption, end insert to begin delete first end delete offer the dog or cat to an animal adoption organization or animal rescue organization, as begin delete defined. end delete begin insert defined, prior to euthanizing the animal. end insert The bill would not apply to animals suffering from a serious illness or severe injury, or to newborn animals that need maternal care and have been impounded without their mothers.

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.  

Section 66017.7 is added to the Education Code,
to read:

66017.7.  

(a) Any public postsecondary educational institution
or independent institution of higher education, or employee or
student thereof, that confines dogs or cats for the purposes set forth
in Section 1650 of the Health and Safety Code, begin insert if the institution
determines, after the completion of any testing or research, that
an animal’s destruction is not required and the animal is no longer
needed, and if the institution’s existing procedures for adopting
the animal do not result in an adoption, end insert shall offer the dogs or cats
to an animal adoption organization or animal rescue organization
for adoption prior to euthanizing those begin delete animals, after the
completion of any testing or research where the animal’s
destruction is not required and the animal is no longer needed. end delete
begin insert animals. end insert A public postsecondary educational institution or
independent institution of higher education that is required to offer
dogs or cats to an animal adoption organization or animal rescue
organization under this section may enter into an agreement with
an animal adoption organization or animal rescue organization for
the implementation of this section.

(b) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall
apply:

(1) “Animal adoption organization” or “animal rescue
organization” means a not-for-profit entity that is exempt from
taxation pursuant to Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue
Code or a collaboration of individuals, with at least one of its
purposes being the sale or placement of animals that have been
removed from a public animal control agency or shelter, society
for the prevention of cruelty to animals shelter, or humane shelter,
or that have been previously owned by any person.

(2) “Independent institution of higher education” means a
nonpublic educational institution as defined in subdivision (b) of
Section 66010.

(3) “Public postsecondary educational institution” means any
campus of the University of California, the California State
University, or the California Community Colleges.

(c) This section does not apply to animals within the meaning
of Section 17006 of the Food and Agricultural Code.