BILL NUMBER: AB 147 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 18, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 12, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 16, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Dababneh
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Waldron)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Bloom, Bonta, Linder, Mullin, Wilk,
and Williams)
(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.
Under existing law, the segments of postsecondary education in
this state include the University of California, the California State
University, the California Community Colleges, and independent
institutions of higher education, as defined.
This bill would require a 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 an employee or student thereof, that confines dogs or
cats for science or research purposes, if the institution
assesses the health of an animal and determines, after the
completion of any testing or research, that an
the animal is suitable for adoption, the animal's
destruction is not required required,
and the animal is no longer needed needed,
and if the institution's existing procedures for adopting the
animal do not result in an adoption, to offer the dog or cat to an
animal adoption organization or animal rescue organization, as
defined, prior to euthanizing the animal. 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) A 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, if the institution
assesses the health of an animal and determines, after the
completion of any testing or research, that an
the animal is suitable for adoption, the animal's
destruction is not required 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,
shall offer the dogs or cats to an animal adoption organization or
animal rescue organization for adoption prior to euthanizing those
animals. 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. established for
purposes of rescuing animals in need and finding permanent, adoptive
homes for those animals and that maintain records pursuant to Section
32003 of the Food and Agriculture Code.
(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.