BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 316 (Maienschein) - Veterinarians: cruelty incidents
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|Version: June 30, 2015 |Policy Vote: B., P. & E.D. 6 - |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: August 17, 2015 |Consultant: Brendan McCarthy |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 316 would exempt veterinarians licensed in other
states from state licensure requirements when offering temporary
veterinary services in response to a "cruelty incident" and
allow the operation of temporary animal shelters.
Fiscal
Impact:
One-time information technology costs of about $400,000 to
create two new licensing categories to allow for the issuance
of temporary licenses to out-of-state veterinarians and
sponsoring entities (Veterinary Medical Board Contingent
Fund). The Department of Consumer Affairs is currently in the
process of implementing a new computerized system for managing
license applications by its licensing boards and bureaus. The
Department indicates that the bill would require that system
to be modified to allow the Board of Veterinary Medicine to
issue two new kinds of license and related fees.
AB 316 (Maienschein) Page 1 of
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Minor ongoing costs by the Board of Veterinary Medicine to
adopt regulations and provide oversight for any out-of-state
veterinarians that use the authority under the bill.
Background: Under current law, veterinarians are licensed by the
Veterinary Medical Board. Veterinary clinics and hospitals and
animal shelters must be registered with the Veterinary Medical
Board.
Current law allows health care practitioners from other states
(including veterinarians) to practice their profession in the
state without a California license during a declared state of
emergency.
Proposed Law:
AB 316 would exempt veterinarians licensed in other states who
offer temporary veterinary services in response to a "cruelty
incident" from state licensure requirements.
Specific provisions of the bill would:
Authorize the operation of a temporary animal shelter in
response to a "cruelty incident";
Define a cruelty incident to include a violation of
animal fighting or animal cruelty laws involving numerous
animals;
At the request of an animal control department or law
enforcement agency, authorize a sponsoring entity to
operate a temporary animal shelter and deploy out-of-state
veterinarians;
Require an out-of-state veterinarian to receive
authorization from the Board of Veterinary Medicine and
meet specified requirements;
Require a sponsoring entity to register with the Board,
with specified requirements.
Related
Legislation: AB 317 (Maienschein) would exempt a temporary animal shelter
from registration requirements, if it is operated by a
California licensed veterinarian or a veterinarian licensed in
another state during a state of emergency. That bill will be
sent to the Senate Floor pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8.
AB 316 (Maienschein) Page 2 of
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Staff
Comments: The kind of cruelty incident addressed by the bill
are not likely to occur frequently in the state. It does not
seem a worthwhile use of fee revenues to modify the existing
system for issuing licenses at significant cost only to issue a
very small number of authorizations to set up temporary animal
shelters and/or deploy out-of-state veterinarians.
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