BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



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          Date of Hearing:  May 13, 2015


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                                 Jimmy Gomez, Chair


          AB  
          1363 (Salas) - As Amended March 26, 2015


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          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  YesReimbursable:   
          No


          SUMMARY:


          This bill adds "other livestock animals" to the list of animals  
          defined as estray (which includes bovines, horses, mules, sheep,  
          swine, and burros) when impounded or seized and the owner is  
          unknown, and makes other technical changes to the Food and  
          Agriculture Code.


          FISCAL EFFECT:


          Negligible costs to local law enforcement; likely minor and  








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          absorbable enforcement costs, if any, to the Department of Food  
          and Agriculture.


          COMMENTS:


          1)Purpose.  According to the author, this bill expands the  
            definition of estray to better reflect additional domestic  
            animals popular with California farmers and ranchers,  
            including goats and alpacas.  According to US Department of  
            Agriculture Census on Agriculture data from 2012, California  
            had more dairy goats than any state except Wisconsin, and  
            California's alpaca herds have grown substantially in the past  
            30 years. 


          2)Lord Blackstone's Lost Sheep.  Under English common law, an  
            estray is any domestic animal found wandering or lost,  
            particularly if the owner is unknown.  It usually refers to  
            domesticated animals and not pets.  Under early common law,  
            estrays were forfeited to the king or lord of the manor, and  
            that lord or any other person taking up an estray was granted  
            a qualified property interest in the animal.  Such property  
            interest became absolute if the owner failed to claim the  
            animal within a time limit.  If the original owner did claim  
            the animal, he could still be liable to the finder for the  
            reasonable costs of maintaining the animal.


            


          Analysis Prepared by:Joel Tashjian / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081












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