BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1363 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 1363 (Salas) - As Amended March 26, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Agriculture |Vote:|9 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 AB 1363 Page 2 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 AB 1363 Page 3