BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2269|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2269
Author: Waldron (R), et al.
Amended: 8/2/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/28/16
AYES: Jackson, Moorlach, Anderson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning,
Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/11/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 4/25/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Animal shelters: research animals: prohibitions
SOURCE: Cruelty Free International
State Humane Association of California
DIGEST: This bill prohibits a person or animal shelter from
euthanizing an animal for the purpose of transferring the
carcass to a research facility or animal dealer, prohibits the
transferring of live animals to a research facility or animal
dealer, as specified, and makes other conforming changes.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
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1)Declares that it is the policy of this state that no adoptable
animal should be euthanized if it can be adopted into a
suitable home, and that no treatable animal should be
euthanized if with treatment it could become adoptable with
reasonable efforts. (Civ. Code Sec. 1834.4.)
2)Provides that whenever an animal is delivered to a
veterinarian, dog kennel, cat kennel, pet-grooming parlor,
animal hospital, or any other animal care facility, and the
owner of the animal does not pick up the animal within 14
calendar days after the day the animal was initially due to be
picked up, the animal shall be deemed to be abandoned. (Civ.
Code Sec. 1834.5 (a).)
3)Requires the person into whose custody the animal is placed
for care to try for at least 10 days to find a new owner for
the animal, or turn the animal over to a public animal control
agency or shelter, society for the prevention of cruelty to
animals shelter, humane society shelter, or nonprofit animal
rescue group, provided that the shelter or rescue group has
been contacted and has agreed to take the animal. (Civ. Code
Sec. 1834.5 (a).)
4)Authorizes the animal care facility to have the abandoned
animal euthanized if it is unable to place the animal with a
new owner, shelter, or rescue group as described above.
Existing law further authorizes a veterinarian to euthanize an
animal abandoned with the veterinarian or with a facility that
has a veterinarian, if a new owner cannot be found after
following the specified procedures for holding the animal
described above. (Civ. Code Sec. 1834.5 (a) and (b).)
5)Prohibits any animals abandoned at veterinarian hospitals,
kennels, pet grooming parlors, and animal hospitals from being
used for scientific or any other type of experimentation.
(Civ. Code Sec. 1834.5 (e).)
6)Requires any pound or animal regulation department of a public
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or private agency who turns over living or dead animals to
biological supply facilities or research facilities to post a
specified notice clearly visible to the public stating that
animals turned in to the pound or department may be used for
research purposes or to supply blood, tissue, or other
biological products. (Civ. Code Sec. 1834.7 (a).)
This bill:
1)Prohibits a person or animal shelter from euthanizing an
animal for the purpose of transferring the carcass to a
research facility or animal dealer, as specified.
2)Prohibits a person or animal shelter that accepts animals from
the public or takes in stray or unwanted animals from selling,
giving, or otherwise transferring a living animal to a
research facility, animal dealer, or other person for the
purpose of research, experimentation, or testing.
3)Requires a posting of a specified notice only when an animal
shelter entity transfers dead animals to a biological supply
facility or a research facility.
4)Prohibits a research facility, animal dealer, or other person
from receiving a living animal from procuring, purchasing,
receiving, accepting, or using a living animal for the purpose
of research, experimentation, or testing if that animal is
transferred from, or received from, an animal shelter or other
person that accepts animals from the public or takes in stray
or unwanted animals.
5)Provides that nothing in the bill's provisions prohibit a
research facility from working in collaboration with an animal
shelter to investigate problems and provide services to
shelter animals.
6)Establishes a civil penalty of $1,000 for a violation of the
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bill's provisions, in an action to be brought by the district
attorney or city attorney of the county or city where the
violation occurred. When collected, the civil penalty shall be
payable to the general fund of the governmental entity that
brought the action to assess the penalty.
7)Defines "animal dealer" as a person who, in commerce, for
compensation or profit, delivers for transportation, or
transports, except as a carrier, or who buys, sells, or
negotiates the purchase or sale of any animal, whether alive
or dead, for research, teaching, exhibition, or biological
supply.
8)Defines "animal shelter entity" as including but limited to an
animal regulation agency, humane society, society for the
prevention of cruelty to animals, or other private or public
animal shelter.
9)Defines "person" as an individual, partnership, firm, limited
liability company, joint-stock company, corporation,
association, trust, estate, governmental agency, or other
legal entity.
Background
Pound seizure became common in the United States in the 1940s,
with the biomedical industry actually spearheading legislation
in several states to legally require animal shelters to provide
dogs and cats to research laboratories either directly, or
through animal dealers who collect animals from shelters and
other sources and sell them into experimentation.
After media accounts of family pets being stolen and sold by
animal dealers in the 1960s, Congress passed the Animal Welfare
Act in 1966 to regulate pound seizures and the theft and resale
of animals into experimentation. Among other things, the Animal
Welfare Act requires animal shelters and pounds to hold cats and
dogs for a minimum of five days before they are sold to a
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dealer, and requires dealers to provide the recipient of the cat
or dog with a certification containing certain information, such
as a description of the animal and the name of the shelter it
came from. (7 U.S.C. Sec. 2158.) According to Cruelty Free
International, however, the Animal Welfare Act "fell short of
its intended goals and public expectation." Specifically, by
making it slower and more cumbersome to obtain animals from
pounds, some individuals began stealing more pets in order to
sell them to research and biomedical institutes. In addition,
it created a financial incentive for some animal shelters to
sell animals to research institutes instead of making them
available for adoption.
Currently, California law prohibits the sale of animals that are
abandoned at veterinarian hospitals, kennels, pet grooming
parlors, and animal hospitals into any type of research, but
condones the practice if the animal is transferred from an
animal shelter entity, as long as appropriate signs at shelters
inform the public of the practice. Seeking to bring consistency
to state law, this bill prohibits the sale or transfer of live
animals from pounds and animal shelters to any animal dealer or
research facility, and prohibits the euthanizing of a shelter
animal for the purpose of transferring the carcass to a research
facility or animal dealer.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Local agency animal shelters: Significant ongoing care and
treatment costs, potentially state-reimbursable (General Fund)
to local agency animal shelters that accept and care for stray
and abandoned animals that will be prohibited from selling,
giving, or otherwise transferring living animals to research
facilities or animal dealers, as well as prohibited from
euthanizing animals for the purpose of transferring to a
research facility or animal dealer. The Commission on State
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Mandates (CSM) in its decision on the claim Animal Adoption
98-TC-11, determined that only local agencies are mandated by
the state to accept and care for stray and abandoned animals.
As a result, despite the fact that the imposition of specified
activities is imposed upon both public and private animal
shelters, private shelters are not required to take in stray
and abandoned animals whereas local agency shelters are
required to do so. Therefore, to the extent the provisions of
this bill constitute a higher level of service imposed on
local agency public shelters to provide care and treatment for
stray and abandoned animals for an extended period of time due
to the prohibition on selling, giving, or transferring
animals, local agencies could potentially be eligible for
reimbursement for the increased costs. Staff notes the
reimbursable mandate Animal Adoption has been suspended in the
annual Budget Act. Thus, any additional activities mandated on
local agencies that accept stray or abandoned animals
potentially may not be subject to reimbursement during the
period the mandate is suspended should the CSM make that
determination.
University of California (UC): The UC has indicated no
significant fiscal impact based on the latest amendments to
the bill that clarify under what circumstances an animal may
be transferred to a research facility.
New civil penalty: Potential minor increase in civil penalty
revenues (Local Funds) to the extent district attorneys or
city attorneys bring forth actions for violations of this
section.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/12/16)
Cruelty Free International (co-source)
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State Humane Association of California (co-source)
Beagle Freedom Project
County of Riverside
Cruelty Free International
Humane Society of the United States
Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association
League of California Cities
New England Anti-Vivisection Society
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Los Angeles
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/12/16)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: In support, the League of California
Cities writes:
Current law already prohibits animals that are abandoned at
veterinary hospitals, grooming parlors and kennels from being
used for experimentation. AB 2269 would merely extend this
prohibition to pounds and animal shelters. A number of cities
have already banned this outdated practice, including West
Hollywood, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Scotts Valley,
Laguna Woods, Nevada City, and Paradise.
Additionally, leading medical research institutions have begun
to question or prohibit the use of animals acquired from
pounds or animal shelters for experimentation. In fact,
according to a 2009 report commissioned by the National
Academy of Sciences, demand for random sourced animals (a
category of animals that includes those from pounds and animal
shelters) has significantly fallen over the last 30 years. AB
2269 is a common sense measure that builds off local
ordinances that have already prohibited this unnecessary
practice.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 4/25/16
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Page 8
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,
Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes,
McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte,
O'Donnell, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas,
Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner,
Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Chang, Olsen, Williams
Prepared by:Nichole Rapier / JUD. / (916) 651-4113
8/16/16 9:15:10
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