BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2716|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2716
Author: Dodd (D)
Amended: 3/10/16 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE: 5-0, 6/21/16
AYES: Galgiani, Cannella, Berryhill, Pan, Wolk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/1/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 5/5/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Meat processing establishment, custom livestock
slaughterhouse, and poultry plants: licensing and
inspectors
SOURCE: California Farm Bureau Federation
DIGEST: This bill extends, until January 1, 2022, the licensing
fees for livestock and poultry meat inspectors, livestock meat
processing inspectors, and livestock processing facilities,
slaughterhouses, and poultry plants, as specified.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Authorizes the secretary of the California Department of Food
and Agriculture (CDFA) to adopt rules, regulations, and
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standards regarding the inspection, sanitation, preparation,
processing, buying, selling, transporting, storing,
identifying, recordkeeping, registration, and labeling of
livestock and poultry products (Food and Agricultural Code §
18650 et seq.; § 24501 et seq.).
2)Requires livestock meat inspectors and processing inspectors
to obtain a license and pay a $100 licensing fee and a $25
penalty late fee, if applicable.
3)Requires meat processing and custom livestock slaughterhouses
to obtain a license and pay a $500 licensing fee, or more
depending on number of animals slaughtered, as specified.
4)Prohibits the operation of a slaughterhouse that is not
licensed, is not clean, does not meet building or equipment
sanitary standards, violates an order of a licensed inspector,
misbrands or mislabels livestock and poultry products, or
disposes of condemned and inedible carcasses in a manner that
violates law and/or regulations.
5)Requires poultry plants to obtain a license from CDFA and pay
a $500 licensing fee, or more depending on number of animals
slaughtered, as specified.
6)Requires poultry meat inspectors to obtain a license and pay a
$100 licensing fee and a $25 penalty late fee, if applicable.
This bill:
1)Extends to January 1, 2022, livestock meat inspector and
processing inspector licenses and fees.
2)Extends to January 1, 2022, meat processing and custom
livestock slaughterhouse licenses and fees.
3)Extends to January 1, 2022, poultry meat inspector and poultry
plant licenses and fees.
4)Deletes an obsolete provision.
Background
The California Meat and Poultry Inspection Act is designed to
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protect the health and welfare of consumers from unwholesome,
adulterated, or misbranded meat and poultry. The inspection
programs enforce requirements that are at least equal to those
imposed and enforced under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and
the Federal Poultry Products Inspection Act in order to comply
with intrastate operations and commerce.
The Meat, Poultry and Egg Safety Branch within the CDFA is
responsible for issuing licenses, training and evaluating
inspectors, and inspecting meat, poultry, and egg production
facilities that are exempt from United States Department of
Agriculture inspection. These facilities include custom
livestock slaughterhouses, meat processors, and some poultry
plants, as specified.
Comments
Need for this bill. CDFA's General Fund allocation was cut by
roughly $30 million, or one-third, during the 2011-2012 State
Budget reductions. Specifically, the Meat, Poultry and Egg
Safety Branch General Fund support was reduced by approximately
$200,000 in 2011 and $325,000 in 2012.
In response, the secretary was directed to convene meetings with
agricultural stakeholders to find solutions to limit the need
for state resources and improve fiscal responsibility. Some of
the solutions that arose from these meetings included
establishing and raising fees. In the case of livestock and
poultry licenses, fees were raised with the caveat that they be
reviewed every five years according to the sunset date. The
increased license fees generate approximately $200,000 in annual
revenue.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill will
not result in additional costs to the CDFA.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/2/16)
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California Farm Bureau Federation (source)
California Cattlemen's Association
California Poultry Federation
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/2/16)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the author, "Due to general
fund (GF) budget shortfalls in 2011, the Meat, Poultry and Egg
Safety Branch within the California Department of Food and
Agriculture (CDFA) had their GF reduced by approximately
$200,000, and then by approximately $325,000 in 2012, which
impacted several public health and safety programs. Through
discussions with the affected industry and licensees, CDFA
developed a new licensee and renewal fee structure that was
adopted in a Budget Trailer Bill (AB 120; Statutes of 2011)
which significantly increased the fees while CDFA streamlined
the administration of these programs. These increased fees were
given a five year sunset in order to have both the fees and
administration of the program reviewed. The current fee
structure and administrative changes have worked well and their
sunsets need to be extended."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 5/5/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier,
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, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting,
Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Beth Gaines
Prepared by:Anne Megaro / AGRI. / (916) 651-1508
8/3/16 19:11:03
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