BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 27 (Hill) - Livestock: use of antibiotics
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|Version: December 1, 2014 |Policy Vote: AGRI. 3 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: May 4, 2015 |Consultant: Robert Ingenito |
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SUSPENSE FILE. AS AMENDED.
Bill
Summary: This bill would (1) restrict the use of antimicrobial
drugs in livestock for specified purposes and require a
veterinarian's prescription, (2) require the California
Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) to develop a program
to track both antimicrobial use in livestock and the emergence
of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and (3) require CDFA to adopt
judicious use regulations and antibiotic stewardship guidelines.
Additionally, the bill would create a new crime, such that
violations of its provisions would be a misdemeanor punishable
by a fine and/or imprisonment in a county jail, as specified.
Fiscal Impact (as approved on May 28,
2015): Unknown costs to CDFA to develop a program to track the
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use of antimicrobial drugs in livestock. Cost would be dependent
on the scope of the program developed and the extent to which
funding is made available (special fund).
Background: Antimicrobial drugs were first developed in 1928 and became
widely used in human medicine in the 1940s. These new drugs
quickly proved to have significant health benefits in both human
and animal medicine and to this day are extremely important and
valuable tools used to treat and prevent illness and infection.
However, incidences of antimicrobial resistance have been
recorded over time and, if not addressed, pose a serious threat
to public health.
Antimicrobial resistance may develop for several reasons, and
one of the most widely accepted contributors to antimicrobial
resistance is the misuse of antimicrobial drugs. When bacteria
are exposed to an antimicrobial drug, it provides the
opportunity for 'survival of the fittest' where only the
strongest, most immune bacteria survive. These surviving
antimicrobial-resistant bacteria then multiply to form new
colonies of resistant bacteria that may spread and infect other
individuals. For this reason, it is important to use
antimicrobial drugs judiciously in both human and animal
medicine as one method to mitigate resistance.
In 2013, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
issued a report titled Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the
United States. CDC estimates that, nationwide, more than two
million people are sickened every year with antibiotic-resistant
infections, 23,000 of which result in death. In its report, CDC
lists four core actions that fight the spread of antibiotic
resistance: 1) preventing infections from occurring and
preventing resistant bacteria from spreading, 2) tracking
resistant bacteria, 3) improving the use of antibiotics, and 4)
promoting the development of new antibiotics and new diagnostic
tests for resistant bacteria.
CDC notes that the use of antibiotics is the single most
important factor leading to antibiotic resistance around the
world. Up to 50 percent of all antibiotics prescribed for people
are either not needed or not optimally effective as prescribed.
Antibiotics are also used in food-producing animals for the
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purpose of promoting growth, which the CDC recommends phasing
out. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has developed
guidances to promote judicious use of antimicrobials that would
prohibit their use for improved feed efficiency or increased
weight gain. According to the FDA's annual report on
antimicrobial sales for animal use, 97 percent of medically
important antimicrobial drugs are sold over-the-counter and not
through a veterinarian's prescription or feed directive.
September 18, 2014, President Obama issued Executive Order
13676: Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, which states
that this is an issue of national security and that "the Federal
Government will work domestically and internationally to detect,
prevent, and control illness and death related to
antibiotic-resistant infections by implementing measures that
reduce the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria
and help ensure the continued availability of effective
therapeutics for the treatment of bacterial infections." Later
that same month, the White House issued the National Strategy
for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria, and in March 2015,
the White House issued the National Action Plan for Combating
Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (Action Plan). The Action Plan
lays out a five-year plan with five distinct goals: 1) slow the
emergence of resistant bacteria, 2) strengthen One-Health
surveillance efforts, 3) advance the development and use of
rapid diagnostic tests to identify resistant bacteria, 4)
accelerate the development of new antibiotics, other treatments,
and vaccines, and 5) improve international collaboration to
achieve these goals. For antimicrobial use in food animals
(livestock), the Action Plan seeks to implement FDA's guidances
for industry.
Proposed Law:
This bill would, among other things, do the following:
Provide definitions for both "medically important
antimicrobial drug" and "livestock."
Prohibit the administration of a medically important
antimicrobial drug unless prescribed by a veterinarian that
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has established a veterinarian-client-patient relationship.
Prohibit the use of a medically important antimicrobial
drug for the sole purpose of increasing weight gain or
improving feed efficiency.
Require CDFA to develop a program to track the use of
medically important antimicrobial drugs in livestock as
well as antibiotic-resistant bacteria and patterns of
emerging resistance, and report specified information.
Require CDFA, until March 1, 2020, to submit an annual
report to the Legislature that summarizes the data from the
tracking program.
Require CDFA to adopt regulations to promote the
judicious use of medically important antimicrobial drugs in
livestock. Regulations shall include antibiotic
stewardship guidelines that include rules on the proper use
of medically important antimicrobial drugs for disease
prevention.
Define "antibiotic stewardship" as a commitment to: a)
use medically important antimicrobial drugs only when
necessary to treat and, in some cases, prevent disease and
b) to choose and administer the appropriate medically
important antimicrobial drug correctly each time.
Create a new crime by making a violation of this chapter
a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in county jail
and/or a fine not exceeding $1,000.
Related
Legislation:
SB 770 (Mendoza) of 2015. This bill would require the
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California Department of Food and Agriculture to continue
to be the primary regulatory agency responsible for
regulating medicated feed. This bill is currently on Third
Reading on the Senate Floor.
AB 49 (Mullin) of 2015. This bill would make findings
and declarations regarding antibiotic use in food-producing
animals and would state the intent of the legislature to
enact legislation that would address the overuse of
antibiotics in livestock production. This bill has not yet
been assigned to a committee.
SB 835 (Hill) of 2014. This bill would have codified the
Food and Drug Administration's Guidance for Industry #213,
dated December 2013, by requiring CDFA to refuse to
register a livestock drug administered in the feed or
drinking water of food animals if such drug is a medically
important antimicrobial drug. The bill was vetoed by the
Governor.
AB 1437 (Mullin) of 2014. This bill would have
prohibited the sale of poultry or livestock in California
if a medically important antimicrobial drug had been
administered to the animal for nontherapeutic use such as
growth promotion, feed efficiency, weight gain, or disease
prevention. This bill would have required producers to
maintain records and slaughter facilities to report
specified information in regards to the use of medically
important antimicrobial drugs. Hearing canceled at the
request of the author; died in the Assembly Committee on
Agriculture.
Staff
Comments: As noted above, the Governor vetoed a previous
version of this bill in 2014 (SB 835, Hill). In his veto
message, Governor Brown stated that "more needs to be done to
understand and reduce our reliance on antibiotics. To that end,
I am directing CDFA to work with the Legislature to find new and
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effective ways to reduce the unnecessary antibiotics used for
livestock and poultry." As was discussed when the bill had its
hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee, the current
version of the bill is generally considered to be a working
draft, and is currently awaiting input from the Administration.
Author Amendments (as adopted on May 28, 2015): Amendments would
(1) eliminate the reporting requirement, (2) to make data
tracking contingent on future funding, and (3) delete the bill's
establishment of a new crime.
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