BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    SB 1270  


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          Date of Hearing:  August 3, 2016


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                               Lorena Gonzalez, Chair


          SB 1270  
          (Galgiani) - As Introduced February 18, 2016


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          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  NoReimbursable:  No


          SUMMARY:


          This bill extends the sunset from January 1, 2017 to January 1,  
          2022, for the California Department of Food and Agriculture  
          (CDFA) to establish a fee schedule to recover the reasonable  
          costs associated with animal health services that do not provide  
          a benefit beyond the payer.


          FISCAL EFFECT


          No additional state costs. 









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          COMMENTS:


          Purpose and Background. CDFA's Animal Health Branch (AHB)  
          focuses on protecting livestock populations from devastating  
          diseases that require statewide coordination. AHB investigates  
          known or suspected cases of specified diseases, conducts animal  
          disease surveillance and traceability programs, and prepares and  
          executes emergency response planning. Examples of disease  
          surveillance programs include tuberculosis, brucellosis, bovine  
          spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease), and avian diseases.  
          AHB also permits and monitors over 2 million animals entering  
          California annually. 


          A trailer bill to the Budget Act of 2011, Chapter 133, Statutes  
          of 2011 (AB 120), authorized CDFA to establish a fee schedule in  
          order to recover costs associated with animal health services  
          that do not provide a benefit beyond the payer, among other  
          provisions. This includes a service that is required for a  
          personal matter, is not related to a suspected animal health  
          disease outbreak, and there are no private veterinarians  
          certified by CDFA to perform the service. The author notes that  
          such instances may occur in remote, where there are no private  
          veterinarians certified by CDFA to do specific regulated work,  
          such as test cattle for tuberculosis or administer a vaccine for  
          brucellosis. In these rare instances, the only veterinary  
          service available in the area is a CDFA field veterinarian.  


          The service fee may not exceed $500 for a particular license,  
          permit, registration, product, or service. This authority is set  
          to sunset on January 1, 2017.


          Analysis Prepared by:Luke Reidenbach / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081









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