BILL NUMBER: SB 2082 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 3, 2000
INTRODUCED BY Senator O'Connell
FEBRUARY 25, 2000
An act to add Section 1834.8 to the Civil Code, relating to animal
testing.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 2082, as amended, O'Connell. Animals: safety testing.
Under existing law, any pound or animal regulation department of a
public or private agency where animals are turned over to a research
facility is required to post a clearly visible notice that animals
turned in to the agency may be used for research purposes.
This bill would prohibit manufacturers and contract testing
facilities from using traditional animal test methods in this state
for which an appropriate alternative method has been scientifically
validated and recommended by the United States federal Inter-Agency
Coordinating Committee for the Validation of Alternative Methods or
other specified agencies. The bill would impose
make a civil penalty of $5,000 for each violation
of this provision, which would be assessed and recovered as
specified action for injunctive relief the exclusive
remedy for enforcing these provisions .
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1834.8 is added to the Civil Code, to read:
1834.8. (a) Manufacturers and contract testing facilities shall
not use traditional animal test methods within this state for which
an appropriate alternative test method has been scientifically
validated and recommended by the Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee
for the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM) and adopted by the
relevant federal agency or agencies or program
within an agency responsible for regulating the specific
product or activity for which the test is being conducted.
(b) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the use of any
alternative nonanimal test method for the testing of any product,
product formulation, chemical, or ingredient that is not recommended
by ICCVAM.
(c) Nothing in this section shall preempt state law or
regulation prohibit the use of animal tests to comply
with requirements of state agencies. Nothing in this section shall
prohibit the use of animal tests to comply with requirements of
federal agencies when the federal agency has approved an alternative
nonanimal test pursuant to subdivision (a) and the federal agency
staff concludes that the alternative nonanimal test does not assure
the health or safety of consumers .
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any
person, manufacturer, or contract testing facility that violates
subdivision (a) shall be enjoined from further violation and be
liable for a civil penalty of five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each
violation which shall be assessed and recovered in a civil action
brought by the Attorney General, any district attorney, or any entity
lawfully organized under the federal Internal Revenue Service Code
as a 501(c)3 or 501(c)4 organization for the purpose of protecting or
providing for the welfare of animals. The prevailing party in any
civil action brought under this section shall be awarded attorney's
fees and costs as determined by the court. the
exclusive remedy for enforcing this section shall be a civil action
for injunctive relief brought by the Attorney General, the district
attorney of the county in which the violation is alleged to have
occurred, or a city attorney of a city or a city and county having a
population in excess of 250,000 and in which the violation is alleged
to have occurred. If the court determines that the Attorney General
or district attorney is the prevailing party in the enforcement
action, the official may also recover costs, attorney fees, and a
civil penalty not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000) in that
action.
(e) This section shall not apply to any animal test performed for
the purpose of medical research.
(f) For the purposes of this section, these terms have the
following meanings:
(1) "Animal" means vertebrate nonhuman animal.
(2) "Manufacturer" means any individual,
partnership, corporation, association, or other legal relationship
that produces chemicals, ingredients, product formulations, or
products in this state.
(3) "Contract testing facility" means any individual,
partnership, corporation, association, or other legal
relationship that tests chemicals, ingredients, product formulations,
or products in this state.
(4) "ICCVAM" means the Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee for the
Validation of Alternative Methods, a federal committee comprised of
representatives from 14 federal regulatory or research agencies,
including the Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection
Agency, and Consumer Products Safety Commission, that reviews the
validity of alternative test methods. The committee is the federal
mechanism for recommending appropriate, valid test methods to
relevant federal agencies.
(5) "Medical research" means research related to the causes,
diagnosis, treatment, control, and or
prevention of physical and or mental
diseases and impairments of humans and animals or related to the
development of biomedical products, devices, or drugs as defined in
Section 321(g)(1) of Title 21 the United States Code .
(6) "Traditional animal test method" means a process or procedure
using animals to obtain information on the characteristics of a
chemical or agent. Toxicological test methods generate information
regarding the ability of a chemical or agent to produce a specific
biological effect under specified conditions.
(7) "Validated alternative test method" means a test method that
does not use animals, or in some cases reduces or refines the current
use of animals , for which the reliability and relevance
for a specific purpose has been established in validation studies as
specified in the ICCVAM report provided to the relevant federal
agencies.
(8) "Person" means an individual with managerial control,
partnership, corporation, association, or other legal relationship.
(9) "Adopted by a federal agency" means a formal
final action taken by an agency, published in
the Federal Register, for public notice.