Bill Text: CA AB3021 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Farm animals: egg-laying hens: confinement.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-08-16 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB3021 Detail]
Download: California-2017-AB3021-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
May 25, 2018 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION
| Assembly Bill | No. 3021 |
| Introduced by Assembly Members Levine, Medina, and Salas (Coauthor: Assembly Member Mathis) |
February 16, 2018 |
An act to amend Sections 27552 and 27554 of, and to add Division 8.5 (commencing with Section 16200) to to, the Food and Agricultural Code, relating to farm animals. animals, and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 3021, as amended, Levine.
Farm animals: egg-laying hens: confinement.
Existing
(1) Existing law, enacted by Proposition 2, an initiative measure approved by the voters at the November 4, 2008, statewide general election, prohibits a person from tethering or confining a calf raised for veal, a pregnant pig, or an egg-laying hen on a farm in a manner that prevents the animal from lying down, standing up, fully extending its limbs, or turning around freely, except under specified circumstances. Existing statutory law prohibits a shelled egg from being sold or contracted for sale for human
consumption in California if the seller knows or should have known that the egg is the product of an egg-laying hen that was confined on a farm or place that is not in compliance with the above-specified animal care standards.
This bill would also prohibit a farm owner or operator in California from confining an egg-laying hen in an enclosure that is not in compliance with specified standards, except as provided. The bill would prohibit a person from selling or contracting to sell shell eggs or liquid eggs in California from an egg-laying hen that was in an enclosure not in compliance with the specified standards. The bill would make a violation of the bill’s provisions a misdemeanor, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture to promulgate regulations for the implementation of those provisions on or before September 1, 2019.
(2) Existing law requires California and out-of-state egg handlers and producers to pay to the Secretary of Food and Agriculture a maximum fee of $0.15 for each 30 dozen eggs sold in this state, as provided. Existing law requires the fees paid to the secretary under these provisions to be deposited in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund, a continuously appropriated fund for these purposes. Existing law requires the secretary to establish a lower rate for these fees if the funds derived from the assessment are more than reasonably necessary to cover the cost of administration and enforcement of the preparation for market and marketing of eggs, as specified.
This bill would additionally authorize these fees to be used for the administration and enforcement of the provisions described in paragraph (1) and would make a conforming change. By expanding the purposes of a continuously appropriated fund,
this bill would make an appropriation.
The
(3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation:Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 27552 of the Food and Agricultural Code is amended to read:27552.
The fees provided in Section 27551 are maximum fees and shall be established at a lower rate by the secretary at any time the funds derived from the assessment are more than reasonably necessary to cover the cost of administration and enforcement of Division 8.5 (commencing with Section 16200) and this chapter, including the maintenance of a reasonable reserve fund for those purposes.SEC. 2.
Section 27554 of the Food and Agricultural Code is amended to read:27554.
The moneysSECTION 1.SEC. 3.
Division 8.5 (commencing with Section 16200) is added to the Food and Agricultural Code, to read:DIVISION 8.5. Farm Animal Confinement
16200.
For purposes of this division, the following terms have the following meanings:(a) “Cage-free housing system” means an indoor or outdoor controlled environment for egg-laying hens within which the egg-laying hens are free to roam unrestricted, are provided enrichments that allow them to exhibit natural behaviors, including, at a minimum, scratch areas, perches, nest boxes, and dust bathing areas, and within which farm employees can provide care while standing within the hens’ usable floor space. Cage-free housing systems include, to the extent they comply with the requirements of this subdivision, the following:
(1) Multitiered aviaries in which egg-laying hens have access to multiple elevated platforms that provide egg-laying hens with usable floor space both on top of and underneath the platforms.
(2) Partially slatted systems in which egg-laying hens have access to elevated flat platforms under which manure drops through the flooring to pit a pit litter removal belt below.
(3) Single level all litter floor systems bedded with litter in which egg-laying hens have limited or no access to elevated flat platforms.
(4) Other systems that comply with the
requirements of this subdivision, as determined by the department.
(b) “Covered animal” means an egg-laying hen.
(c) “Egg-laying hen” means any female domesticated chicken, turkey, duck, goose, or guinea fowl kept for the purpose of egg production.
(d) “Enclosure” means any cage, crate, or other structure used to confine a covered animal, including, but not limited to, a battery cage.
(e) “Farm” means the land, building, support facilities, and other equipment that is wholly or partially used for the commercial production of animals or animal products used for food or fiber. “Farm” does not include live animal markets or plants at which mandatory
inspection is maintained under the federal Egg Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. Sec. 1031 et seq.).
(f) “Farm owner or operator” means any person who owns or controls the operations of a farm.
(g) “Liquid eggs” means eggs intended for use as human food from an egg-laying hen broken from the shells with the yolks and whites in their natural proportions or with the yolks and whites separated, mixed, or mixed and strained. Liquid eggs may also include sugar, salt, water, seasoning, coloring, flavoring, preservatives, stabilizers, and similar food additives that are added to the liquid eggs.
(h) “Person” means an individual, firm, partnership, joint venture, association, limited liability company, corporation, estate, trust,
receiver, or syndicate.
(i) (1) “Sale” means a commercial sale by a person of any item covered by this division except a sale undertaken at an official plant at which mandatory inspection is maintained under the federal Egg Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. Sec. 1031 et seq.).
(2) A sale shall be deemed to occur at the location where the buyer takes physical possession of a product from a covered
animal.
(j) “Shell egg” means a whole egg of an egg-laying hen in its shell form intended for use as human food.
(k) “Usable floor space” means the total square footage of floor space provided to each covered animal, calculated by dividing the total square footage of floor space provided to the animals in an enclosure by the number of animals in that enclosure and includes both ground space and elevated level flat platforms upon which egg-laying hens can roost, but does not include perches or ramps.
16201.
(a) A farm owner or operator in California shall not confine an egg-laying hen in an enclosure that is not in compliance with the standard set forth in subdivision (d) of Section 1350 of Title 3 of the California Code of Regulations as of January 1, 2019.(b) On and after January 1, 2020, a farm owner or operator in California shall not confine an egg-laying hen in an enclosure with less than 144 square inches of usable floor space per egg-laying hen.
(c) On and after January 1, 2024, a farm owner or operator in California shall not confine an egg-laying hen in an enclosure with less than the amount of
usable floor space per egg-laying hen required by the 2017 edition of the United Egg Producers’ Animal Husbandry Guidelines for U.S. Egg-Laying Flocks: Guidelines for Cage-Free Housing, or in an enclosure other than a cage-free housing system.
(d) A person shall not sell or contract to sell shell eggs or liquid eggs in California if the seller knows or should have known that the shell eggs or liquid eggs are from an egg-laying hen that was confined in an enclosure not in compliance with the standards set forth in this section.
(e) It shall be a defense to an action to enforce subdivision (d) that the seller relied in good faith upon a written certification by the supplier that the shell eggs or liquid eggs were from an egg-laying hen that was confined in an enclosure in
compliance with the standards set forth in this section.
(f) Nothing in this section shall require the use of standards of quality, condition, weight, quantity, or grade that are in addition to, or different from, standards required pursuant to federal law.
16202.
This division shall not apply in any of the following circumstances:(a) During scientific or agricultural medical research.
(b) During examination, testing, individual treatment, or operation of a covered animal for veterinary purposes.
(c) During transportation of a covered animal.
(d) During rodeo exhibitions, state or county fair exhibitions, 4-H Clubs, Future Farmers of America programs, and similar youth programs.
(e) During the slaughter
of a covered animal in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 19501) of Part 3 of Division 9.
(f) During temporary periods for animal husbandry purposes for no more than 24 hours in a 72-hour period and no more than 72 hours total in any 30-day period.
