[RML] *URGENT* Pending California Legislation

Pamela Fukada (ptom at hawaii.edu)
Sun, 28 Jun 1998 21:32:24 -1000

Hi All,
my wife got this off her parot mailing list. It may have very important
implications for the killie and rainbowfish keepers in California. We hae
simmilar things in place here in Hawaii and it makes it a PIA to try to
import "new" species (If it is not on the approved list it is a "new" and
illigal species).

MTF

>Subject: *URGENT* Pending California Legislation

>
>Hello to all,
>the state of California is in the process of introducing a new piece of
>legislation. It is a very nasty thing and needs attention from aviculture in
>California. Unforunately I did not hear about it until yesterday. There is a
>hearing scheduled for this Wednesday but several people are attempting to
have
>it postponed for 30 days.
>It has already passed the Assembly and is now on it's way to the Senate
floor.
>
>Californians need to contact their local representatives. To make sure you
get
>the importance of this law, it could give the Calif. Fish and Game Dept. the
>power to make ALL exotic birds taboo!
>
>The site is listed below for the text and references.
>
>Janis Clark
>
>You can go to this site to search for legislature info:
>http://www.sen.ca.gov/www/leginfo/SearchText.html
>
>AB 409 - An act to amend Sections 2116, 2116.5, 2117, 2124, 2125, 2150,
>2150.4, 2155, 2156, 2186, 2187, 2189, 2190, 2192,
>
>by Assemb. Machado
>
>Excerpt:
>
>of laws regulating the importation, transportation, and sheltering of
>restricted live wild animals to mean any animal of the class of Aves (birds),
>class Mammalia (mammals), class Amphibia (frogs, toads, salamanders), class
>Osteichthyes (bony fishes), class Monorhina (lampreys), class Reptilia
>(reptiles), class Crustacea (crayfish), or class Gastropoda (slugs, snails),
>as specified, which is not normally domesticated in this state as determined
>by the Fish and Game Commission. order, family, genus, species,
subspecies, or
>any domesticated or other captive-bred variety, breed, or strain, or any
>hybrid as determined by the commission.
>
>(1) Existing law defines the term "wild animal" for purposes of laws
>regulating the importation, transportation, and sheltering of restricted live
>wild animals to mean any animal of the class of Aves (birds), class Mammalia
>(mammals), class Amphibia (frogs, toads, salamanders), class Osteichthyes
>(bony fishes), class Monorhina (lampreys), class Reptilia (reptiles), class
>Crustacea (crayfish), or class Gastropoda (slugs, snails), as specified,
which
>is not normally domesticated in this state as determined by the Fish and Game
>Commission.
>
>This bill would delete that definition of "wild animal" and, instead, define
>the term "restricted animal" to mean any class, order, family, genus,
species,
>subspecies, or any domesticated or other captive-bred variety, breed, or
>strain, or any hybrid as determined by the commission. The bill would
>authorize the commission, in cooperation with the Department of Food and
>Agriculture and the State Department of Health Services, to designate any
>animal as "restricted" in order to carry out the legislative intent of
>specified provisions pertaining to the protection and welfare of animals in
>the state.
>
>The bill would make it unlawful to import, transport, possess, or release
>alive into this state a restricted animal except as expressly authorized by
>regulations adopted by the commission, in cooperation with the Department of
>Food and Agriculture, and the State Department of Health Services. The bill
>would also make it unlawful to import, transport, possess, or release alive
>any live nonindigenous Atlantic Salmon, or roe thereof, into the Smith River
>Watershed, except as provided. By changing the definition of a crime, the
bill
>would impose a state-mandated local program.
>
>The bill would authorize the commission, in cooperation with the
Department of
>Food and Agriculture and the State Department of Health Services, to add or
>delete any restricted animals from the regulations adopted by the commission
>relating to those animals.
>
>This bill would instead authorize the department to inspect facilities where
>restricted animals are kept or may be kept, and would repeal provisions
>requiring the issuance of a permit upon application to a person desiring to
>import or transport the species. The bill would delete provisions requiring
>any person who transports, receives, or imports into the state, or transports
>within the state, any live wild animal enumerated in or designated
pursuant to
>a specified law to hold that animal in confinement for inspection, as
>prescribed.
>
>The bill would delete provisions defining a "mammal" for purposes of
>provisions governing the importation, transportation, and sheltering of wild
>animals, and would make various related changes.
>
>SEC. 2. Section 2116.5 of the Fish and Game Code is amended to read:
>
>2116.5. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that individual animals of
>certain animal species are being captured or captively bred for importation
>and resale in California; that some populations of wild those animals are
>being depleted in the wild ; that many animals die in captivity or transit;
>that some keepers of animals lack sufficient knowledge or facilities for the
>proper care of animals; that some animals are a threat to the native wildlife
>or agricultural interests of this state; and that some animals are a
threat to
>public health and safety. It is the intention of the Legislature that the
>importation, transportation, and possession of those animals shall be
>regulated to protect the health and welfare of wild the animals themselves,
>the native wildlife and agricultural interest of this state against damage,
>and to protect the public health and safety in this state.
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>| Natalie Frumin "There's no substitute |
>| nvf at byway.com for intellectual honesty" |
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
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