Food and agriculture: omnibus bill.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not provide specific details on the amount of funding for pest control research or the types of items that can be seized during inspections.

Food and Agriculture: Omnibus Bill

This bill extends rules for funding pest control research until 2035, updates regulations on antibiotic use in livestock to comply with both federal and state laws, and gives more power to inspect mobile farmers' markets.

What This Bill Does

• Extends the current rules about funding for research on controlling vertebrate pests until January 1, 2035.
• Changes how medically important antibiotics can be given to farm animals. They must now follow both federal and state laws and require a relationship between a vet, farmer, and their animals.
• Gives more power to people who enforce rules about mobile farmers' markets to inspect places where these markets operate and seize items as evidence if needed.

Who It Names or Affects

• Farmers dealing with vertebrate pests
• People who run mobile farmers' markets
• Vets and livestock owners

Terms To Know

Veterinarian-client-patient relationship (VCPR)

A professional relationship between a veterinarian, the owner of an animal, and the animal itself. This is needed for prescribing certain medications.

Medically important antimicrobial drugs

Antibiotics that are crucial for treating diseases in both humans and animals.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how much money will be available for vertebrate pest control research.
• It is unclear what specific items can be seized by enforcing officers during inspections of mobile farmers' markets.

Official Summary Text

AB 1505, Committee on Agriculture.
Food and agriculture: omnibus bill.
(1) Existing law requires the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to establish and administer a research program to control vertebrate pests, as specified. Existing law requires the secretary to establish the Vertebrate Pest Control Research Advisory Committee, and requires the committee to make recommendations to the secretary regarding vertebrate pest control research each year. Existing law requires each county agricultural commissioner to pay a specified fee to the secretary based on the amount of vertebrate pest control material sold, distributed, or applied by the county, as specified. Existing law creates the Vertebrate Pest Control Research Account in the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund, and continuously appropriates the moneys in the account to the secretary for specified purposes. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2026.
This bill would extend the operation of those provisions until January 1, 2035. By extending the secretary’s authority to expend moneys in a continuously appropriated account, the bill would make an appropriation.
(2) Existing law prohibits the administration of medically important antimicrobial drugs to livestock unless ordered by a licensed veterinarian through a prescription or veterinary feed directive pursuant to a veterinarian-client-patient relationship, as specified.
This bill would revise and recast that provision to instead prohibit the administration of medically important antimicrobial drugs to livestock unless it is ordered by a licensed veterinarian through a prescription or veterinary feed directive that complies with federal and state law, require prescriptions for labeled uses of medically important antimicrobial drugs to be issued pursuant to a
veterinarian-client-patient relationship, and require veterinary feed directives and prescriptions for extralabel uses of medically important antimicrobial drugs to be issued pursuant to a veterinarian-client-patient relationship, as specified.
(3) Existing law regulates the operation of certified mobile farmers’ markets, as defined, and requires an operator of a certified mobile farmers’ market to annually register with the Department of Food and Agriculture.
This bill would authorize enforcing officers to inspect places, conveyances, documentation, products, containers, and equipment pertaining to certified mobile farmers’ markets and would authorize enforcing officers to seize and hold as evidence certain materials to secure the conviction of a party, as specified.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF