Animal blood donors.

Existing law prohibits any person from collecting blood from animals, or preparing, testing, processing, storing, or distributing blood or blood component products, as defined, from animals, for retail sale and distribution except in a commercial blood bank for animals that is licensed by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture. Existing law requires a commercial blood bank for animals, as a condition of licensing, to document how the animal donor was acquired and to have a written protocol for, among other things, ongoing veterinary care for animals held in blood donor facilities. Existing law exempts all records held by the Department of Food and Agriculture pursuant to these provisions from disclosure pursuant to the California Public Records Act. This bill would modify the definition of a commercial blood bank for animals to include establishments that collect blood not only from "captive closed-colony" animals that are kept, housed, or maintained for the purpose of collecting blood, but also "community-sourced" animals, as defined, that are brought by their owners to the commercial blood bank for animals to have their blood collected. The bill would define "indirect supervision" to have the same meaning as in specified regulations. The bill would require a commercial blood bank for animals to include in its written protocol, which would be required to be consistent with current standards of care and practice for the field of veterinary transfusion medicine, bloodborne pathogen testing for all canine and feline blood donors, as specified, and ongoing veterinary care, including an annual physical exam and vaccination schedule for animals held in a captive closed-colony. The bill would prohibit a commercial blood bank for animals from providing payment to a person who brings a community-sourced animal to the commercial blood bank for the purpose of donating that animal's blood or blood component products, and would impose specified requirements on a commercial blood bank for animals that accepts a donation from a community-sourced animal. The bill would require commercial blood banks for animals to annually submit a specified report to the department. The bill would require the department to submit a specified report to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2025. The bill would delete the above-described exemption from the California Public Records Act, except for identifying personal information, as defined, of owners of animal donors, as provided. The bill, for purposes of liability, would declare the production and use of whole blood, plasma, blood products, and blood derivatives for the purpose of injecting or transfusing the same, or any of them, into an animal to be construed to be, and would declare to be, the rendition of a service by each and every person, firm, or corporation participating, and would prohibit from being construed, and would be declared not to be, a sale of that whole blood, plasma, blood products, or blood derivatives. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. Under existing law, a violation of certain provisions of the Food and Agricultural Code relating to animals is a crime. Because a violation of some of the above provisions would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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.