Diseased animals: laboratory services.

Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to periodically publish and make available a list of reportable conditions that pose or may pose significant threats to public health, animal health, the environment, or the food supply. Under existing law, the document is known as the List of Reportable Conditions for Animals and Animal Products. Existing law establishes the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund and requires any moneys that are directed by law to be paid into the fund to be expended solely for the enforcement of the law under which the moneys were derived. This bill would make it unlawful for a person to establish, operate, or maintain a laboratory providing services for the examination, diagnosis, analysis, testing, quantifying, or identification of any emergency or regulatory condition of poultry and livestock, which would include all diseases or conditions listed as emergency or regulatory conditions in the List of Reportable Conditions for Animals and Animal Products, unless the person obtains a certificate from the department authorizing the person to establish, operate, and maintain a laboratory that provides these services. The bill would exclude a laboratory approved, certified, or accredited by the state or the federal government to provide equivalent services from these requirements. The bill would require the department to prescribe procedures and requirements for certification of these laboratories and to develop regulations to implement these provisions. Before issuing a certificate, the bill would require the department to collect an application or renewal fee from an applicant, which the department would be authorized to adjust to cover its reasonable costs to implement laboratory certification requirements. The bill would authorize a civil penalty against a person who violates these provisions, as provided. The bill would require the proceeds of the application and renewal fees and any civil penalty to be deposited into the Department of Food and Agriculture Fund. Existing law provides that a violation of any law relating to animal and poultry quarantine and pest control is a misdemeanor. This bill would provide that a violation of the bill's provisions is not a crime.