BILL NUMBER: SJR 22	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Florez

                        FEBRUARY 10, 2010

   Relative to horses.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SJR 22, as introduced, Florez. Horses.
   This measure would memorialize the Congress to support federal
legislation to protect American horses from slaughter for human
consumption.
   Fiscal committee: no.



   WHEREAS, California voters enacted a ban on the slaughter of
horses for human consumption and the sale of horsemeat for human
consumption in 1998; and
   WHEREAS, California horses continue to be transported and sold out
of state, making protection of our horses difficult and dependent on
the passage of a federal ban on the movement of horses for purposes
of slaughter for human consumption; and
   WHEREAS, The slaughter of American horses has continued unabated
despite the closing in 2007 of the three slaughter houses then still
operating within the United States; and
   WHEREAS, Federal legislation has been introduced, the
Conyers-Burton Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2009, that would
prohibit the possession, shipping, transporting, purchasing, selling,
delivering, or receiving of horses and other equines in interstate
or foreign commerce for slaughter for human consumption; and
   WHEREAS, Horse slaughter is not humane euthanasia and is in fact
animal torture and cruelty; and
   WHEREAS, Horse slaughter has been detrimental to the communities
where slaughtering facilities have been located, with significant
negative impacts to these communities ranging from nuisance odors to
chronic sewer and environmental violations; and
   WHEREAS, Horse slaughter has been found to increase and abet horse
theft; and
   WHEREAS, Horse slaughter is not a means of controlling numbers of
unwanted, abandoned, or neglected horses, but, rather, is a
for-profit operation driven by a demand for horsemeat in some foreign
countries; and
   WHEREAS, American horses are not raised, fed, or medicated within
the FDA guidelines established for food animals, making them
potentially unfit and unsafe for human consumption; and
   WHEREAS, In America, horses are an icon of our history,
traditions, and culture, revered for their contributions to the
building of this country, their companionship, and their special bond
with people; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature hereby urges Congress to
support federal legislation to protect American horses from slaughter
for human consumption; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate is hereby authorized
and directed to transmit copies of this resolution to the President
and Vice President of the United States, the Majority Leader of the
Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to each
Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the
United States.