Relates to requiring licensed slaughterhouses to have a closed circuit camera and television system in all areas with live animals; establishes a reporting requirement pursuant to inspections where a violation is found.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A3693
SPONSOR: Rosenthal L TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to requir-
ing licensed slaughterhouses to have closed circuit camera and tele-
vision systems and establishing a reporting requirement pursuant to
inspections where a violation is found
PURPOSE:
This bill relates to requiring licensed slaughterhouses to have a
closed-circuit camera and television system in all areas with live
animals.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one amends section 96-1 of the agriculture and markets law.
Section 2 amends subdivision 1 of section 96-b of the agriculture and
markets law. Section 3 amends the opening paragraph of section 96-b of
the agriculture and markets law. Section 4 amends the agriculture and
markets law by adding a new section 96-f-1. Section 5 establishes the
effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Under current law, inspectors from the Department of Agriculture and
Markets physically inspect slaughterhouses a few times a year. These
inspectors though do not inspect for the humane treatment of animals,
they merely inspect for conditions that may have adverse public health
implications for consumers, after the animals have been slaughtered. In
short, slaughterhouses not only operate in relative secrecy, they are
not held to a basic standard of care for animals.
Increased transparency of slaughterhouse operations will bring increased
accountability and will encourage better treatment of animals. In coun-
tries across the world, including Israel, England and Scotland, slaught-
erhouses are required to install cameras that monitor all live animals
around the clock, helping shed light on their treatment before slaugh-
ter.
This legislation requires that any person or entity that operates a
licensed slaughterhouse or butchery in New York State to install and
operate a closed-circuit camera and television system in all areas where
animals are present. Such cameras must ensure a complete and unob-
structed view of all live animals, with footage to be provided without
restriction to the agriculture and markets commissioner..
Further it requires those reviewing footage to report to police when
they observe animal cruelty. This legislation will bring accountability
and offer authorized enforcement officers new tools to determine whether
cruelty and other laws have been violated.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2019-20: A.9708 - Referred to Agriculture
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Undetermined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect two years after it shall have become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3693
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 28, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Agriculture
AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to requir-
ing licensed slaughterhouses to have closed circuit camera and tele-
vision systems and establishing a reporting requirement pursuant to
inspections where a violation is found
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 96-a of the agriculture and markets law, as amended
2 by chapter 573 of the laws of 2002, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 96-a. Declaration of policy and purpose. Whereas unsanitary condi-
4 tions in the slaughtering of animals and fowl for food have been found
5 to exist in this state, and whereas such conditions endanger the health
6 and welfare of the people and animals and fowl of the state, it is here-
7 by declared to be a matter of legislative determination that the super-
8 vision of the slaughtering of animals and fowl is in the public inter-
9 est, and that this article is enacted in the exercise of the police
10 power of the state and its purposes are the protection of the public
11 health.
12 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 96-b of the agriculture and markets law,
13 as amended by chapter 395 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read as
14 follows:
15 1. No person, firm, partnership or corporation not granted inspection
16 pursuant to the federal meat inspection act, the federal poultry
17 products inspection act, article five-B or article five-D of this chap-
18 ter shall operate any place or establishment where animals or fowls are
19 slaughtered or butchered for food unless such person, firm, partnership
20 or corporation be licensed by the commissioner. In addition to any other
21 requirements established by the commissioner, such license shall prohib-
22 it the slaughter or butchering by slaughterhouses of domesticated dog
23 and domesticated cat to create food, meat, meat by-products or meat food
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00971-01-1
A. 3693 2
1 products for human or animal consumption. Such license shall require
2 any person, firm, partnership, or corporation that has a license pursu-
3 ant to this article to install and operate a closed circuit camera and
4 television system in all areas where live animals are present. Such
5 cameras shall be placed to ensure there is a complete and clear view of
6 all areas containing live animals. The commissioner and his or her
7 designees, the police and other law enforcement officers authorized to
8 enforce article twenty-six of this chapter or other laws pertaining to
9 the humane treatment of animals, cruelty to animals, or endangering the
10 life or health of animals, shall have unrestricted access to the footage
11 from such closed circuit camera and television systems. Recordings for
12 each day shall be retained by the licensee for at least six months
13 before it can be deleted. An application for license shall be made upon
14 a form prescribed by the commissioner on or before the first day of May
15 in every other year, for a two year license period commencing upon the
16 following first day of June. With the application there shall be paid a
17 license fee of two hundred dollars.
18 § 3. The opening paragraph of section 96-b of the agriculture and
19 markets law, as amended by section 2 of part I-1 of chapter 62 of the
20 laws of 2003, is amended to read as follows:
21 No person, firm, partnership or corporation not granted inspection
22 pursuant to the federal meat inspection act, the federal poultry
23 products inspection act, article five-B or article five-D of this chap-
24 ter shall operate any place or establishment where animals or fowls are
25 slaughtered or butchered for food unless such person, firm, partnership
26 or corporation be licensed by the commissioner. In addition to any other
27 requirements established by the commissioner, such license shall prohib-
28 it the slaughter or butchering by slaughterhouses of domesticated dog
29 and domesticated cat to create food, meat, meat by-products or meat food
30 products for human or animal consumption. Such license shall require
31 any person, firm, partnership, or corporation that has a license pursu-
32 ant to this article to install and operate a closed circuit camera and
33 television system in all areas where live animals are present. Such
34 cameras shall be placed to ensure there is a complete and clear view of
35 all areas containing live animals. The commissioner and his or her
36 designees, the police and other law enforcement officers authorized to
37 enforce article twenty-six of this chapter or other laws pertaining to
38 the humane treatment of animals, cruelty to animals, or endangering the
39 life or health of animals, shall have unrestricted access to the footage
40 from such closed circuit camera and television systems. Recordings for
41 each day shall be retained by the licensee for at least six months
42 before it can be deleted. An application for license shall be made upon
43 a form prescribed by the commissioner on or before the first day of May
44 in every other year, for a two year license period commencing upon the
45 following first day of June. With the application there shall be paid a
46 license fee of two hundred dollars.
47 § 4. The agriculture and markets law is amended by adding a new
48 section 96-f-1 to read as follows:
49 § 96-f-1. Mandatory reporting pursuant to inspection. Any authorized
50 person conducting an inspection of a slaughterhouse or reviewing closed
51 circuit camera footage as specified in section ninety-six-b of this
52 article shall, upon belief that article twenty-six of this chapter or
53 any other law pertaining to the humane treatment of animals, cruelty to
54 animals, or endangering the life or health of animals have been
55 violated, report the suspected violation to the local police department
56 and local society for the prevention of cruelty to animals or other law
A. 3693 3
1 enforcement officers authorized to enforce such laws. Oral reports shall
2 be followed by a written report within forty-eight hours of such oral
3 report, or as soon as is reasonably possible.
4 § 5. This act shall take effect two years after it shall have become a
5 law, provided that the amendments to subdivision 1 of section 96-b of
6 the agriculture and markets law made by section two of this act shall be
7 subject to the expiration and reversion of such subdivision pursuant to
8 section 3 of chapter 395 of the laws of 2008, as amended, when upon such
9 date the provisions of section three of this act shall take effect.
10 Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule
11 or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effec-
12 tive date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such
13 effective date.
