BILL NUMBER: SB 1126INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Walters FEBRUARY 17, 2012 An act to add Part 4 (commencing with Section 19600) to Division 9 of the Food and Agricultural Code, relating to wildlife. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 1126, as introduced, Walters. The Wildlife Center. Existing law provides that there is in state government the Department of Food and Agriculture and prescribes various duties, powers, and responsibilities of the department. This bill would require the department, upon inspection and approval of the facility, to grant the Wildlife Center a permit to operate for at least 5 years. The bill would provide that the department is the sole state licensing agency over the Wildlife Center. The bill would authorize the department to charge the Wildlife Center a fee for the initial permit and for any subsequent renewals and inspections to cover the department's reasonable costs for those activities. The bill would require the Department of Fish and Game, upon the request of the Wildlife Center, to release the remains of Cotie, a dog/coyote hybrid, to the Wildlife Center. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Wildlife Center. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. This act shall be known, and may be cited, as Cotie's Law. SEC. 2. Part 4 (commencing with Section 19600) is added to Division 9 of the Food and Agricultural Code, to read: PART 4. WILDLIFE CENTER 19600. (a) The Department of Food and Agriculture shall, upon inspection and approval of the facility, grant the Wildlife Center, a nonprofit animal shelter and rescue organization under Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and located in San Diego County, a permit to operate for a period of at least five years. The department shall be the sole state licensing agency over the Wildlife Center. (b) The department may charge the Wildlife Center a fee for the initial permit and for any subsequent renewals and inspections to cover the department's reasonable costs for those activities. (c) The Department of Fish and Game shall, upon the request of the Wildlife Center, release the remains of Cotie, a seven-year-old dog/coyote hybrid that was confiscated at the center by a warden of the Department of Fish and Game, to the Wildlife Center. SEC. 3. The Legislature finds and declares that a special law is necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique circumstances surrounding the ownership and operation of the Wildlife Center.