LCO No. 4702 1 of 2
General Assembly Committee Bill No. 5134
January Session, 2025
LCO No. 4702
Referred to Committee on ENVIRONMENT
Introduced by:
(ENV)
AN ACT CONCERNING THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE'S
RESPONSIBILITIES FOR RABBIT PROCESSING IN THE STATE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2025) The Commissioner of 1
Agriculture shall be the state official in charge of inspecting any 2
producer and any producer that also operates as a rabbit processing 3
facility. Any inspection conducted pursuant to this section by the 4
commissioner, or the commissioner's designated agent, shall be 5
consistent with the requirements of any applicable provision of the 6
Code of Federal Regulations, including, but not limited to, any health, 7
sanitary and safety-related provision. Rabbit processing facilities that 8
have passed Department of Agriculture facility inspections pursuant to 9
this section shall be designated as approved food sources for household 10
consumers, restaurants, hotels, boarding houses and retail food 11
establishments. For purposes of this section, "producer" means any 12
person who is engaged in farming, as defined in section 1-1 of the 13
general statutes, and who breeds, raises or keeps not more than one 14
thousand rabbits in a calendar year for the purpose of food production. 15
Committee Bill No. 5134
LCO No. 4702 2 of 2
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2025 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To provide a way for rabbits to be processed in the state for
consumption by consumers and retail food establishments.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]
Co-Sponsors: REP. YACCARINO, 87th Dist.
H.B. 5134