Majority Leader John Unger, D-Berkeley, CA, is seeking reforms in dealing with horses. In SB540, known as the Equine Early Intervention and Protection Act, anyone operating a horse facility would have to be licensed. An annual fee would cost $100.
Once an application is on file, the county humane officer or animal control officer must inspect the facility before a license is approved.
Lacking a control or humane officer, the county sheriff would fill in.
“Recently,” the senator said in his bill, “there have been a number of well-publicized cases of equine abuse where significant numbers of horses have died of starvation or were severely malnourished.”
Unger said a need exists to license and inspect such facilities to guarantee horses are taken care of properly and to make sure abuse is detected early on so the animals “can be saved and spared needless suffering.”