“Wild Game Jerky has been working hard to get the word out to the public what is currently happening in California to businesses that sell Alligator & Crocodile meat. We just recently gained the support of the Merced Hispanic Chamber Of Commerce,” said Wild Game Jerky Executive Assistant Zachery Ramos. “We have been attending events across the state, making constant visits to the state Capitol to speak to representatives across the valley and visiting businesses across California to gain their support in our efforts to keep Alligator and Crocodile meat in California.”
Justina has been working tirelessly to keep her business going while also raising her daughter by herself. She has owned & operated this business for years now and knows that if the state stops the selling of both meats there will be a large loss in not only her own business but in many others across the state. Her business has been in Merced for a long time now and she has been able to give back to her community because of the sales she makes with the Alligator & Crocodile Jerky. If the state does stop the selling of these meats there will be a large effect on the ecosystems of Louisiana & Florida where they have these large sanctuaries to help control the ecosystem. If they can stop these sales then they won’t be able to maintain the growth rates like they have been now with keeping the numbers at a good rate with giving out hunting permits which allows the public to help in keeping the numbers down.
Here is a Industry Update brought to us by the Louisiana Alligator Advisory Council.
California Penal Code 653o
Dear Industry Participants:
We have an important update regarding California Penal Code 563o legislative efforts.
AB719 passed through The Senate Natural Resources and Water committee with a vote of 5-3-1 yesterday. (5 members of the committee voted yes. 3 committee members voted no, and 1 member abstained from voting.)
Originally, the bill was written to allow the continued sales of alligator and crocodile skins and leather goods in California through December 31 2024. The bill stipulated that simultaneously the industry would develop an enhanced Traceability System that would follow the CITES tag to the finished product. The Traceability System, if developed, would allow permanent legal trade in California. If no such system were developed, there would cease to be further extensions of the sunset clause, and trade would be banned after 2024.
Five votes were needed to move past the Senate Natural Resources Committee. The bill faced fierce opposition by animal rights groups and a tough Committee Chairman. The bill authors were forced to make a difficult decision to amend the bill once more in order to move forward.
The new bill text will stipulate that our industry must submit traceability system proposals to California Fish and Game by September 30th 2020. California Fish and Game will have 6 months to determine which proposals are acceptable, after which time, the industry will have 1 year to implement the selected system. The deadline for a traceability system implementation would be March 30th 2022. Alligator and crocodile leather and leather goods would be allowed into California during this process. After implementation if the traceability system, products and skins would be allowed to remain legal in California.
The next step in the legislative process is to go through Appropriations Committee in August. Once past Appropriations, the bill will move to the full Senate, then Assembly floor vote. It is certain that we will have opposition at each step, but we hope that that our hearing last week was our most challenging hurdle in the process.
