ASSEMBLY AGRICULTURE AND WASTE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

 

STATEMENT TO

 

ASSEMBLY, No. 1140

 

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

 

DATED: JUNE 13, 1996

 

      The Assembly Agriculture and Waste Management Committee favorably reports Assembly Bill No. 1140.

      This bill would establish a three-year venison donation demonstration program in the Department of Health to permit, under controlled conditions, the slaughter, processing, distribution, and serving of venison donated by recreational hunters to nonprofit charitable organizations, in accordance with guidelines established by the Commissioner of Health, in consultation with the Commissioner of Environmental Protection, the Secretary of Agriculture and the chairman of the Fish and Game Council. The program will be implemented in consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Agriculture and the Fish and Game Council.

      The bill would provide statutory authority for an existing venison donation demonstration project and assess the feasibility of expanding this activity as a way of assisting nonprofit organizations that provide food to indigent persons.

      The bill would repeal P.L.1993, c.355 (C.24:16B-6.1), which allows hunters to donate meat to organizations that feed the poor. That law is replaced by the program established by the provisions in this bill.