SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY, No. 1140

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: JUNE 12, 1997

      The Senate Health Committee reports favorably Assembly Bill No. 1140.

      This bill would establish a three-year venison donation demonstration program in the Department of Health and Senior Services 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 and Senior Services, 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-61.1), 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.

      This bill is identical to Senate Bill No. 1577 (Gormley and Zane), which the committee also reported favorably on this date.