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Ag department requests multi‑year investment to shore up animal and human health emergency infrastructure after avian influenza and dairy cases
Summary
The Department of Food and Agriculture requested a multi‑year General Fund and federal authority package to boost veterinary epidemiology, lab capacity and emergency response after a major avian influenza outbreak that affected poultry and dairy herds, the department told a Senate subcommittee.
The Department of Food and Agriculture told the subcommittee it seeks multi‑year funding to strengthen California’s animal and human health emergency response infrastructure after an unusually large 2024 avian influenza outbreak that affected both poultry and dairy herds.
Secretary Karen Ross and State Veterinarian Dr. Annette Jones described the department’s Budget Change Proposal (BCP), which requests $6 million General Fund in 2025‑26 and roughly $5.3–$5.4 million ongoing thereafter, plus $5 million in federal fund authority. The department said recent events exposed gaps in real‑time testing, epidemiology, data analytics, biosecurity auditing, outreach and bulk‑milk surveillance that require sustained staffing, lab and operational investments to detect and limit animal disease outbreaks and reduce spillover risks to humans.
Ross told members California had more than 770 cases in dairies and 73 poultry cases in the most recent outbreak cycle and that zoonotic spillover had occurred in some worker cases. She said the scale of the 2024 event — and concurrent outbreaks in many states — strained federal deployment capacity and underscored the need for state continuity in veterinary expertise, laboratory throughput and pre‑deployed response assets.
LAO recommendation: The Legislative Analyst’s Office said augmenting federal fund authority would bolster response capacity and recommended rejecting the General Fund portion of the BCP in the May Revision while improving the federal‑funding components, arguing the state could achieve many of the proposed objectives through enhanced use of federal reimbursements and authority during declared responses.
Oversight and metrics: Senators asked how the department would measure the value of the new investments; the department outlined metrics including testing volumes, number of biosecurity audits and changes in detection and containment timelines. Ross and the state veterinarian said those metrics would be part of program reporting.
Ending: The subcommittee left the item open; members acknowledged the epidemiological and food‑safety risks described but emphasized the state fiscal condition and asked for further detail about which activities are strictly necessary at state expense versus those reimbursable during federally declared responses.
