Assembly committee advances bill to raise fee caps for small horse shows

Assemblymember Kevin Hoover presented AB 1142 to the Assembly Agriculture Committee, seeking to raise the maximum entry and related fees for small public equine events that are exempt from the state's equine medication monitoring program. "The original legislation created an exemption for smaller horse events, where the entry fee does not exceed $4.99 and other related fees do not exceed $19.99," Hoover told the committee, noting the amounts have not been increased since 1971. "What our legislation will do is increase those fees for these exempted events to $50 and $60 respectively."

Proponents including Sharon Fells of the Twin Lakes Riding Club and Deb Shatley, president of the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Association, told the committee the cap prevents grassroots clubs from breaking even and constrains youth and amateur training programs. "We can't even buy a ribbon for that cost," Fells said, describing her club as a small nonprofit that runs schooling shows. Shatley said rising costs for insurance, judges and supplies make the increase necessary to sustain local programming that feeds into collegiate and national equestrian teams.

No opposition witnesses were recorded in the hearing on AB 1142. Committee members offered support and one suggested the author consider an automatic cost-of-living adjustment in future years to avoid repeated returns to the committee. Assemblymember Hoover said the bill is intended to "future-proof" the exemption and asked for an aye vote.

The committee passed the bill to the Appropriations Committee. The roll call recorded ayes from Assemblymembers Soria, Alanis, Aguiar-Curry, Connolly, Jeff Gonzales and Hadwick. The clerk announced the measure had the votes needed to leave the committee and would be left open for absent members to add on.