Pennsylvania Act 1955-466 — POULTRY TECHNICIAN LICENSURE LAW

Act text

AN ACT

Providing for and regulating the licensing of poultry technicians by the Secretary of Agriculture for the drawing of blood from poultry to be used in pullorum testing programs.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1. The Secretary of Agriculture, when he determines that there is a need for trained technicians to aid in the collection of regulatory samples from poultry and eggs and conduct on-site surveillance for dangerous transmissible diseases of poultry, may license as many certified poultry technicians as he deems necessary to carry out specified regulatory sampling and testing procedures. The Secretary of Agriculture may establish the licensing and certification standards, and the regulatory sampling and testing procedures, and may provide for training in Spanish, through the issuance of a general quarantine order under the authority of 3 Pa.C.S. § 2329 (relating to quarantine).

(1 amended Feb. 6, 2025, P.L.1, No.1)

Section 2. Every applicant for licensure as a poultry technician shall furnish evidence that the applicant is at least eighteen years of age, can legally work in the United States in accordance with Federal and State law and has satisfactorily completed a course of training as a certified poultry technician as prescribed by the Department of Agriculture.

(2 amended Feb. 6, 2025, P.L.1, No.1)

Section 3. The course of training for a poultry technician shall be conducted by a person who is a graduate of an accredited school of veterinary medicine, and shall include the harmless and painless manner of drawing blood from live poultry, the proper handling and preservation of blood samples, and any other related instruction which the Secretary of Agriculture deems essential to safely conduct such work.

Section 4. No application for licensure as a poultry technician shall be considered unless accompanied by a fee of ten dollars ($10). Such licenses when issued shall be in force, unless revoked for cause, until January first of each year, at which time they may be renewed upon payment of the ten dollars ($10) fee if renewal application is approved by the Department of Agriculture.

Appeals from any action of the Secretary of Agriculture, which results in a refusal to issue or renew, or in a suspension or revocation of a license, shall be taken in accordance with the provisions of 2 Pa.C.S. Ch. 7 Subch. A (relating to judicial review of Commonwealth agency action).

(4 amended Feb. 6, 2025, P.L.1, No.1)

Compiler's Note: Section 6(a) of Act 48 of 1981, which provided for the fixing of fees charged by administrative agencies, provided that section 4 is repealed insofar as it establishes a set fee for any activity inconsistent with the fees set forth in Act 48.

Section 5. All persons licensed as poultry technicians may engage for compensation in drawing blood from poultry to be used in pullorum testing without being licensed as a veterinarian. The license shall not entitle him to perform any other function for which a veterinarian's license is required.

Section 6. The Secretary of Agriculture may (1) adopt and promulgate rules, quarantine orders and regulations governing the activities, methods and functions of all technicians licensed under the provisions of this act, and (2) suspend or revoke the license of any licensee who is (i) incompetent, (ii) fails to comply with the provisions of this act, quarantine orders or any rule or regulation of the secretary, or (iii) is intemperate in the use of stimulants, narcotics or any other substance which impairs the performance of his duties.

(6 amended Feb. 6, 2025, P.L.1, No.1)

Section 7. Any person who violates any provision of this act or any rule or regulation thereunder shall, upon conviction thereof in a summary proceeding, be sentenced to pay a fine of one hundred dollars ($100).

Section 8. (8 deleted by amendment Feb. 6, 2025, P.L.1, No.1)

Section 9. The act of April twenty-seven, one thousand nine hundred forty-five (Pamphlet Laws 321), known as "The Veterinary Law," is repealed in so far as it is inconsistent with this act.

Section 10. This act shall take effect immediately.