The Florida Senate

372.6672  Alligator management and trapping program implementation; commission authority.--

(1)  In any alligator management and trapping program that the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission shall establish, the commission shall have the authority to adopt all rules necessary for full and complete implementation of such alligator management and trapping program, and, in order to ensure its lawful, safe, and efficient operation in accordance therewith, may:

(a)  Regulate the marketing and sale of alligators, their hides, eggs, meat, and byproducts, including the development and maintenance of a state-sanctioned sale.

(b)  Regulate the handling and processing of alligators, their eggs, hides, meat, and byproducts, for the lawful, safe, and sanitary handling and processing of same.

(c)  Regulate commercial alligator farming facilities and operations for the captive propagation and rearing of alligators and their eggs.

(d)  Provide hide-grading services by two or more individuals pursuant to state-sanctioned sales if rules are first promulgated by the commission governing:

1.  All grading-related services to be provided pursuant to this section;

2.  Criteria for qualifications of persons to serve as hide-graders for grading services to be provided pursuant to this section; and

3.  The certification process by which hide-graders providing services pursuant to this section will be certified.

(e)  Provide sales-related services by contract pursuant to state-sanctioned sales if rules governing such services are first promulgated by the commission.

(2)  All contractors of the commission for the grading, marketing, and sale of alligators and their hides, eggs, meat, and byproducts shall not engage in any act constituting a conflict of interest under part III of chapter 112.

(3)  The powers and duties of the commission hereunder shall not be construed so as to supersede the regulatory authority or lawful responsibility of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Department of Health, or any local governmental entity regarding the processing or handling of food products, but shall be deemed supplemental thereto.

History.--s. 3, ch. 87-199; s. 17, ch. 98-333; s. 66, ch. 99-8; s. 148, ch. 99-245; s. 7, ch. 99-397.