Leaders and officials from across Fresno County gather last month for a news conference announcing a new ordinance to inspect scientific research labs. Photo by Gabriel Dillard

The Fresno County Board of Supervisors approved a new ordinance Tuesday in response to the discovery of an illegal biolab in Reedley in April.

The ordinance will allow the county to annually inspect private research and development labs — ones that do not receive public funding that were largely exempt from such inspections.

The ordinance was drafted in collaboration with several county and elected officials from the cities of Clovis, Firebaugh, Fowler, Kerman, Kingsburg, Mendota, Parlier, Reedley, Sanger and Selma.

Reedley City Manager Nicole Zieba said they are also seeking state and federal oversight and legislation regulating so-called non-Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) labs.

Rep. Jim Costa has been spearheading the issue in Congress, hoping to enact similar rules on a national level.

Zieba said that privately funded laboratories that don’t receive public funding are exempt from CLIA and thereby not subject to city, state or federal inspections.

She said state and federal officials told her that CLIA does not need to be changed and that the Reedley case is “an anomaly.”

“The rules need to be the same for everyone, everywhere,” Zieba said.

Fresno County Public Health Director David Luchini said the ordinance will not apply to existing hospitals, clinics and commercial labs that are currently CLIA waived.

Under the ordinance, cities signing onto a memorandum of industry with the county can request inspections from the county if a private laboratory is applying for a business permit with the city.

The inspections will be conducted annually by the county’s Environmental Health Division for hazardous materials.

There will be a second hearing to adopt the ordinance in early January, and the county will be prepared to start conducting inspections by March 2024.