AB 558 (Nazarian) California School Plant-Based Food and Beverage Program
UPDATES & CALL TO ACTION
AB 558 (Nazarian) California School Plant-Based Food and Beverage Program
We are excited to announce that Assemblymember Nazarian has made a formal budget request to fund incentivizing schools to serve plant-based lunches and beverages.
Earlier this year, it was decided to make AB 558 into a two-year bill, meaning that the bill would not be heard in committee in 2021, but would be ready to move at the beginning of 2022. Nevertheless, the formal budget request moving forward this year is a chance to advance the policy still in 2021.
If you have not already signed up to support AB 558, please do so as we will use those letters to show support of the budget request.
SCIL & PETA Shine Light on Pathetic Campaign Stunt by Gubernatorial Hopeful John Cox
As you may have seen in our email from last week, gubernatorial hopeful, John Cox is shamelessly hauling a live bear to some of his recent campaign stops. While we doubt that the public backlash for using a wild animal for this ridiculous political stunt will change his perspective, we are glad that Californians can see in plain sight the lack of compassion and poor judgment that Mr. Cox has for this bear and animals in general.
PETA has uncovered that Steve Martin’s Working Wildlife (not the actor Steven Martin)—the outfit that brought Tag the Kodiak bear to the news conferences—has ties to some of the most disreputable (and in one case jailed) animal dealers in the wildlife exploitation business:
Martin acquired Tag from Robert Sawmiller, a bear breeder who has had his license suspended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, when they confiscated seven bears and a cougar in February. His crimes include failing to treat bears’ wounds and locking the animals in metal barrels, leaving them in “a state of unrelieved suffering.”
Martin has also traded animals like commodities with Tiger King players: He acquired a lion from “Doc” Antle—who was indicted for alleged cruelty to animals and felony wildlife trafficking—and dumped chimpanzees, bears, and a lion at the roadside zoo operated by “Joe Exotic.”
This whole situation highlights why Californians do not support allowing animals to be used in entertainment. SCIL is exploring avenues with Senator Ben Hueso on how to expand the prohibitions in our 2019 law, SB 313 Circus Cruelty Prevention Act.
Thankfully the press has picked up the story and is being reported on by many news websites and several TV news stations. Carla Hall’s piece for the LA Times has been so popular that Spectrum 1 News even covered it. (If you do not want to watch the whole video, the bear coverage starts at 6:23, Carla is awesome in it!)
Here are a few stories that have included our group or my quote from last week:
https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/john-cox-bringing-bear-back-to-campaign-trail-in-san-diego/
