SAVING AND PROTECTING ANIMALS. ONE LAW AT A TIME.

AB 558, the Child Nutrition Act of 2022, Passes Senate Education Committe

June 22 2022 nazarian
June 22 2022 nazarian 2
Nickolaus Sackett, Director at Social Compassion in Legislation, and Anna Herby, Nutrition Education Program Manager for PCRM, testify in support of AB 558.
Today, AB 558, the Child Nutrition Act of 2022, passed the Senate Education Committee by a vote of 4-1, with Chair Leyva, and Senators Glazer, Pan, and McGuire voting yes, Senator Dahle voting no, and Senator Cortese abstaining. Senator Ochoa Bogh was not present. The bill, authored by Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian (D-Los Angeles) and cosponsored by Social Compassion in Legislation, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Friends of the Earth, and the Factory Farm Awareness Coalition, will create a voluntary grant program to help schools serve more plant-based meals and milks. The bill passed the Committee despite the dairy and beef industries spreading misinformation about plant-based foods and the scope of the bill. “It is appreciated when our elected officials see through the misleading information spread by the beef and dairy industry about AB 558. Today, four Committee members voted on what the bill actually does versus the lies of special interest,” said Judie Mancuso, founder and president of Social Compassion in Legislation. “We especially thank Chair Leyva for her leadership on the dais as she led an honest conversation on the bill.” With plant-based meals being healthier and more climate-friendly than meat and dairy, the industries made issue with processed foods and out-of-state sourcing of plant-based foods. But what they failed to point out is that the 9 of the top 10 school lunches meals served in California all contain processed meat and/or processed cheese! Reducing processed food across the board is a laudable goal, but we should not be preventing kids accessing plant-based food because it might be processed only to turn around and serve them processed meat and dairy. The opposition also argued that this program would somehow divert sourcing to out of state products. Food served at California schools is primarily sourced through the USDA, which means these foods are already coming from many places outside of California. We support efforts to ensure our state’s schools are buying food from California sources as much as possible, but it makes no sense to create unequal sourcing requirements for plant-based foods when meat and dairy have no sourcing requirements. The bill now goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
SCIL is excited to announce the introduction of AB 1648 (Maienschein), The Animal Evacuation Act!

This bill specifies where a city or county requires a permit to keep animals within its jurisdiction, AB 1648 will require an animal owner as a condition for obtaining the permit to create and submit an animal wildfire evacuation plan.

California continues to experience catastrophic wildfires of historic proportion devastating both Northern and Southern California. These disasters, among other things, tragically highlighted the serious need for preparing and executing evacuation plans for animals. In the chaos of wildfire, animals are and will be left to suffer and perish in the absence of pre-planning by their guardians. Furthermore, when animals are not evacuated, first responders and “good Samaritans” are put in danger while trying to save those animals.

The sheltering and protection of animals is the primary responsibility of their owners. As the effects of climate change worsen, wildfires are expected to occur more often and with greater ferocity. This is our new normal.

Please support AB 1648 and all of Social Compassion in Legislation’s sponsored bills. Please add your name to our support letters, go to our Send a Support Letter page and click the “All Bills” box so that it is outlined in RED and then follow the prompts!

We cannot thank you all enough for the action you take for the animals! Please consider making a donation to help us continue our work.

 

With gratitude,

Judie Mancuso, founder/CEO/president
Social Compassion in Legislation