oday, SB 376 – The Wildlife Trafficking and Trade Act passed the Senate Public Safety Committee with an unanimous vote. The bill was introduced earlier this year by Senator Henry Stern (D-Los Angeles), along with cosponsors Social Compassion in Legislation and The Center for Biological Diversity, and already passed its first committee hearing on April 15. If passed, this bill will address the underlying cause that led to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic by limiting imports of wild animals that pose a risk of zoonotic transmission. The bill will also limit the sale of live animals for human consumption that are invasive species or known to have zoonotic diseases.
“We’ve seen the devastating effects COVID-19 has had on our society, and we simply cannot risk it happening again,” said Judie Mancuso, CEO and founder of Social Compassion in Legislation. “If passed, SB 376 will set us on the correct course to prevent history from being repeated.”
SB 376 is moving next to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 702 (Santiago) the Pet Breeder Humane Care Act
Today, AB 702 – The Pet Breeder Humane Care Act was pulled from receiving a hearing in the Assembly Business and Professions Committee due to legislators’ concerns over the cost to local jurisdictions of administering the permitting program. After working with the Committee for weeks on tightening up the language of the bill, an opposition letter from the California State Association of Counties (CSAC), the Urban Counties of California (UCC), and the Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) fueled questions about how much the program would cost to administer.
We disagree with the narrative that administration of the program would be a burden, as nearly all jurisdictions already administer kennel permits and dog licensing programs. The breeder permitting program required by this bill could be easily administered alongside those existing programs. Nevertheless, legislators got confused, and as such, we decided to pull the bill from the committee. The author, Assemblymember Santiago has turned AB 702 into a two year bill to give time to work with the opposition.
You can read the Committee’s analysis here for more information.
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AB 416 (Kalra) the California Deforestation-free Procurement Act
Will be voted on in the Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee tomorrow, April 28th after 1:30pm.
Please let the following Assemblymembers know that you want a livable planet and you want the state of California to buy products that come from sustainable sources, sold by “good actors.” (By the way, this is the same committee that our AB 564, the bill to conserve CA’s biodiversity, did not have enough support for – so please make these three calls no later than tomorrow at noon):
Assemblymember Autumn Burke
(916) 319-2062
Assemblymember Freddie Rodriguez
(916) 319-2052
Assemblymember Jose Medina
(916) 319-2061
Please, spread the word on our lifesaving bills and get others to visit our website and send their support too. And please, consider making a donation to support our vital work.
Thank you for your help,
Judie Mancuso