July 8, 2025

AB 478 Passes Senate Governmental Organization Committee!

News on AB 631 and Groundbreaking Court Case in New York!

AB 478 (Zbur), the FOUND Act, passed the Senate Governmental Organization Committee today with a preliminary vote of 11 to 0. Watch the AB 478 hearing above. Thank you, Assemblymember Zbur, for authoring this important legislation.

AB 478 will ensure that pet parents can rescue their animals left behind in evacuated areas. This bill responds to the inadequate action taken for residents in the LA Fire zones who had animals in the evacuation areas and had to either sneak in to save their pets or rely on animal rescuers to do so.

AB 478 also directs cities and counties to establish a designated hotline for residents who need help evacuating with their animals or rescuing their pets once evacuated. Additionally, it ensures that animals rescued from evacuated areas are kept in the area for at least 30 days, giving their owners sufficient time to retrieve them.

The bill will next be voted on in the Senate Business and Professions Committee next week, on July 14th. Stay tuned in, we still need your support.

Update on AB 631, our bill aimed at quantifying the pet overpopulation crisis in California.

Recently, you might have heard some opposition to our sponsored AB 631 (Lee), which aims to ensure the data necessary for a more comprehensive picture of the pet overpopulation crisis in California is available to the public. In order to get that data, AB 631 would have required the two kinds of entities which primarily handle the state's population of homeless pets - animal shelters and 501(c)(3) animal rescues - to post their intake and outcome data on their websites, or if they didn't have a website, to simply make the data available upon request.

We can't solve a problem without understanding the scope of it or without metrics to measure progress when implementing possible solutions, which is why this data is so important. We are so thankful to the many of you who have supported the bill!

The bill got through the entire Assembly with no opposition. But, recently, a so-called group of animal rescue advocates has taken aim at the bill under the guise that posting of this data is too onerous and somehow will be used by animal shelters to penalize rescues, it could be used in retribution in some way.

We disagree with their points. First, compliance is simple and satisfied by keeping a spreadsheet or other electronic means, with the intake and outcome data, which any reputable rescue already does, and posting it on their website, or making it available upon request. Second, animal shelters already have the ability to restrict rescues from pulling animals for a variety of reasons - this bill does not change that in any way. It does not give shelters any more authority than they already possess.

We understand that the majority of animal shelters could be run better. As those of you who have been on our email list for years know, we have been highly critical of many animal shelters in our state.

But ultimately, animal shelters and 501(c)(3) animal rescues must and do work collaboratively every day to save animals' lives. We believe that if there are unfair practices between a particular shelter and a particular rescue, whatever those differences are, should be handled between those parties at the local level. This bill, and its aim of understanding the pet overpopulation crisis, does not have anything to do with such relationships. We are disappointed that the two issues have been conflated by these advocates.

In a meeting with these same advocates, they suggested making the rescues reporting requirement voluntary. Despite our fundamental disagreements with their reasoning, Assemblymember Lee has agreed to remove the requirement that 501(c)(3) rescues report, and only leave language in the bill which encourages rescues to make the data available.

Yet, despite Assemblymember Lee accepting their suggestion to make rescues reporting voluntary, these same advocates are still opposing the bill. It’s disappointing to see the goalposts being moved after we’ve taken their feedback on the bill and accommodated this request.

We will keep working to pass AB 631, which will ensure all shelters report their intake and outcome data and encourage rescues to do the same. We cannot wait any longer for these poor animals' lives not to be counted.

Thank you again for your ongoing support.

A groundbreaking N.Y. court decision:

A family dog may be considered an immediate family member.

A judge in Kings County (New York) Supreme Court ruled that a plaintiff could recover damages for emotional distress for having witnessed her family dog be hit and killed by a vehicle while she was walking the dog through a crosswalk.

While the decision was tailored to the facts of the case and focused on the plaintiff being within the "zone of danger" of the accident, the precedent set by the court is groundbreaking in that it recognized the dog as an immediate family member instead of only property.

We applaud the judge for recognizing shifting societal norms around the place animals have in our lives, and to the Nonhuman Rights Project for the amicus briefs which the court relied on in its published opinion.

Your support is vital to our mission. Your contribution plays a significant role in driving meaningful change and advancing our cause. We are deeply grateful for your ongoing support and together, we can make a lasting impact for the animals who need us most. Thank you for being a part of our community!

Judie Mancuso, founder/CEO/president

Social Compassion, 501(c)(3)

Social Compassion in Legislation, 501(c)(4)

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