April 15, 2026

GREAT NEWS...&

SOME UNFORTUNATE NEWS

AB 1999 to Expand

Access to Veterinary Care Passes Assembly Business & Professions Committee with a Resounding 19 to 0 Vote!

Click on the photo below to watch our short video of our day advocating for AB 1999!

SACRAMENTO, CA — Yesterday, AB 1999, authored by Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), and cosponsored by Social Compassion in Legislation (SCIL), the California Veterinary Medical Board (CVMB), the California Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA), and San Diego Humane Society passed the Assembly Business and Professions Committee with a unanimous 19-0 vote.

We are so thankful for Assemblymember Kalra for his continued leadership on animal issues, and to the Committee Chair, Assemblymember Marc Berman, who joined on as a principal coauthor, the Committee members, and staff for being supportive of this comprehensive piece of legislation.

The bill amends several areas of law by updating the owner exemption to veterinary practice, establishing structured pathways for retired volunteer veterinarians and registered veterinary technicians (RVTs) to serve animal shelters, creating a shelter veterinarian license category, and refining regulations governing the Veterinarian-Client-Patient Relationship (VCPR). Together, these reforms will implement stronger regulatory protections for animals and expand access to animal health care services, helping to address the needs of an evolving veterinary workforce and increasingly impacted animal shelter system.

If you'd like to watch the full hearing, click HERE. The AB 1999 testimony begins at the 2:32:45 mark.

We thank you all so much for signing onto our support letters for the bill - they were all delivered and impactful! You can see the list of organizations and the number of individuals which supported the bill listed on the Committee analysis HERE.

The bill now moves to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Stay tuned for updates!

AB 2344 Pulled From Assembly

Public Safety Committee!

Unfortunately, due to lack of support from the Chair of the Assembly Public Safety Committee and other members, we did not have the votes to pass AB 2344, and consequently Assemblymember Haney decided to pull the bill from the agenda.

There was a peculiar issue we were facing in this Committee. Last week, this same Committee voted down a bill that would create a domestic violence registry. Due to the political optics, there was hesitation from Committee members to vote for an animal abuse registry after voting down the domestic violence one last week.

Based on our conversations with staff and members of the Committee, we are confident that AB 2344 would have passed if it was not for the unfortunate timing of the other bill being voted down.

Thank you all for making the calls to the Committee members. Even though we didn't get the vote, your calls, letters, emails, and social media posts were heard! We learned from many staffers that the phones were lighting up - which both makes us so proud of this community of animal advocates, but also frustrated that legislators still couldn't commit to voting yes on the bill even though they heard from so many of you.

Because the bill was not voted on, it is still alive. Please stay tuned for more information on how we might move forward.

This is our 19th year of creating laws to protect animals, but also yet another year to fight bad bills. We need your help. We need your voice and financial donations to be successful. We are achieving lasting, meaningful progress, but it cannot be done without your support. Please consider donating today.

With tons of gratitude, Judie

Judie Mancuso, founder/CEO/president

Social Compassion, 501(c)(3)

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