July 3, 2023

ACR 86 Passes Assembly Floor!

Today, ACR 86, the Pet Crisis Response Act, authored by Assemblymember Ash Kalra and coauthored by a bipartisan group of twelve legislators, passed the Assembly Floor with a vote of 66-0. The resolution details the underlying issues that have contributed to too many dogs, cats, rabbits and other species being born in or brought into California without enough Californians willing to give them forever homes and urges action on the pet overpopulation crisis in California.

ACR 86 is sponsored by Social Compassion in Legislation and supported by veterinarians, shelter staff and volunteers, rescue organizations, and philanthropists and celebrities including Priscilla Presley, Katherine Heigl, Maggie Q, Dr. Gary Michelson, and Louise Linton.

The bill now moves to the Senate where we anticipate it being first heard in the Senate Business, Professions, and Economic Development Committee. Click below to watch Assemblymember Kalra present the bill during today's Assembly session.

REMINDER!

Please buy your ticket or donate to our event!

If you cannot attend, please consider sponsoring someone else to go on your behalf!

UPDATE:

Assemblymembers Marie Waldron & Wendy Carrillo will be joining us in Brentwood as we honor them for their unwavering dedication to animals!

We are so excited to invite you to our first fundraiser since early 2020! We will be hosted by the ever-generous Michelson family in Brentwood where we will be honoring the one and only Priscilla Presley for her lifetime of animal advocacy. We will also be recognizing two legislators, Assemblymembers Marie Waldron and Wendy Carrillo, who have continually championed the needs of animals throughout their political careers.

It’s been a tough few years for many in the nonprofit space, and we are no exception. Before the pandemic, SCIL was sponsoring 8 to 11 bills per year. We celebrated massive legislative wins with you: in 2017, we kicked puppy mill breeders out of retail pet stores; in 2018, we banned the sale of cosmetics tested on animals and got plant-based options in all state hospitals and prisons; and in 2019, we ended commercial and recreational fur trapping and saved wild animals from circuses.

Since then, we have made significant progress by getting five bills signed into law. But now, we are ready to recapture the momentum we had before Covid.

Thank you to everyone who made donations to keep us going during that time. We are grateful for every dollar we raise and put it to good use saving and protecting animals.

Please share this email far and wide. We hope to see you July 15th for the Animal Rights Event of the Year!

Thank you!

For those new to our work, we have a 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) to which you may donate. 

All donations to Social Compassion, our 501(c)3, are tax deductible. Social Compassion is the vehicle from which we drive all non-lobbying activities. 501(c)(3) activities include rescue, spay and neutering efforts, stakeholder alliance building, and media and public outreach. 501(c)(3) funds also cover the administrative costs of running a nonprofit organization.       

Social Compassion in Legislation, our 501(c)(4), is our lobbying organization, and donations to it are not tax deductible. SCIL forges relationships between citizen stakeholder groups, government administrators, business leaders and elected officials to successfully drive legislation to benefit animals. We have navigated the political waters in California at the local and state levels. We recognize when small, measured steps are appropriate or when the time is right for bold action.

Tickets for our fundraiser will go to our 501(c)(3) and are tax deductible.