June 27, 2023

JOINT LEGISLATIVE AUDIT COMMITTEE VOTES 11-2 IN SUPPORT OF OUR DEFORESTATION-FREE PROCUREMENT EFFORTS!

In support of our multiyear effort to ensure California state procurement dollars are not inadvertently contributing to tropical deforestation, SCIL has been working with Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) and Friends of the Earth to request an audit through the Joint Committee on Legislative Audit (JLAC) to calculate how much of our state's procurement contain products harvested from tropical forests. Yesterday, we had our hearing and the audit was approved by a vote of 11-2. We thank Assemblymember Kalra for his unwavering commitment to this issue, and to all the Committee members who voted to approve the audit.

The audit, which will be completed in approximately six months, will quantify the impact California's procurement has on tropical deforestation and help shape future policy.

'YES' Votes:

Chair, Assemblymember Alvarez (D-San Diego)

Vice Chair, Senator Blakespear (D-Encinitas)

Assemblymember Boerner (D-Encinitas)

Assemblymember Rubio (D-Baldwin Park)

Assemblymember Valencia (D-Anaheim)

Assemblymember Wood (D-Healdsburg)

Senator Cortese (D-San Jose)

Senator Eggman (D-Stockton)

Senator Gonzalez (D-Long Beach)

Senator Laird (D-Santa Cruz)

Senator Wilk (R-Santa Clarita)

'NO' Votes:

Assemblymember Patterson (R-Fresno)

Assemblymember Hoover (R-Folsom)

REMINDER!

Please buy a ticket or donate to our event! We need your support!

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, and we will be honoring the one and only Priscilla Presley for her lifetime of animal advocacy.

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.