Dear Friends,
We are so grateful for all of your past support of SCIL and the action you have taken to push your legislators to support animal protection in California. As you know, this year we have multiple bills moving forward and we need your support now more than ever! We are up against the world's largest cosmetic companies in our fight to end animal testing. We are up against the Safari Club and NRA to ban possession of iconic African species.
We need to continue to put resources on the ground in Sacramento, but also get the word out to the world on these measures, and we can't do that without your financial support. Please, consider donating today and spread the word. We need you now more than ever!!
Legislative Update
The week started off with a press conference and hearing for
SB 1487 (Stern)
Iconic African Species Protection Act. It was heard and voted on by the Senate Public Safety Committee. Here is the breakdown of the positive 5-2 vote:
Ayes: Bradford, Jackson, Mitchell, Skinner, Weiner
Noes: Anderson, Stone
No Vote Recorded: None
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Ayal Levy, Nick Sackett, Judie Mancuso, Hunter Nolan, Katie Cleary, Senator Henry Stern,
Jason MacCannell
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We are thrilled that this bill has now passed two Senate policy committees. We would like to thank Senator Stern for carrying the bill and his unwavering dedication in the face of strong opposition.
We would also like to thank Brendan Cummings of Center for Biological Diversity for his expert testimony, and all the Senators who have voted and spoken in support. But as you might notice, the vote is divided along party lines. SCIL's supporters are of every political party in the state. Californians as a whole want to do our part to protect these iconic species.
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Brendan Cummings, Katie Cleary, Sen. Stern, Nick Sackett, Judie Mancuso
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SB 1487 (Stern) Iconic African Species Protection Act
Press Conference 4-24-18
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| Katie Cleary, Senator Henry Stern, Nick Sackett |
It is unfortunate that the Republicans are toeing the line for the Safari Club, the NRA, and other gun/hunting associations that have come out against this common sense bill. These magnificent species belong to all of us, yet the opposition to our bill believes they should be the ones allowed to take the few remaining animals and mount them on their wall rather than leave them alive in the wild for all of us to enjoy and cherish.
Trophy hunting has been allowed for a long time and there is no evidence that it conserves animals. In fact, trophy hunting has paralleled the continued decimation of many species. While we understand the reality of politics... it is time for our Republican representatives to stand up to the NRA and Safari Club and say we cannot support your position on this one!
Please, if Senators: Joel Anderson, Andy Vidak, or Jeff Stone are your representatives; call them, visit them, and urge them to break rank with their party line and stand for humankind- and to help us save these iconic species from extinction. The senators will have more opportunities to correct their votes to reflect their constituents rather than the hunting/gun lobby. Please stay tuned for our next stop on this enormously important bill. And if your Senator voted yes, please thank them!
Next up,
SB 1249 (Galgiani)
Cosmetics Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act, which was heard and voted on in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Again, we got the bill out successfully, but along party lines. The vote was:
Ayes: Hertzberg, Jackson, Monning, Stern, Wieckowski
Noes: Anderson
No Votes Recorded: Moorlach (was there heard all the testimony and did not vote)
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Judie Mancuso, Senator Cathleen Galgiani, Katie Cleary, Kristie Sullivan
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We thank Senator Galgiani for her leadership and all the Democrats that voted for this bill. Again, the Republican Caucus came out with a vote "No" recommendation, and, predictably, we lost the Republicans to special interests: Chamber of Commerce, Pro-Cruelty Animal Testing Organizations, and others despite receiving over 7,000 letters of support from Californians for this bill.
We are grateful for every vote cast in support, but we will not give up on the ones that voted to oppose cruelty-free cosmetics in this state, as the vast majority of Californians want.
We also are grateful to Hilary Pickles of Lush Cosmetics. Her testimony about Lush's wildly successful 30 years as a cruelty-free company was very compelling and countered the opposition's argument that they cannot be successful without animal testing.
We also thank Kristie Sullivan of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine for bringing science and sound reasoning to the table and her ongoing involvement in driving this legislation through with us.
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Sen. Stern, Hilary Pickles, Katie Cleary, Hunter Nolan, Eyal Levy, Trevor Kohli
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The opposition's only argument was that China requires them to test on animals. But, as reflected in the committee's analysis, when the opposition (PCPC, Proctor & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, and others) were asked for China's rules and regulations to better understand their concerns, all the committee received was a 500 page document written in Chinese! Yet, the Republican senators on the committee were still influenced by special interest!
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| Leslie Davies, Judie Mancuso, Nick Sackett, Katie Cleary, Erin Riley-Carrasco, Jim Kilby, Amitis Ariano |
Californians have spoken loud and clear that they want cruelty-free cosmetics which will save the lives of hundreds of thousands of animals from being barbarically tortured and killed yearly by antiquated testing methods. SB 1249 is good for business, safer for humans, and will undoubtedly save millions of animals from a horrendous life and death.
SB 1138 (Skinner) Plant Based Meals
SB 1138 passed the Senate Health Committee with a unanimous vote! We thank Senator Skinner for her strong leadership on this important issue.
Ayes: Hernandez, Leyva, Mitchell, Monning, Newman, Nguyen, Nielsen, Pan, Roth
Noes: None
No Votes Recorded:
None
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KCAL 9 News Coverage of SB 1138 (Skinner) Plant Based Meals
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We thank everyone for their vote which crossed over party lines, as it should be. Senator Nielsen said he was not going to vote for the bill, but after he
aring the compelling testimony from Zion Butler, a 6 year old vegan since birth, who could
not get a meal at the hospital, he decided to go our way.
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SB 1138 (Skinner) Plant Based Meals - Press Conference 4-25-18
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Many thanks to Genelle, Genesis, and Zion Butler for the making the trip to testify at the hearing. We also send a big thanks to Anna Herby and Caroline Trapp of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine for
their expert testimony and participation in the press conference.
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Genelle, Genesis & Zion Butler, Senator Skinner, Anna Herby, Judie Mancuso, CarolineTrapp
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Lastly, is the setback.
We are deeply saddened and disappointed to report that our sponsored bill, AB 3159 (Thurmond) Animal Slaughter: Poultry failed to pass the Assembly Agriculture Committee 2 - 7. Despite the outcome, we are so grateful to Assembly Member Tony Thurmond for staying strong for the animals. We also thank Dr. Sara Shields of Humane Society International for travelling twice to California for her expert testimony.
This time it was both the moderate Democrats and Republicans who were afraid of the Farm Bureau and the Poultry Federation who voted on the side of cruelty.
This is a real problem with this committee and one that needs to be addressed. It is all about politics and the real need for campaign finance reform. This was not about the policy, it was pure political influence by the opposition. The Committee voted unanimously to support the cruel confinement bill (AB 3021), and against our anti-cruelty bill (AB 3159). It is a very sad state of affairs when the political make-up of the Agriculture committee completely shuts any voice outside of the special interest.
Ayes: Caballero, Jones-Sawyer
Noes: Aguiar-Curry, Flora, Gallagher, Gray, Levine, Mathis, Salas
No Votes Recorded: Irwin (was absent)
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Video begins with SB 1138 (Skinner) hearing and ends with AB 3159 (Thurmond) final vote.
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