Dear John,

While the COVID-19 pandemic has upended state legislative sessions, our work fighting for stronger animal protection laws continues. Despite the disruptions, we’re still making gains across the United States — strengthening animal protection laws and working to defeat bills dangerous to animals.

As we approach the second half of the year, here are where some of our key legislative initiatives stand:

Recent Victories for Animals

• The Florida legislature passed a bill restricting the sale, import, and export of shark fins — helping ensure that Florida no longer supports or participates in the global shark fin trade which is devastating shark populations around the world. The bill is awaiting signature by Governor DeSantis.
• Florida also took a stand against illegal bear hunting and passed a law increasing penalties for poaching.
• Both Massachusetts and Colorado recently adopted regulations banning wildlife killing contests, where hunters compete to kill as many animals as they can during a specified time period. They are the fifth and sixth states to limit or ban these senseless and cruel events.
• With the passage of SB 21, Kentucky will soon permit veterinarians to report suspected cruelty. Kentucky was previously the only state in the nation with a statute prohibiting veterinarians from reporting suspected animal abuse.
• Iowa enacted a bill strengthening the state’s badly outdated animal protection laws, including detailed care requirements for animals.

Federal Legislation

• The Animal Legal Defense Fund is pushing to protect farmed animals in future COVID-19 stimulus bills. We’re advocating to slow down slaughter line speeds, decrease the number of farmed animals allowed to be held in the largest factory farms, and ban one of the cruelest methods of “depopulation” — ventilation shutdown, where animals are roasted alive and suffocate to death.

California

• Bella’s Act, which would strengthen California’s landmark retail pet sale ban and help ensure pet stores do not profit off animals bred in mills, has passed the Assembly. It will be considered by the Senate later this summer.
• We’re continuing to push for a ban on the most toxic rodenticides — dangerous poisons that are killing California’s native wildlife. In addition to sponsoring legislation, we’re urging Governor Newsom to issue a statewide moratorium.

Massachusetts

• Multiple animal protection bills in Massachusetts are still moving forward, including the Poaching Bill, which would protect the welfare and conservation of native species by entering the Commonwealth into a nationwide compact designed to deter poachers, and the Possession Ban Bill, which would prevent people convicted of animal cruelty from possessing, adopting, or fostering animals for at least five years after their release from custody.

New Jersey

• We’re working on two animal cruelty bills in the Garden State. The first is a cross-reporting bill that would ensure agencies responsible for investigating various forms of abuse regularly communicate with one another. Cross-reporting allows for early intervention and ensuring the safety of vulnerable populations like animals. We’re also working on a possession ban bill that would prohibit people convicted of animal cruelty from possessing companion animals for a certain period of time — disrupting the cycle of abuse. In June, the bill passed the Senate unanimously, it now moves to the General Assembly for consideration.

New York

• A bill that would shut down the puppy mill to pet store pipeline by prohibiting the sale of puppies, kittens, and rabbits in retail stores garnered tremendous support from legislators. Whether the bill moves forward in 2020 or not, we’re committed to making New York the next state to enact a retail pet sale ban.

Many state legislatures are still considering whether — and how — to continue their 2020 sessions. But where the Animal Legal Defense Fund has the opportunity to keep pushing for animal protection legislation, we are. And in states that have decided to adjourn for the year or limit their legislative agendas, we’re already working on our strategies for 2021 to maximize the success of our priority bills.

Nothing will stop us from working toward a future where every animal is respected and given the legal protections they deserve.