On Tuesday, April 16, 2024, the San Francisco SPCA collaborated with animal welfare partners from across California for the second annual Animal Advocacy Day in Sacramento. This day of action in the California State Capitol was an important opportunity to make our voices heard and meet with elected officials.
Thank you to everyone who came out and advocated on behalf of critical pieces of legislation that will help animals in California. It was an energizing day that helped move the needle for animals.
Animal welfare bills we focused on
This year, we focused on three important animal welfare bills, with an eye towards spurring lawmakers to support them:
- AB 2216: This bill would limit landlords’ ability to charge monthly pet rent, prevent tenants from owning pets without justifying their policy, and other practices that prevent tenants from owning pets and/or that result in tenants relinquishing their pets.
- SB 1233: This bill requests that University of California and Western University of Health Sciences establish standards and certification for providing high-quality, high-volume spay and neuter surgical techniques and offer curriculum in their veterinary medicine programs.
- AB 2248: This bill would limit some predatory practices that commercial puppy sellers use to sell puppies, including the use of non-refundable deposits before important information is disclosed.
A recap of Advocacy Day 2024
Advocacy Day 2024 is complete and was a great success.
- We successfully advocated for SB 1233, which allows California veterinary schools to develop specialized programs to combat the pet overpopulation crisis, by establishing high-quality, high-volume spay and neuter certification programs to be offered as elective coursework to students and practicing veterinarians
- We effectively stopped AB 2265, a bill that imposed unworkable burdens on shelters and posed significant challenges for shelter animals—a major win for animal welfare!
Stay tuned for the third annual Advocacy Day 2025 on April 29, 2025.