August 28, 2024

Breaking News!

AB 3162 passes the full Senate and now goes to the Governor for his signature!

Thank you, Senator Dave Min, for presenting AB 3162 on the Senate floor!

On Monday, AB 3162, authored by Assemblymember Steve Bennett (D-Ventura) and cosponsored by Social Compassion in Legislation and Animal Legal Defense Fund, passed the full Senate with a vote of 37-0. The bill will proactively ban octopus farming and also make California the first state to ban the sale of farmed octopus.

Our European allies, who are fighting to stop a proposed octopus farm in Spain, are elated that California is taking this stand. They have shared with us that California policy is heavily considered by their own lawmakers which helps in their grassroots efforts. This is another example which shows as California goes, so goes the nation, and so goes the world.

Methods of slaughtering octopi have historically been highly inhumane, including clubbing, slicing, asphyxiation, and chilling. These animals have significant cognitive abilities and can learn new skills, navigate complex mazes, are known escape artists, and even use tools. Intensively confining these highly intelligent, solitary animals in unnatural farming conditions is inhumane and almost certain to result in stress, aggressive activity, and high mortality.

In addition to animal welfare concerns, octopus farming could have problematic environmental consequences. Aquaculture facilities for octopi have the potential to create an increased risk of nitrogen and phosphorus runoff, contributing to environmental pollution and potential algal blooms that would create low-oxygen dead zones devoid of life, disrupting local marine ecosystems. Antibiotics and pesticides may also be used to control the spread of disease and presence of parasites — as they already are with sea lice in salmon farms — and these can end up in the diets of wild fish, making them sick and disrupting food chains.

As a reminder, this is the second SCIL sponsored bill to reach the Governor this year! Last week the Senate passed AB 1983 (Maienschein), the Tax Check-off Program, which will help fund spay and neuter programs.

Once both bills are officially enrolled with Governor Newsom, we will send out instructions on how to urge him to sign them both. Stay tuned!

ANNOUNCEMENT!

The California State Auditor Releases SCIL Supported Audit of State's Inadvertent Contribution to Tropical Deforestation

In 2023, Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) along with four other legislators (Assemblymembers Friedman, Lee, and Luz Rivas, and Senator Stern), and supported by Social Compassion in Legislation (SCIL) and Friends of the Earth (FoE), requested an audit regarding information related to California’s state purchasing of products harvested from tropical forests, otherwise referred to as tropical forest-risk commodities, such as rubber, wood, paper, beef, soy, palm oil, coffee, etc. The purpose of the audit was to better understand how and to what extent California's state procurements contribute to tropical deforestation and receive any policy recommendations from the auditor on how the state could better track, reduce, and even eliminate purchases that contribute to deforestation.

The audit followed a multiyear effort by Assemblymember Kalra, SCIL, FoE, and a large coalition of environmental organizations to pass legislation that would ensure California's procurement (2019-AB572, 2020-AB2002, 2021-AB416, 2022-AB1979) does not contribute to tropical deforestation.

We encourage you to read the full audit HERE, but we are including the executive summary below with key findings.

We will be meeting with Assemblymember Kalra, his staff, Friends of the Earth, and other interested stakeholders to more closely analyze the details of the audit and ascertain what, if any, policy actions should be taken in the future.

We thank Grant Parks, the California State Auditor, for his department taking a deep dive on the need for better transparency and enforcement in keeping our state's purchases as ethical and environmentally sustainable as possible. As the 5th largest economy in the world, it is imperative that we use our purchasing power for the greater good and reward good actors vs bad actors in the global marketplace.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Tropical Forest-Risk Commodities

"California does not have specific policy goals directly related to reducing the State’s contribution to tropical deforestation. However, the State actively seeks to address climate change. Studies show that tropical deforestation accounts for an estimated 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, rivaling the emissions for the entire world’s transportation sector. Because of agricultural expansion, certain commodities, such as beef, soy, and palm oil, carry a significant risk of contributing to tropical deforestation. Tropical forest-risk commodities (forest-risk commodities) are raw materials whose production in the tropics may be associated with deforestation. However, the production of these commodities does not always result in tropical deforestation. Nevertheless, when governments purchase goods and services containing these commodities, they risk contributing to climate change."

• The State May Be Inadvertently Contributing to Tropical Deforestation
• The State Could Expand an Existing Program and Policies to Combat Tropical Deforestation
• Significant Weaknesses Hamper the State’s Implementation and Enforcement of the Transparency Act

We are thrilled to have two sponsored bills waiting to be enrolled with the Governor and to have received the results of an audit that we have been working on for years. It has taken countless hours and resources to get these actions done to save animals' lives and protect the environment.

If you’re able to contribute now to help us save and protect animals, we’d be most grateful. No amount is too small.

On behalf of SCIL and all the animals, thank you!

Judie Mancuso, founder/CEO/president

Social Compassion in Legislation

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