Judiciary Committee Chair Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson commented at the beginning of the last hearing of the bill that over 2600 individual letter of support had been received, with still more coming in. Thank you to all who took the time to send a letter, you truly made a difference!
On July 9 the fur ban bill passed the second Senate Committee with seven votes in favor (out of nine total votes). Lots of people came out in person as well, to show their support at this hearing! The entire hallway and most of the hearing room were filled with proponents, some who had walked from San Francisco to Sacramento.
And, just like at the last Committee hearing, a growing number of opponents showed up. My initial reaction was that these people had been paid to be there, a sentiment that was confirmed for me when I overheard one of them ask the person behind about the bill name before going up to the microphone. Here is also a link to an article published in the Sacramento Bee a few days ago: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article232742117.html
The bill will now move on to the Senate Appropriations Committee before going to a full Senate vote. Since the Senate is on recess until August 12, the next hearing is scheduled for Monday August 12 at 10AM https://sapro.senate.ca.gov/agenda
Please continue to sign and share the petition, contact your Senator by phone, email and on social media, and ask them to support AB44.
Also take the time to thank the nine Senators who already voted in support of the bill: Allen, Durazo, Lena Gonzalez, Hertzberg, Jackson, Monning, Stern, Umberg, Wieckowski.
You can follow this link to find your Senator: https://www.senate.ca.gov/senators
Appropriations Committee: https://sapro.senate.ca.gov/
This is also the time I would like to thank a few individuals and organizations who have helped me spread the word; called, wrote, and met with their Representatives; collected signatures online and at the Farmers’ Market; and shared resources: Marcy Berman, Debbie Buegeleisen, Deborah Claassen, Sidney Dent, Brian Green, Mark Hawthorne, Christian Riehl, Noah Smith, Monica Stevens, Julie Waldroup, Jameson Animal Rescue Ranch and SaveABunny. Thank you!
Photo credit Remy Krey-Rebentisch