3rd Annual Animal Advocacy Day
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Join us for the 3rd Annual Animal Advocacy Day. This inspiring event unites animal advocates, state lawmakers, and animal welfare leaders from across California for a day of action at the State Capitol.
Animal Advocacy Day raises awareness about legislative efforts to help address critical access-to-care issues and veterinary shortages in California.
Questions? Contact specialevents@sfspca.org.
Event Agenda
9:00am
Check in at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Sacramento
9:30am
Welcome Program—what to say and what to do, review fact sheets for the legislation, and legislation roundtable
10:30am
Walk to the Sacramento Capitol Annex nearby
11:00am–3:30pm
Attend 3—4 meetings with elected officials
3:30pm–4:00pm
Wrap up and evaluations
Active Bills
Some of the key legislation we will be addressing covers these topics:
- Expanding access to veterinary care
- Shelter transparency
- Closing the puppy mill pipeline into California
AB 516: This bill clarifies the tasks that Registered Veterinarian Technicians (RVTs) can perform in shelters and private practices, expanding their important roles and increasing animal owners’ access to veterinarians for the care that only veterinarians can provide.
SB 602: This bill increases the availability of free and low-cost vaccine clinics for pet owners around the state by enabling RVTs to run these clinics without a veterinarian present.
AB 631: This bill mandates certain disclosures and transparency for shelters, which will be required to provide specific data to the public through their websites.
SB 312, AB 506, and AB 519: This group of bills aims to halt the influx of puppies from puppy mills and prevent misrepresentation about the source of dogs to unaware consumers. These bills will formalize the submission of import documents (which will then be available to the public), will void certain sales agreements concerning imported dogs, and will prohibit the retail sale of pets by brokers working with puppy millers.
Complimentary Shuttle Service will depart from the SF SPCA campus at 7am and will leave Sacramento at 4pm.
Priority Bills
Learn more about the three important animal welfare bills we will support at Animal Advocacy Day this year.
AB 2216 would limit landlords’ ability to charge monthly pet rent, prevent tenants from owning pets without reasonable justifications for their policy, and other practices that prevent tenants from owning pets and/or that result in tenants relinquishing their pets to shelters.
SB 1233 requests that the 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.
Visit this page often, as it is updated regularly to provide status updates, along with instructions on how you can provide support.
Thank you to the Barbara Wolfe Advocacy Fund for helping to make this work possible.