BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                        ACR 56|
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                                    THIRD READING


          Bill No:  ACR 56
          Author:   Linder (R), et al.
          Introduced:4/20/15  
          Vote:     21 

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  79-0, 7/16/15 (Consent) - See last page for  
            vote

           SUBJECT:   Official State Pet


          SOURCE:   Social Compassion in Legislation
                    State Humane Association of California 



          DIGEST:          This resolution declares a shelter pet as the official  
          State Pet.
          ANALYSIS:   This resolution states the following:


          1)Approximately eight million abandoned pets live in animal  
            shelters in the United States.


          2)Three to four million of these dogs and cats are euthanized  
            every year.


          This resolution states that the Legislature seeks to raise  
          public awareness of shelter animals by declaring a shelter pet  
          as the official State Pet.

          Background









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          According to the State Humane Association of California, over  
          800,000 animals each year are taken into California's public and  
          private shelters. These shelters work across the state to  
          rescue, rehabilitate, and find a home for these animals.  
          However, due to limited time and lack of resources, roughly 40%  
          of shelter animals in California are euthanized.


          According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty  
          to Animals (ASPCA), approximately 7.6 million companion animals  
          enter animal shelters nationwide every year. Of those, roughly  
          3.9 million are dogs and 3.4 million are cats. Each year,  
          approximately 2.7 million animals are euthanized, while 2.7  
          million shelter animals are adopted.


          FISCAL EFFECT:   Appropriation:    No          Fiscal  
          Com.:NoLocal:    No


          SUPPORT:   (Verified8/18/15)


          Social Compassion in Legislation (co-source)
          State Humane Association of California (co-source)
          Beagle Freedom Project
          Calaveras Humane Society
          Fix Fido
          Friends of the Alameda Animal Shelter
          Lorraine Thomas Amador County Animal Shelter
          Pets in Need
          Social Compassion in Legislation
          Solano County Animal Care Advisory Commission
          Stockton Animal Services
          Yucca Valley Animal Care and Control


          OPPOSITION:   (Verified8/18/15)


          None received








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          ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT:  According to the author, "By naming the  
          Shelter Pet as the official California State Pet, the California  
          Legislature will send a strong signal of support for  
          California's public and private shelters that work every day,  
          year round, to save unwanted animals, bring them back to health,  
          provide them safe harbor off the streets and out of abusive  
          homes, and ultimately hope to either reunite lost pets with  
          their loving owners, or find new and caring homes.  By making  
          the shelter pet the official state pet, it would encourage  
          people to first consider adopting an existing animal residing in  
          a shelter, giving shelters a valuable new tool to help bring  
          attention to the millions of animals waiting for adoption."

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR:  79-0, 7/16/15
           AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,  
            Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,  
            Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle,  
            Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina  
            Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gray,  
            Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones,  
            Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,  
            Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,  
            Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea,  
            Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,  
            Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,  
            Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
           NO VOTE RECORDED:  Gordon



          Prepared by:Melissa Ward / SFA / (916) 651-1520
          8/19/15 20:34:41


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