In 2016, New York passed Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal’s post-research adoption (PRA) bill and made it state law that labs must consider adopting dogs and cats out rather than euthanizing them after research is complete. Last year, she proposed legislation to strengthen the 2016 law. We’re happy to report that Assemblymember Rosenthal is back, to continue to fight for a stronger PRA law in New York.
Assemblymember Rosenthal introduced A00636, which would strengthen the existing PRA law by adding a reporting requirement for higher education research facilities. A00636 is the first bill of its kind—one that follows the enactment of a PRA law and includes mandatory reporting to make sure the goals of the PRA law are realized.
If passed, this law would require higher education research facilities to provide information about the adoptable dogs and cats to New York’s Department of Education. This information includes species, breed, age, and sex of retired research animals. This law would also require these facilities to hold the animals for 14 days. Basically, this law would serve doubly as a reporting mechanism (to ensure labs are complying with the 2016 law) and as an advertisement (for the public to see which animals are available).
We applaud Assemblymember Rosenthal’s forward leaning legislation, her commitment to protecting animals used as test tubes, and we strongly support A00636.