Legislation

Paws Up for Kinder Laws

Make your voice heard! Urge your legislators to support laws that will protect and save animals from cruel experiments. Every animal-friendly law passed gets us one step closer to ending animal research for good.

State Bills

Assembly Bill 357: Animal Test Methods: Alternatives.

This bill would revise an existing law–which requires the use of alternative, non-animal testing methods in certain circumstances–by updating the definition of an alternative test method, expanding the types of products to which the law applies, and requiring the reporting of information about the use of alternative test methods. This bill would not affect the use of animals for biomedical research.

Sponsors:

  • Assembly Members:

Status: 

Status: 

    • 2/2: From printer—may be heard in committee March 4.
    • 2/9: Referred to Judiciary Committee.

House Bill 381: An act relating to cosmetic animal testing.

This bill, sponsored by Katherine Waldron, would prohibit the manufacture, import, or sale of cosmetics that have been tested on animals. Exceptions to the bill’s prohibition on the sale of animal-tested cosmetics include the absence of accepted, non-animal testing methods.

Sponsors:

  • Representatives:

Status: Referred to Regulatory Reform and Economic Development Subcommittee, Healthcare to Healthcare Regulation Subcommittee, and Commerce Committee

Senate Bill 1882: Dog & cat testing restrictions.

This bill would prohibit most toxicological experiments on dogs and cats. Exceptions include testing or experimentation conducted for products intended to benefit dogs and cats. This bill would not affect the use of animals for biomedical research.

Sponsors:

  • Senators:
    • Linda Holmes (42nd District)

Status: 

Senate Bill 495: An act concerning research facilities and testing facilities that use animals.

This bill limits the use of animals for cosmetics and chemical testing, with a specific emphasis on dogs and cats. Restrictions are not placed on biomedical research with the exception that such facilities must provide justifications to the state for animal use.

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Sponsors:

Status: 

    • 2/3: First reading in the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee.
    • 2/7: Senate hearing scheduled for 3/2.

Senate Bill 560, House Bill 626: An act concerning animal testing and research.

This bill would establish a fund to promote research “intended to develop human-relevant alternatives to using nonhuman animals in medical and product testing and research”.

Sponsors:

Status: 

  • 2/6: Introduced
  • 2/16: Referred to Senate Finance Committee – hearing scheduled for 3/3.

Senate Docket 2181, House Docket 2216: An Act promoting humane cosmetics and other household products by limiting the use of animal testing.

This bill, introduced by Massachusetts State Senator Mark Montigny and Representative Jack Patrick Lewis, would reduce the use of animals in cosmetics and household product testing by requiring manufacturers to use valid alternative (i.e., non-animal) test methods for  product, product formulation, chemical, or ingredient testing whenever such alternatives are available. This bill would not affect the use of animals for biomedical research. 

Sponsors:

  • Senators:
    • Mark Montigny (2nd Bristol and Plymouth)
  • Representatives:
    • John Patrick Lewis (7th Middlesex)

Status: Awaiting committee assignment

 

Senate Bill 97-FN: An Act relative to the use of animals in product testing.

Sponsored by five state senators and three state representatives, this bill would reduce the use of animals for cosmetics and household product testing by requiring that appropriate alternative (i.e., non-animal) test methods or strategies be used for ingredient or product testing whenever such alternatives are available. This bill would not affect the use of animals for biomedical research. 

This bill would also require that manufacturers and contract testing facilities disclose all animal testing to the Attorney General.

Sponsors:

  • Senators: 
    • Debra Altschiller (District 24)
    • Jeb Bradley (District 03)
    • Shannon Chandley (District 11)
    • Donna Soucy (District 18)
    • David Watters (District 04)
  • Representatives:
    • Jane Beaulieu (Hillsborough – District 19)
    • Anita Burroughs (Carroll – District 2)
    • Ellen Read (Rockingham – District 10)

Status: Referred to the Senate Commerce Committee, which held a hearing on the bill on 1/24/23.

  • Senate Commerce Committee members:
    • Bill Gannon, Chairman (District 23)
    • Denise Ricciardi, Vice Chairman (District 09)
    • Shannon Chandley (District 11) [BILL SPONSOR]
    • Daniel Innis (District 07)
    • Donna Soucy (District 18) [BILL SPONSOR]

House Bill 3213: Relating to testing cosmetics on animals.

This bill would prohibit manufacturers from selling cosmetics developed through the use of animal testing. Exceptions would include the absence of a recognized nonanimal alternative method or strategy.

Sponsors:

  • Senators:

Status: 

  • 2/9: Referred to House Committee on Business and Labor

Senate Bill 0113: A bill to modify the authority of a political subdivision to enact regulations regarding animal enterprises and working animals.

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Sponsored by Senator Scott Sandall and Representative Casey Snider, this bill would disallow any county, city, town, or metro township from prohibiting or restricting any commercial or academic animal research and testing occurring within its jurisdictional borders. 

This dangerous bill may well have been spurred by industry fears of the power we hold when we join together: in 2022, residents of Everett, Massachusetts succeeded in prohibiting animal testing within their city.

Sponsors:

  • Senators: 
    • Scott Sandall
  • Representatives:
    • Casey Snider (District 5)

Status: 1/19/23 Referred to the Senate Rules Committee and the House Committee on Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment.

  • Senate Rules Committee members:
    • David G. Buxton, Chair
    • Kirk A. Cullimore
    • Luz Escamilla
    • Lincoln Fillmore
    • Keith Grover
    • Don L. Ipson
    • Karen Kwan
    • Todd D. Weiler
    • Ronald M. Winterton
  • House Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee members:
    • Walt Brooks, Chair (District 75)
    • Steven J. Lund, Vice Chair (District 66)
    • Gay Lynn Bennion (District 41)
    • Bridger Bolinder (District 29)
    • Scott H. Chew (District 68)
    • Tim Jimenez (District 28)
    • Michael L. Kohler (District 59)
    • Doug Owens (District 33)
    • Thomas W. Peterson (District 1)
    • Mike Schultz (District 12)
    • Rex P. Shipp (District 71)
    • Casey Snider (District 5) [BILL SPONSOR]
    • Keven J. Stratton (District 58)
    • Christine F. Watkins (District 67)

Senate Bill 1230, House Bill 2042: Animal testing

This bill would require state and private animal testing facilities to submit annual reports regarding animal use to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Sponsors:

  • Representatives:

Status:

  • 1/10: Prefiled in Senate; referred to Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources; referred to House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources.
  • 1/25: Senate assigned ACNR sub: Companion Animals: House subcommittee recommended laying on the table.
  • 1/31: Senate Committee passed unanimously.
  • 2/7: House – left in Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources.

House Bill 1097: An Act relating to the sale of cosmetics tested on animals.

This bill, supported by 16 state representatives, would significantly reduce the sale of cosmetics developed or manufactured using animal testing. Exceptions to the bill’s prohibition on the sale of animal tested cosmetics would include delineated cases in which no non-animal alternative method or strategy is recognized. 

Sponsors:

  • Representatives:

Status: 1/9/23 Referred to the House Committee on Consumer Protection & Business.

News About Legislation Protecting Animals in Labs

Congress Passes the FDA Modernization Act 2.0

The Rise for Animals Team, December 28, 2022
This Act eliminates a federal mandate, which has been in place since 1938, requiring FDA-approved drugs to have been tested on non-human animals.

The Animal Welfare Act Protects Just 5% of Animals in Labs

The Rise for Animals Team, December 5, 2022
The Animal Welfare Act is supposed to provide protections for animals in laboratories. So why are 95% of animals in labs exempt?

Lawmakers Are Pushing for Protections for Cephalopods

The Rise for Animals Team, October 13, 2022
Sensitive, intelligent cephalopods are increasingly used in research, but do not have any legal protections for humane care. A Congressional group wants to change that.