News

Thursday, March 28, 2019

Social Compassion for Legislation

SACRAMENTO –Today, AB 733 , authored by Assemblyman Bill Quirk, passed the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials by a unanimous vote of 7-0. Co-sponsored by Social Compassion in Legislation and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, AB 733 would end the use of massive numbers of fish in hazardous waste tests.

For decades, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control has tested water by putting live fish in waste water. If the fish live, the water is safe. If the fish are killed from the waste water, it is deemed unsafe. Under this bill, the Department of Toxic Substances Control would be tasked with looking into viable alternatives to live-fish water testing, and, if able, putting those alternatives into action.

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Friday, March 1, 2019

Letters to the Editors: Former San Jose Councilman, Pierluigi Oliverio, The Mercury News

This bill will ban the cruel practice of cat declawing, which is similar to cutting off the first knuckle of a human finger.

Back in 2014, I hosted a community viewing of the documentary film “The Paw Project.” The veterinarian-filmmaker attended the city hall event, and participated in an audience discussion.

The film exposes the barbaric practice of declawing cats, and advocates for the termination of this unnecessary and harmful procedure. Declawing — which is much more aggressive than trimming fingernails and is similar to cutting off the first knuckle of a human finger — often leads to extreme anti-social and aggressive behavior in otherwise adoptable and companionable animals.

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Friday, March 1, 2019

Zack Ruskin, SFWeekly

A new permitting program aims to regulate pot purchases — but not consumption — at certain large-scale cultural festivities. Again: not consumption.

District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman readily admits that the development and implementation of cannabis regulations in San Francisco has been a bit of an adventure so far.

“We’re in a brave new world here,” Mandelman says. “We’re making new laws and figuring stuff out as we go along.”

The latest edict on Mandelman’s agenda is the matter of permitting local cannabis events. Thanks to the efforts of California Assemblyman Bill Quirk, then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 2020 into law last September.

In essence, the bill allows cities in California to define and issue permits for local events that involve the commercial sale of regulated cannabis as long as the permit-holder also has the necessary state license.

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Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Joan Morris, Bay Area News Group

A bill that would ban declawing of cats, a surgical procedure many consider cruel and unnecessary, has started its way through the California legislature.

Declawing has been banned in many parts of the world, and is illegal in San Francisco, Los Angeles and six other California cities.

“Declawed cats can suffer long-term physical complications as a result of declawing,” said  Assemblyman Bill Quirk (D-Hayward), who introduced the bill, AB 1230. “It’s not just a fancy manicure. It’s painful, unnecessary and needs to stop.”

When cats are declawed, the last joint on each toe is removed to prevent the claw from growing back. Many veterinarians have called the practice barbaric, causing unneeded pain and suffering, and leading to unexpected complications.

The most common reasons giving for declawing cats is to prevent them from tearing up the furniture or scratching their owners.

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Thursday, February 14, 2019

Paul Netter, Southern California Edison

Southern California Edison, like other California utilities that experience hundreds of metallic-balloon-caused power outages and their potential hazards yearly, will find out, thanks to a new state law.

Signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown last September and effective since Jan. 1, Assembly bill 2450 requires that metallic balloons made by in-state manufacturers have a printed warning about the risk of releasing them in a conspicuous location and in a readable font that says: “CAUTION: NOT INTENDED FOR RELEASE. USE WITH COUNTERWEIGHT; DISPOSE OF PROPERLY. NEVER USE METALLIC RIBBON WITH BALLOONS.”

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Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Sarah Brady, California Council on Science and Technology

The California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization established via the California State Legislature to serve state leaders, is proud to announce the recipient of its CCST Leadership Award for Science in Public Service.

This year’s awardee, Assemblymember Bill Quirk, will be recognized during the CCST Science & Technology Week Reception and Leadership Awards Ceremony, Monday, February 4, 2019, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., at The MiX in Sacramento. The greater Capitol community is invited to attend. This event kicks off a week of events hosted by CCST at the State Capitol.

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Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Elaine S. Povich, Stateline, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts

The divorce court judge was frustrated. The husband, in tears. The wife, adamant. The couple’s love for each other had ended, but each professed to love and want the dog. How would the judge decide?

The husband offered thousands of dollars to his soon-to-be-ex for the pit bull terrier mix named Sweet Pea. The wife wouldn’t accept the compensation, and insisted the dog was hers — a gift, in fact, from her husband.

“This was a mutt they got at the pound, and it wasn’t worth money,” said family attorney Erin Levine of Oakland, California, who represented the husband and said the judge gave her grief for not settling the dispute out of court in the 2015 case. “There was no way we weren’t going to litigate this; they were so attached to the dog.”

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