AWI Quarterly Articles | Government/Legal

This November, California citizens may have the chance to vote for farm animal welfare. A coalition of stakeholders is gathering signatures for a ballot initiative that would strengthen the California law that bans extreme confinement...

In a split decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has partially affirmed the district court’s findings that an Idaho “ag-gag” law is unconstitutional. The Idaho law was passed under the guise of protecting farmers...

In September, the House passed HR 3354, an omnibus (bundled) spending bill that included four amendments to weaken the Endangered Species Act. Then, in November, the Senate Appropriations Committee’s draft funding bill for the US...

On January 11, AWI wrote to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke requesting that his department halt its plan to eliminate certain protections for migratory birds. This plan, released in late December, would reverse an Obama administration...

The Marine Mammal Protection Act celebrated its 45th anniversary last year, but a sizable faction in Congress seems intent on dismantling some of its core provisions. On January 10, the House Natural Resources Committee approved...

With the second session of the 115th Congress well underway, AWI president Cathy Liss sent a letter to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) requesting support for these legislative priorities in the coming year: the...

In a desperate attempt to save the last remaining vaquita porpoises, AWI and other groups filed suit against several federal agencies in December. The vaquita, a small porpoise that exists only in Mexico’s Upper Gulf...

AWI filed suit in January against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) related to the agencies’ refusal to enforce requirements for SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment to submit...

The US Department of Agriculture is soliciting public comment on a discredited idea that would undermine the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) by putting animals at the mercy of the industries that exploit them. The USDA’s...

A federal district court in Utah has ruled the state’s “ag-gag” law is unconstitutional. The law made it illegal for an individual to use false pretenses to gain access to or surveil an agricultural operation...