Please contact committee members via email and phone to urge them to support this bill (contact info is below). If you submit your comments by close of business today—Friday, April 13th—they will be on the official record, but you can still submit your comments anytime up until close of business on Monday, April 23rd!
If you recently contacted the ESTM Committee about AB 2422, you can use the same text from your personal letter; just make sure to change any “ESTM” references to Assembly Water Parks and Wildlife Committee and send your updated letters to AWPW members and staff only (see below).
Since the California Department of Pesticide Regulation pulled second generation anticoagulants from consumer shelves in July 2014, there has been no decrease in the rate of wildlife poisoning. Why? Because, despite our ongoing arguments and actions, a giant loophole allowed the pest control industry to continue using them.
Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), a champion of wildlife who successfully banned the use of these products in state parks, has introduced new legislation, AB 2422, that would ban anticoagulant rodenticides in California once and for all.
AB 2422 would ban first and second generation anticoagulants, both of which are responsible for wildlife deaths and “sublethal” impacts that affect the ability of wildlife to survive and thrive. Northern spotted owls, San Joaquin kit foxes, and Pacific fishers are threatened species endangered by these poisons. New scientific studies published this year by UC Davis, the California Academy of Sciences, and others show that 70 percent of Northern spotted owls have been contaminated with anticoagulant rodenticides. A separate 2018 study by UCLA and others found that these poisons are affecting genes that regulate bobcat immune systems.
Read Project Coyote’s letter to the AWPW Committee here; suggestions for your call or email (remember your own words are most effective): “As a California resident, I am greatly concerned about the unacceptable impacts rat poison is having on our state’s wildlife. Rat poison in the food web is destroying our valuable natural predators—like coyotes, foxes, bobcats, mountain lions, hawks and owls—all of which control rodents better than any poisons do. I strongly support AB 2422, which would ban the worst of these poisons, and urge the Assembly Water, Parks, and Wildlife Committee to pass this bill.”
AWPW Committee Contact Information:
Chair:
Eduardo Garcia, Dem-56
(916) 319-2056, Eduardo.Garcia@asm.ca.gov
Staff: Mark Rossow, Mark.Rossow@asm.ca.gov
Vice Chair:
James Gallagher, Rep-03
(916) 319-2003, James.Gallagher@asm.ca.gov
Staff: David Evans, David.Evans@asm.ca.gov
Committee Members:
Frank Bigelow, Rep-05
(916) 319-2005, Frank.Bigelow@asm.ca.gov
Staff: Hannah Ackley, Hannah.Ackley@asm.ca.gov
Wendy Carrillo, Dem-51
(916) 319-2051, Wendy.Carrillo@asm.ca.gov
Staff: Brandon Seto, Brandon.Seto@asm.ca.gov
Steven S. Choi, PhD, Rep-68
(916) 319-2068, Steven.Choi@asm.ca.gov
Staff: Cameron Demetre, Cameron.Demetre@asm.ca.gov
Steven S. Choi, PhD, Rep-68
(916) 319-2068, Steven.Choi@asm.ca.gov
Staff: Cameron Demetre, Cameron.Demetre@asm.ca.gov
Laura Friedman, Dem-43
(916) 319-2043, Laura.Friedman@asm.ca.gov
Staff: Jim Metropulos, Jim.Metropulos@asm.ca.gov
Todd Gloria, Dem-78
(916) 319-2078, Todd.Gloria@asm.ca.gov
Staff: Yvonne Munos, Yvonne.Munos@asm.ca.gov
Matthew Harper, Rep-74
(916) 319-2074, Matthew.Harper@asm.ca.gov
Staff: Alexander Henthorn, Alexander.Henthorn@asm.ca.gov
Ash Kalra, Dem-27
(916) 319-2027, Ash.Kalra@asm.ca.gov
Staff: Roseryn Bhudsabourg, Roseryn.Bhudsabourg@asm.ca.gov
Marc Levine, Dem-10
(916) 319-2010, Marc.Levine@asm.ca.gov
Staff: Diego Lopez, Diego.Lopez@asm.ca.gov
Devon J. Mathis, Rep-26
(916) 319-2026, Devon.Mathis@asm.ca.gov
Staff: Justin Boman, Justin.Boman@asm.ca.gov
Blanca E. Rubio, Dem-48
(916) 319-2048, Blanca.Rubio@asm.ca.gov
Staff: Joaquin Pacheco, Joaquin.Pacheco@asm.ca.gov
Rudy Salas, Jr., Dem-32
(916) 319-2032, Rudy.Salas@asm.ca.gov
Staff: Celia Mata, Celia.Mata@asm.ca.gov
Jim Wood, Dem-02
(916) 319-2002, Jim.Wood@asm.ca.gov
Staff: Paul Ramey, Paul.Ramey@asm.ca.gov
Make clear in the subject line of your email that you support AB 2422: “Re: Support for AB 2422” and please cc info@projectcoyote.org so we can track letters sent to committee members.
Thank you for speaking out for wildlife! Thanks also to our bill-sponsor partners RATS (Raptors Are The Solution) and Poison Free Malibu.
Please share this alert with other California residents and encourage them to take action.
Every voice matters!
