I'm writing to respectfully urge your support for Assembly Bill 128 (Gloria), which would strengthen California's existing anti-horse slaughter law.

Polls consistently show that Americans regardless of party overwhelmingly oppose horse slaughter. The last slaughter plant in the United States closed in 2007, yet tens of thousands of horses, both domestic and wild, continue to be transported to slaughter. In 2018 alone, almost 82,000 American horses, domestic and wild, were shipped to Mexico and Canada.

Horses from California were among them -- despite the 1998 passage of Prop. 6, which made illegal the transportation of California horses to other states and countries for slaughter as well as banning both horse slaughter for human consumption and the sale of horsemeat in the state.

A.B. 128:

1. Requires a sign be posted anywhere horses are sold, saying the sale of horses in California for slaughter for human consumption is illegal.

2. Requires any person purchasing a horse at a California public or private auction to sign a sworn statement acknowledging and agreeing to comply with state law prohibiting the sale or resale of horses for slaughter for human consumption. A violation of this is subject to a fine.

3. Requires the operator of the auction to maintain copies of the sworn statements for two years and provide access to these records upon request.

Responding to the American public’s strong opposition to horse slaughter, Congress has similarly prohibited the sale of federally protected wild horses for slaughter via a provision in annual Interior appropriations legislation. Despite clear congressional intent and existing state law, horses in California, including wild horses removed from federal land, continue to be acquired at auction or through sales and end up in a slaughter pipeline. Twenty-three members of the California State Legislature, joined by US Senator Dianne Feinstein and Attorney General Xavier Becerra have called on the federal government to protect California’s wild horses recently rounded up in Modoc National Forest.