Today, the Humane Society Legislative Fund endorses Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid to become the next president of the United States.
Harris’ campaign gives us an unprecedented opportunity to evaluate a presidential candidate’s substantive achievements for animals as the chief legal officer of a state, in addition to their animal protection record as a federal legislator and executive.
This matters because Harris’ animal welfare legacy as Attorney General of California between 2011 and 2017 includes the spirited and ultimately successful defense of at least three state animal laws of consequence for the entire nation.
In 2015, the Office of the Attorney General vigorously defended California’s law against the sale of foie gras from force-fed poultry. The law, which passed the state legislature in 2004 and took effect in 2012, was persistently targeted by foie gras producers but ultimately affirmed by the Ninth Circuit— with the U.S. Supreme Court refusing the producers’ petition to review the lower court’s decisions.
Harris’ office also defended a California law passed in 2011 to ban the possession and sale of detached shark fins. The law took effect in July of 2013 and with a few exceptions made shark fin soup illegal to sell in California. It too survived court challenges, culminating in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reject an appeal in 2016. A federal law, the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act was subsequently passed by the US Congress and signed into law by President Biden.
Finally, the Attorney General defended a law enacted in 2010 which required eggs sold in the state to come from hens raised compliant with California's approved Proposition 2, a 2008 ballot initiative requiring that egg laying hens in the state have enough room to extend their wings and turn freely around. A few states challenged the law in 2014, saying that it violated the Commerce Clause and was preempted by federal law. Plaintiffs lost this case, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the matter in 2017 and refused to hear a separate suit in 2019.
These three laws, all focused on the right of a state to legislate and issue regulations related to animal welfare and public health and safety concerns, laid the groundwork for Proposition 12, the watershed farm animal confinement ballot initiative adopted by a nearly two-thirds majority of California voters in 2018. In its turn, Proposition 12 has survived the same kinds of challenges as these other laws (it was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court with all nine justices rejecting the pork industry’s main claims). Proposition 12 has had a seismic impact on the political, social and corporate landscapes, with cascading effects and transformational impact that has kept the factory farming industry agitated and on the attack. There are 15 states with laws addressing intensive confinement of farm animals, including electoral battlegrounds Nevada, Arizona, and Michigan. For animal advocates, Harris’ strong defense of three prior laws bearing on the very issues at the heart of Proposition 12 is not something to take for granted.
Nor could Harris have done any better to establish her credibility as an animal protection advocate in the U.S. Senate. There, where she served for four years, she consistently supported pro-animal bills and earned a lifetime score of 100+ on the HSLF’s Humane Scorecard. During her term, Harris cosponsored bills to end horse soring cruelty, ban public contact with exotic big cats, curb wildlife trafficking, crack down on doping in horse racing and strengthen federal laws against shark finning. Four of these measures, the Big Cat Public Safety Act, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act, and the Rescuing Animals With Rewards Act, eventually passed into law. Harris also co-led a letter to oppose the odious King Amendment in the 2018 Farm Bill, which was the precursor to the EATS Act.
It is admittedly difficult to evaluate Harris’ animal welfare record as vice president because, in the end, it is the president who sets the tone and policy agenda for the administration.
While the Biden administration has not done as much as we had hoped on animal protection, in a number of areas, there were some bright spots, including a rule on animals and disaster preparedness, a rule that sets standards for outdoor access and natural movements for tens of millions of animals raised under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Organics program and a rule to protect Tennessee walking horses from soring.
On wildlife, where the stakes have been high in recent years, the Biden record has been mixed. On the positive side of the ledger, the administration took steps to limit African elephant imports, implement the Big Cat Public Safety Act, and limit the usage of crude and outrageous predator control methods. The president also signed the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act into law as part of the National Defense Authorization Act. But on the negative side, there were also some egregious moves regarding wildlife and endangered species protection, particularly for wolves.
The most conspicuous failure of the Biden administration when it comes to animal welfare was its adoption of the legal position that former President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice staked out in the Supreme Court case on Proposition 12. This was a tremendous disappointment, for which we hold Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack primarily responsible. Of all the things we would like to see from a President Harris, the most important is the adoption of a federal position that supports the autonomy of states to regulate issues related to animal welfare and food safety within their own borders.
Here, we come to the obvious implications of a return to the White House for Donald Trump. We had an open mind when he first appeared on the political scene. Unfortunately, during his four-year presidency we had a front row seat for the numerous compromised choices when it came to animal protection, especially regarding wildlife concerns, and we believe his reelection would have the gravest consequences for animals, domestic and wild.
Recently, it is clear from Trump’s statement to the American Farm Bureau Federation that if elected in November he would direct the Department of Justice and the Department of Agriculture to support measures to nullify Proposition 12.
Should she win, we hope to see Harris set a much stronger course for animals than either of her predecessors have done during their terms in office.
Regardless of which candidate you plan to vote for in this election, we encourage you to make a plan to vote, update your voter registration, request an absentee ballot or locate your polling place, and have your voice heard in our democracy.
HSLF is a nonpartisan organization that evaluates candidates based only on a single criterion: where they stand on animal welfare. HSLF does not judge candidates based on party affiliation or any other issue.
Paid for by Humane Society Legislative Fund and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. HSLF, 1255 23rd Street, NW, Suite 455, Washington, DC 20037.
