We look forward to national action in the US
Our US team has been hard at work helping gather support for cruelty free cosmetics bills in three US states. Our hard work is paying off and all three bills have now made significant progress!
Earlier this year we shared that cruelty free cosmetics legislation had been reintroduced in Virginia, Maryland and Hawaii. Here is the latest update:
Virginia: After a whirlwind legislative session, a senate bill and house bill [introduced by Senator Jennifer Boysko and Delegate Kaye Kory respectively] have both passed with bipartisan support. The Virginia Humane Cosmetics Act is now on the governor’s desk. We hope Governor Ralph Northam will sign the bill into law soon.
Maryland: The bill was re-introduced by State Senator Clarence Lam and recently passed the senate with a unanimous vote of 47-0! It is now headed to the house chamber where it will be heard in committee and must pass the house floor before heading to the governor’s desk. Things are looking good.
Hawaii: The Hawaii Cruelty Free Cosmetics Act [introduced by Senator Mike Gabbard and Representative Della Au Belatti] passed the respective chambers with unanimous support! The bills now ‘cross over’ and will be further considered before hopefully being sent to the governor to be signed into law.
We are grateful for the fantastic leadership from all the state legislators who have introduced and championed these bills and applaud all the legislators who have voted to support them so far.
These important bills not only create change at state-level but create momentum for national change. State efforts on this issue have already helped move forward a national approach as the agreements reached on state legislation have been adopted into the federal Humane Cosmetics Act which we expect to be reintroduced very soon.