Currently AB 1788 has passed through all CA Assembly committees and Assembly floor hurdle. It’s now before the final CA Senate committee (Appropriations Committee) and we need public support to get the bill passed through this committee and on the full Senate Floor.

When you contact your representative, please emphasize the points (below).
If you’re unsure which district you reside in, please check to see if it’s 25 or 24 (or if you’re outside the area completely, check the “Find and contact your state senator.”)
Senator Portantino staff representing District 25 can be reached at (916) 651-4025 or (818) 409-0400.
Senator Durazo staff representing District 24 can be reached at (916) 651-4024 or (213) 483-9300.
Are you outside Senator Portantino’s or Senator Durazo’s district? Find and contact your State Senator here.

Rodenticides are poisoning California’s native wildlife — including mountain lions, bobcats, hawks and owls.

• Rats who consume anticoagulant rodenticides are in turn consumed by other wildlife, resulting in secondary poisoning and contamination of the food chain.
• A 2018 state analysis found super-toxic rodenticides in more than of tested mountain lions, Pacific fishers, and bobcats.
• AB 1788 would ban second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) except for agricultural use or by special permit. The bill also prohibits less potent, but still dangerous, first generation anticoagulant rodenticides (FGARs) on state-owned lands. If passed, California would be the first state to ban these super-toxic poisons.

If you’re able to speak directly with a representative in your senator’s office, here are a more few points to make as there are many unintended consequences of using rat poisons…

• Anticoagulant poisoning has been documented in numerous California wildlife species, including: coyotes, San Joaquin kit foxes, black bears, raccoons, mountain lions, bald eagles, great-horned owls, skunks, Pacific fishers, and bobcats.
• P-47, the famous mountain lion studied by researchers since he was 4 weeks old, was found dead earlier this year in Southern California. Testing on his liver determined P-47 was exposed to six different anticoagulant rodenticide compounds.
• Though California banned consumer use of second generation anticoagulant rodenticides in 2014, wildlife poisoning has continued. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s database of mountain lion deaths reveals anticoagulant rodenticides were found in the livers of 63 out of 68 deceased mountain lions between 2015 and 2016.
• Young children routinely consume poison intended for rodents, sometimes confusing the bait for food. Similarly companion animals either consume the bait directly or consume poisoned rodents.