State Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, announced Friday his bill aimed at changing the laws surrounding animal-blood donation has been approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, after the costs associated with the bill were deemed insignificant.
Senate Bill 202, known as the “Doggy Donor Bill,” was introduced by Wilk and intends to provide more flexibility to the rules on animal-blood donation and expand the animal-blood donor pool in order to allow for more loving and humane treatment of animal blood donors, according to a news release sent Friday.
“In California, we have an issue where we don’t have enough dog plasma,” Wilk said. “There’s no reason not to have an ample supply. California only allows two companies to provide plasma, but this will allow for community blood banks. Dogs will be able to live with families and then come in and have their blood drawn. California is the only state in the union that does not offer this already.”
The bill will now proceed to the Senate floor for consideration without further review by the committee, the release states.
“Anyone with a pet would understand the importance of having a robust animal blood supply,” Wilk said in the release. “Heaven forbid your dog or cat is hit by a car or is a victim of some other tragedy that requires blood donations. I can’t even imagine losing one of my dogs simply because there was a lack of blood in the system. It has happened to too many four-legged Californians and I hope SB 202 will put an end to this completely fixable problem.”
