House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) and Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-SC-01) today introduced the Minks in Narrowly Kept Spaces Are Superspreaders Act (MINKS Act), legislation to end mink factory farming following recent research from Animal Wellness Action.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the world’s single largest funder of medical research, the very fuel that feeds the American engine of medical discovery and the linchpin to our country’s post-COVID economic recovery.

A coalition of leading educators, students, and policy experts are calling on legislators to fully fund Governor Gavin Newsom’s historic proposal for Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) degree pathways for California students.

Gary K. Michelson, M.D., founder and co-chair of the Michelson Center for Public Policy, issues a statement on Gov. Newsom’s revised budget proposal for 2021-22 which would provide a total of $115 million one-time investment to develop, implement and expand ZTC degrees and open educational resources to reduce the overall cost education for students attending community college.

Animal Wellness Action, the Center for a Humane Economy, the Michelson Center for Public Policy, and other affiliated organizations applauded U.S. Representatives Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., Elaine Luria, D-Va., Nancy Mace, R-S.C., Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., and Brendan Boyle, D-Pa. for introducing the FDA Modernization Act, H.R. 2565.

Gary K. Michelson, M.D., founder and co-chair of the Michelson Center for Public Policy and the Michelson 20MM Foundation, today issued the following statement on the appointment of Assemblymember Rob Bonta as California Attorney General.

We are writing in support of Governor Newsom’s proposed $15 million one-time allocation of Proposition 98 funds for the California Community College (CCC) System’s Zero-Textbook Cost (ZTC) Degree program.

The Michelson Center for Public Policy joins nearly 400 organizations and institutions across the NIH stakeholder community to recommend an appropriation of $46.1 billion for the NIH in FY 2022, a $3.2 billion increase over the NIH’s program level funding in FY 2021.

Senator Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) is joined by Project Rebound Consortium and Michelson Center for Public Policy in announcing the introduction of SB 416, a bill that would amend California Penal Code to protect incarcerated students’ access to face-to-face instruction provided by quality nonprofit and regionally-accredited higher education providers.

U.S. Representatives Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn., this week introduced the Kangaroo Protection Act to ban the sale of kangaroo body parts in the United States. The bill aims to curb the massive trade in kangaroo skins used by Nike, Adidas, Puma, and other companies for manufacturing soccer shoes (“cleats”).

The bill prohibits a public animal control agency or shelter, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals shelter, humane society shelter, or rescue group from releasing a dog or cat to an owner seeking to reclaim it, or adopting out, selling, or giving away a dog or cat to a new owner, unless the dog or cat is or will be microchipped, as specified.

Joint authors, Assemblymembers Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield), and Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), and bill co-sponsors, Michelson Center for Public Policy and the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG), today announced the introduction of AB 403, the Fair Access to College Textbooks Act. The Act requires that higher education institutions entering into automatic billing agreements include consumer protection provisions for students.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond today announced the new “California Digital Divide Innovation Challenge,” a global competition that will award up to $1 million to the boldest, most revolutionary proposals to eliminate the digital divide and expand high-speed internet access to all Californians.

Joint letter to U.S. Department of Interior and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (“FWS”) from Michelson Center for Public Policy, Animal Wellness Action, Animal Wellness Foundation, Center for a Humane Economy, and SPCA International providing notice to seek legal redress for FWS decision to remove gray wolves from the list of threatened or endangered species.

Joint letter to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from Michelson Center for Public Policy, Animal Wellness Action, Animal Wellness Foundation, Center for a Humane Economy, and SPCA International requesting intervention to address potential spread of COVID-19 by U.S.-based mink farms.

This venture joins other philanthropies, like the partnership between the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences, and the Pershing Square Foundation, which award prizes to young scientists who have the potential to transform the future of human health.