Over the last few months my team and I have been working on ensuring that Orange County’s animal shelters, humane societies, and animal rescues have the resources they need. This includes making these organizations aware of funding opportunities, like this year’s round of funding from the Companion Animal Capital Fund. This year, $10.45 million was made available to not-for-profit pounds, shelters, humane societies. This is an additional $5-6 million on top of the usual funding.
At the end of this coming year, a set of regulatory changes will take effect. These new requirements will be greatly beneficial to the animals in the shelters – ensuring adequate training and safety measures, care, housing, and recordkeeping – but could be a strain on the budgets of many of the organizations. State funding will be essential to maintain the exceptional care the shelters give as they take on this additional responsibility.
So far, shelters and rescues in Orange County have received a total of $1.5 million since I was elected to the Senate, but there’s more funding available, and we want it to get to our local organizations. If you’re associated with a local shelter in your area, reach out to my office for more information. Let’s make this holiday season warmer and safer for our families and our furry friends.
