Meet the Lobbyist

CVMA’S ADVOCACY PROGRAM: Insights from Our Lobbyist

By Christina DiCaro, CVMA lobbyist

Every year at the State Capitol, the members of the California State Legislature introduce somewhere between 2,400 and 3,600 new bills on a wide range of subjects. In each legislative session there are approximately 30-40 pieces of legislation that affect the veterinary medical profession, such as animal research, prescription labeling, animal blood banking, cannabis and pets, and animal shelters. For the CVMA, the most concerning legislative efforts are those where laypeople or other health professions seek to encroach upon the well-established scope of practice of veterinary professionals. These seemingly annual threats to the Veterinary Medicine Practice Act are things that keep the CVMA’s leaders and your lobbyist up at night.

The CVMA has had a remarkably successful advocacy program for the last 50-plus years. The CVMA has always invested a considerable amount of time and energy to safeguard veterinary professionals in their ability to work without undue interference.

In that regard, I have served as your lobbyist for 29 years. I entered the lobbying business alongside my father, Mike Dillon, who also served as your lobbyist for almost 50 years until his retirement on December 31, 2022. I am pleased that Camille Wagner, the former Secretary for Legislation under former Governor Jerry Brown, will be working with me on the CVMA’s behalf during this challenging 2023 legislative session.

From time to time, you may have wondered what your lobbyists do for you and your veterinary practice on a yearly basis at the State Capitol. Because of our advocacy efforts over the last few decades, the CVMA has a lot to be proud of: landmark legislation regarding the use of antibiotics in livestock, privacy protections for veterinary records, continuing education for veterinarians, ensuring that cities and counties can’t pass local ordinances that affect your scope of practice, defeating “doggie teeth cleaning” bills, exempting veterinary drugs used in-house from sales tax, and authorizing veterinarians to discuss and recommend cannabis for pets, to name just a few.

At the outset of every legislative session, I personally screen all legislation, as well as thousands of subsequent amendments that accompany each bill throughout the year. I look for bill language that might positively or negatively affect the veterinary profession or bills that may have unintended consequences. For example, a legislator carrying a healing arts bill often doesn’t think that there will be an implication for veterinary professionals until we point out affected code sections to them.

I refer any flagged bills to the CVMA’s Legislative Team consisting of CVMA staff, the CVMA Legislative Committee Co-Chairs, and Executive Committee members for review. In March of each year, the CVMA Legislative Committee discusses and debates each referred bill and recommends a bill position, which is—after review—ratified or modified by the CVMA's Board of Governors. I then receive my marching orders from the CVMA.

Occasionally, the CVMA will sponsor legislation that benefits veterinarians. When that occurs, the CVMA and I are expected to help an author’s office draft the bill language and any amendments thereto, develop a fact sheet, complete background information documents, and write the remarks that our author can use when testifying in committee or speaking on the Floor. I may also write the remarks of the CVMA President or other CVMA representative who may testify (if I don’t personally testify in committee). If a bill is being heard in the Assembly Agriculture Committee, for example, perhaps we might want a large animal veterinarian to testify. If a bill on shelter medicine is being heard in the Assembly Business and Professions Committee, the CVMA might invite one of our top shelter veterinarians to serve as the expert witness. The CVMA always develops a comprehensive letter stating our position on bills and I circulate that letter at the Capitol and meet with legislators who will be voting on the measure at each step of the way. With 120 elected legislators in the State Capitol, plus the Governor’s office, that can be a lot of ground to cover when it is a big issue or a controversial matter.

Often, a large part of a lobbyist’s job is to negotiate amendments alongside their client in order to make a troublesome bill more palatable. This can be a very time-consuming and often contentious process, particularly when the two opposing sides are deeply entrenched in their positions. Sometimes the philosophical divide between the two camps is so pronounced that there is not much of a path forward, and the CVMA’s only option is to oppose a bill without proposing amendments. Two bills this year are quite concerning to the CVMA: AB 1399-Friedman/ Lowenthal (veterinary telemedicine) and AB 814-Lowenthal (animal physical rehabilitation). As of this writing, the

CVMA will be opposing both measures, and in each case will be relying on the technical input of CVMA members to share professional stories that will help us craft messaging points that we will use in discussions with legislators.

The CVMA has an excellent reputation at the State Capitol and so much of that is due to the relationships that we have built, plus the decades of trust we have created with legislators and staff. These key decisionmakers know that the CVMA operates with a high level of integrity and will not compromise our principled standards to get a quick “win.” As such, legislators know they can trust both the CVMA and our clinical experts. Were it not for the hard-working CVMA staff and stellar veterinary medical professionals who volunteer to attend meetings with legislators or the Governor’s office, we would not have achieved the legislative victories of the past or those still to come.

I continue to be impressed every day by CVMA members. Your voices are so respected on issues of importance to California’s veterinary community. Together, we can continue to make a positive and lasting impact on the laws of the state.