Legislative advocacy often looks straightforward from the outside. Identify a problem, draft a bill, build support, and push for passage. In practice, the work is far more complex—and the decisions advocates make along the way can determine whether a law functions as intended or quietly falls apart.
In this episode, Penny Ellison speaks with Shelby Bobosky, Executive Director of the Texas Humane Legislation Network, about what effective animal advocacy looks like inside one of the most challenging legislative environments in the country. Drawing on nearly 50 years of experience, Shelby explains why progress depends on unexpected partnerships, enforceable compromises, and sustained attention long after a bill becomes law.
From stopping efforts to revive horse slaughter to passing the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act, this conversation offers a realistic, field-tested view of how animal protection laws are advanced—and defended—behind the scenes.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why stopping harmful legislation is often the most important advocacy work
- How unlikely allies—including sheriffs, hunters, and religious groups—have advanced animal protections
- What the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act reveals about patience, compromise, and enforceability
- Why statewide spay/neuter mandates frequently fail
- How creative funding mechanisms can expand access to spay/neuter services
- Why advocacy doesn’t end once a bill passes
Key Takeaway
Effective animal advocacy requires more than strong values. It depends on coalition-building, realistic enforcement strategies, and a willingness to stay engaged after legislative wins fade from view.
Episode Highlights
00:00 — The Complex Reality of Legislative Advocacy
01:16 — THLN’s 50-Year History and Statewide Strategy
04:31 — The Hidden Work of Stopping Bad Bills
06:22 — Building Unlikely Alliances for Animals
08:47 — The Safe Outdoor Dogs Act: A Legislative Case Study
11:22 — Overcoming Powerful and Out-of-State Opposition
12:57 — Progress Over Perfection in Animal Law
14:51 — Why Enforceability Shapes Outcomes
16:38 — Choosing Legislative Priorities Strategically
18:12 — Why Statewide Spay/Neuter Mandates Struggle
21:07 — Creative Funding Solutions for Spay/Neuter
22:27 — Closing the Puppy Mill Pipeline in Texas
Resources Mentioned:
Want a practical framework for legislative advocacy?
If this conversation made you think differently about how animal laws are passed—or why some good laws fail in practice—I created a short private audio series called The Four C’s of Legislative Advocacy for Animals. It lays out a clear, practical framework you can apply to your own advocacy work.
You can download it free at AnimalAdvocacyAcademy.com/4Cs.
Transcript
Penny Ellison:
Legislative advocacy looks straightforward from the outside. You find a problem, you draft a bill, you build support, and you push for passage. But in practice, the work is far more nuanced, and the choices you make along the way can determine whether a law works, whether it lasts, and whether it makes a real difference for animals. That’s what this conversation is about.
Welcome to the Animal Advocate, where we arm animal lovers with the information and inspiration you need to become effective advocates. I’m your host, Penny Ellison, and I’ve taught animal law and advocacy at the University of Pennsylvania since 2006. If you’ve ever thought someone should do something about that, I’m here to guide you on your journey to being that someone. You can find us on the web at animaladvocacyacademy.com and that’s where you’ll find show notes and resources and you can send us your comments on episodes and ideas for topics you’d like to hear on future shows. So onto today’s topic.
My guest today is Shelby Bobosky, executive director of the Texas Humane Legislation Network, an organization that has been working inside one of the toughest legislative environments in the country for nearly 50 years. Shelby challenges some common assumptions advocates make about how change happens. One of the first is about allies. When people think about building coalitions for animals, they often picture other animal welfare organizations. Shelby explains why some of the most effective partners are the ones you’d never think to call, and why those unexpected relationships often make the difference between a bill stalling out and or becoming law. We also talk about enforceability. You can draft a thoughtful, well-intentioned law, but if no one has the authority, resources or incentive to enforce it, the impact is limited at best.
Shelby walks through why advocates overlook this so often and how to think about implementation before a bill ever gets introduced. Another reality we talk about is what happens after a law passes. A win isn’t always secure. I know this from experience. I worked on a law that passed and was later partially repealed and weakened after the initial attention faded. Shelby explains why staying watchful after passage matters just as much as getting a bill across the finish line. And finally, we talk about work that rarely gets credit. Opposing bad bills.
Everyone wants to champion the new reform. Far fewer people want to spend months stopping legislation that would quietly make things worse for animals. Shelby makes the case that this unglamorous work is often where the most meaningful protection for animals happens. There’s a lot here for anyone serious about changing laws and keeping them effective. So let’s take a listen.
Welcome Shelby. I’m So glad to be talking to you.
Shelby Bobosky:
Thank you so much for having me.
Penny Ellison:
So tell me about the Texas Humane Legislation Network, how it got started and how long you’ve been around.
Shelby Bobosky:
Excellent. So we are proudly celebrating our 50th anniversary this year. The Texas Humane Legislation Network has been around since 1975, and the founders of our organization are just simply amazing. After attending a conference in D.C. together in 1975, a group of them met up in D.C. and said, we need to do something statewide. And so thus, the Texas Humane Legislation Network began. We have 50 years of passing really important and critical legislative bills relating to the animal welfare in Texas, but also killing some really bad, horrific bills out there as well, which I’m sure you understand.
Shelby Bobosky:
A lot of people don’t understand how many bad bills animal organizations tend to destroy at the same time because they’d be terrible for animals.
Penny Ellison:
Give me some examples of some of those bad bills that you killed.
Shelby Bobosky:
Sure. We worked very hard in 2011 to pass a law that would regulate breeders of dogs and cats in the state of Texas. And now three times there have been efforts to repeal that law. So we had to fight those. There was actually a bill that we teamed up with Fair Chase Hunters because it would have allowed hunters in other states to use a joystick to go ahead hunt and kill animals in canned hunting facilities and basically send them back to their states. And so we thought that was such a terrible way to hunt in our state, so we came out against that as well. And then horse slaughter. Horse slaughter has truly been illegal in the state for over 50 years.
Shelby Bobosky:
But then people didn’t know that there was actually this law that was out there. And there were two slaughter plants in Texas that ended in 2007. So there have been a couple of bills to bring horse slaughter back to Texas, and we were able to kill those.
Penny Ellison:
Well, that is great and fascinating because I’ve put a lot of thought into partnerships and collaborations with people that…and groups that would be unexpected, and there’s not a lot more unexpected than animal protection people partnering with hunters. But I’ve kind of come to the same conclusion, that there are issues that they often have more money than animal welfare people, and. And they care about the things like you talked about, about really brutal or unfair hunting methods. And they also care a lot about preserving open space.
Shelby Bobosky:
Correct. You know, I’m so glad you brought up partnerships. Whenever we talk to our advocates, we explain that the reason we’ve been so successful over the last 50 years is because partnerships are key. Even in an incredibly red State, we’re so red, it’s burgundy. But we’ve really found success through working with other stakeholders and other groups, just some, to mention Texas Animal Control Association, the Texas Association of Sheriffs have been big fans of ours, and we’ve worked together on an amazing law called the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act. But also our dog fighting and cockfighting laws, in which we’ve strengthened over the years. We would not have happened but for the support of the Texas Association of Sheriffs and also our law enforcement organizations, but sometimes even some religious groups. For example, a while back, we were trying to pass a law that all but banned greyhound racing, and we had really found solace in partnership with some of our Baptist associations in Texas.
Shelby Bobosky:
So, you know, who’s ever willing to work with us on the humane treatment of animals and codifying that through laws we will work with. Because, at the end of the day, through the passage of one law, you can effectuate change for thousands of animals at a time. Why wouldn’t you work and look for common ground and stakeholders that will help support your mission?
Penny Ellison:
That is really excellent advice for advocates, including keeping in mind that you don’t have to want it for the same reason. And if you both want the same outcome and you both want this law to pass, even though you wouldn’t necessarily agree with their reasoning, you can still partner with them. And you mentioned sheriffs and law enforcement, so I think that’s important for anything around cruelty enforcement. I know we’ve done that here in Pennsylvania. And you mentioned an issue that’s near and dear to my heart that I hope to make a difference on in the near future, and that’s outdoor housing for dogs that are left outdoors. You know, we both live in areas of extreme weather and maybe different kinds of extreme weather. So that sounds like a success story that you might be able to talk about to teach advocates how you made that happen in, as you mentioned, a red state like Texas.
Shelby Bobosky:
Right. So the Safe Outdoor Dogs act, which I’m going to call SODA for purposes of our time today, was really a story for the ages. You know, we started. We filed the bill back in 2015, and basically all the Safe Outdoor Dogs Act does is it creates a base level for the treatment of outside dogs. We had done a ton of studies and polling throughout the state, and we knew that we couldn’t ban tethering altogether, because then what would people do? Well, they would just put dogs in, you know, airline cargo containers or crates in their yards, and we knew that would not work. So we thought, okay, let’s give them the basics. If you are going to tether a dog 24 hours a day, seven days a week, what does that dog need? Proper food, water, shelter and tether. And so we started the journey in 2015.
Shelby Bobosky:
We meet in Texas every two years. So it took until 2021. We passed the bill at midnight, went to Governor Abbott’s desk and he vetoed it. But we didn’t stop there. We continued to work on it. And we actually got the bill in this special session just a couple months later. And it was the first bill in the history of any animal welfare bill to be brought and passed in a special session. It took a lot of compromise and that was tough for us, but we did not compromise on chains. So we are the first state in the United States to ban chains as a method of legal restraint. And I will tell you that this bill and the passage of it taught us so much. We could not believe all the dogfighters from outside of Texas that tried to influence our legislature. You know, ADBA came in strong and.
Penny Ellison:
That’s an organization I haven’t heard of. What is that?
Shelby Bobosky:
American Dog Breeding Association.
Penny Ellison:
That was my guess. But okay, yes, different from the AKC.
Shelby Bobosky:
Correct. AKC came out against us. But what we did is we showed our Texas legislators that these were outside influences and that Texans themselves were sick and tired of driving by a home and seeing a dog on a chain in 100 degree weather, without proper shade and with no water. And the dog was truly being tortured. This was one of those bills that we worked with a ton of partners, including our sheriffs, because other than the large cities in Texas, a lot of the animal control is done by sheriffs and their deputies. And so they were sick of being called to a property and not being able to do anything. Because at the end of the day, our current law that we had nothing to do with at that time was not working. So it truly is a success story.
And now I love it. I have sheriffs throughout the state reach out to me and say, man, I’ve cleaned up my community and I’ve really taught our dog owners how to take care of a dog. We also now have awesome one pagers on our website that are truly paint by numbers that show exactly how what Texas citizens who own dogs that are tethered, what they are responsible for and what the law is. So, you know, anybody interested in passing any type of similar legislation, please reach out to us. Because if you can do it in Texas and you can pass an animal welfare Law here, you really can do it anywhere.
Penny Ellison:
Well, there are so many lessons in there. And yes, I will absolutely include your contact information in the show notes. And so obviously one lesson in there is patience and persistence. Because you had to push for years, you had to survive a veto, you had to get it introduced in a special session. You had, I guess persistence is one lesson. Collaboration with all the partners that you talked about is another lesson. And you also mentioned not getting the bill you dreamed of that to get something through, you have to…You know, many animal lovers that aren’t involved in legislation, their heart just bleeds for animals that are left outside, not only in 100 degree heat, but in 10 degree weather where it’s snow and ice here in Pennsylvania. And they don’t know why. We can’t pass a law that just says you have to bring your dog inside, can’t be outside, and that you just have to deal with what’s within the realm of possibility. Not necessarily what you or I would do with their dog, but like you said. And that’s how you respond to the objection, right? To say, people say, I’m a farmer, I’m a rancher, my dogs love to be outside. Well, maybe they do. And then we’re not saying you have to bring him or her inside, but you do have to provide a baseline. And that’s the way you described it, just a baseline.
Shelby Bobosky:
Absolutely. And you know what we would tell those advocates is we are a statewide organization. We have to believe in progress over perfection. But if you want to go to your own town and ban tethering altogether, here is a toolkit to do that. Again, we’re just passing a law throughout the state that is that base. But we are more than happy to help you work within your community to ban tethering altogether. And you bring up a really good point too, in terms of bringing dogs inside. You know, a lot of people said, well, I don’t understand why you don’t do time tethering like you, you can only tether your dog for an hour.
Shelby Bobosky:
And we truly worked with our Texas Animal Control association. We have over 5,800 animal control officers throughout the state. And our whole point is we want to pass a law that they are going to enforce.
Penny Ellison:
Exactly.
Shelby Bobosky:
So many people focus on passing a law, but have no idea if it’s even enforceable. And so from our standpoint, it is so simple to sit there and say, okay, the dog’s been out for an hour. The ACO is watching them. They bring the dog back in. Well, two seconds later, they can bring the dog out again, and then the clock starts ticking.
Penny Ellison:
So that was not the best use of your ACO officer’s time to sit at that one person’s house for an hour.
Shelby Bobosky:
That’s right. And so from our perspective, the best thing we could do is when that dog is outside, food, water, shelter, and proper tether. And, you know, our ACO’s partnered with us all six years on this bill because they want to educate, they don’t want another dog in the shelter, they don’t want to seize your animal. But if they can go out and make a teachable moment and explain to people, you know, how to use this so that, again, the public knows what they’ve got to do, and the ACO’s know how to enforce it. It’s truly one of our most successful laws here, and we’re very proud of it.
Penny Ellison:
And you make another good point there about the goal is not to bring all these dogs into shelters. The shelters have enough dogs. And I think that’s another mistake that people make that see these things on social media, and they think that the correct answer is to seize the dog. And if the dog is seized, everything’s good, but it’s not the best solution. The best solution is to teach that person what they need to provide, and if we can and have the money, to help them provide it. Help them provide an appropriate shelter or learn about when the dog needs to come inside. Absolutely.
Penny Ellison:
So you obviously picked that as a target issue because there’s a lot of suffering involved in outdoor dogs. And you made another very good point about enforceability. How do you pick your priorities as a statewide organization?
Shelby Bobosky:
It’s a great question. You know, we have a really sophisticated board of directors, and a majority of them are attorneys. And we’ve been lucky and fortunate to have several of them that actually practice animal law and have been doing so for a long time. So we go out and do a tour during the interim. As I said before, Texas only meets in every two years for six months. So during that interim, we go and talk animal control officers, sheriff’s deputies, law enforcement, rescues, shelters, and say, what is the number one issue for you? Dogs being tethered outside was a huge issue because of our heat and, like you said, the inclement weather. But what we have really focused on is about five or six main points. For example, is this an issue that affects all Texans? Right.
Shelby Bobosky:
Is it not just a local issue? What is the likelihood of success? You know, there are so many animal laws that you and I would love to pass, and they’d be on our bingo cards, but there is no way we’re going to be able to pass them. Right. You know, that’s a…
Penny Ellison:
That’s a sad but true point. I mean. Correct. You only have so much time and energy.
Shelby Bobosky:
Yeah.
Penny Ellison:
And you want to put it. I mean, frankly, in your state and sometimes in mine, any animal protection bill is an uphill climb. So you don’t want to pick the steepest climb because then you might get nothing.
Shelby Bobosky:
Right. And we put so much money and effort into our lobbying that if there’s not a likelihood of success, then we don’t want to go after it. Will this bill educate people in the meantime? Perfect example is a mandatory spay neuter law. Texas is one of the highest states for overpopulation and animals ending up in our shelter. But we know from previous attempts it just doesn’t work, you know, trying to pass a mandatory spay neuter law.
Penny Ellison:
Tell me why. Because I see that comment on social media all the time. We should just mandate spay and neuter. Tell me why.
Shelby Bobosky:
Believe me, I would be the first one to do that. But I think that’s a good example of local locality and what works for your city, town, county, or community versus a statewide bill. We can’t even. We have tried to push that bill and we’ve had a great bill in the past. How about spay or neuter upon third intake? That means your dog or cat. Well, cats are a little different now, as we know. But let’s say your dog has been out now three times and ended up at the shelter three times, and it is still not fixed. You must spay or neuter that dog.
Shelby Bobosky:
My gosh. American Kennel Club, Responsible Pet owners, Dog of America, the Texas chapter, which is basically a bunch of breeders, they all come out against this legislation and it’s very difficult to get a hearing. But at the same time, we have a vet shortage and we don’t. We don’t want to be taking away dogs or cats because of the fact that we don’t want those ending up in shelters because it takes them three or four months to get a spay neuter appointment. You know, what we liked about that spay neuter upon third intake is, you know, you weren’t going to. Every home scene of each dog was spayed or neutered. Right. It was just the bad actors that kept letting their dogs out.
But even that shows to be such a challenge.
Penny Ellison:
That’s amazing to me. So yes. You’re talking about dogs that end up in a shelter for a third time. These are people who didn’t have one accident that their contractor left a gate open. These are people who are… their dog is regularly getting picked up or at least three times. And the breeder groups still oppose spay neuter at that point. Because that doesn’t sound to me like there’s an argument that. well, that could be a responsible hobby breeder.
Shelby Bobosky:
Absolutely. Camel’s nose, under the tent argument. Right. They’re coming for our dogs next. And it’s, it’s rather silly as we know that. You know, for example, my current shelter is at 150% over capacity. Right. So it’s incredibly frustrating.
Shelby Bobosky:
But again, let’s focus on things we can pass. So this past session we had a great bill. It’s a license plate bill, and the license plate says Spay. Neuter. Adopt. And it is a roving billboard for thousands of people on every Texas highway to see. But the $22 from that license plate goes into a fund for low cost spay neuters throughout the state, especially for rural areas. So, although we can’t pass a mandatory spay neuter law now, let’s look and see what we can do. And that’s providing spay neuter funding for some of our most rural and underserved communities.
Penny Ellison:
Oh, bingo. That is, that is exactly what I’m working on. In fact, I’m speaking on a panel at the Humane Expo in April on subsidized spay neuter and coming up with creative ways like that to fund it. Some states like Delaware, it’s small enough, they’re lucky enough that they can just get it in the state budget that, you know, they get a million dollars to do this. But there are other creative ways, like you said the license plate or putting fees on pet food manufacturers that sell in the state. Because if we get back to “Should we be mandating spay neuter?” This is actually sort of a cousin of that enforceability issue.
Penny Ellison:
Well, you can mandate it, but it’s expensive, it’s not accessible to a lot of people. And there is, as you pointed out, a shortage of vets. So you don’t fix the problem by mandating it. You fix it by making it more accessible.
Shelby Bobosky:
Correct. And you know, from our perspective, the cruelty issues in our state are really at triage levels if we’re in a hospital setting. Right. And so we really need to focus on our animal cruelty Law. We just updated again this year. We hope to have it in the top 10 states of animal cruelty laws, because we’ve added a negligence section that has really fixed a loophole against dog groomers and boarders and trainers.
Penny Ellison:
You had to prove that some level of intent to harm before.
Shelby Bobosky:
Yes. And it really was a situation where we’ve had these borders that where, if your dog dies, the most you can get. Because in Texas, as in most states, animals are property. Right. So the most you could get was just the amount of the dog. But also a lot of district attorneys were not bringing these cases. And so now we’ve worked with the district attorneys and corrected that loophole.
Shelby Bobosky:
So our focus was let’s get our cruelty statute in line and then, you know, move throughout what other issues we’re looking at. We’re very proud of THLN passing the first animal sheltering guidelines and standards in this state. And so now we hope to focus on that as we move forward, along with stopping the puppy mill pipeline to Texas, a bill that we’ve been trying to pass for two sessions now.
Penny Ellison:
Well, let’s talk about that then, because we talked about your big success with the outdoor dog housing. So hopefully this will be a future success. So tell me about the puppy mill pipeline, because there are lots of states that are trying to pass retail sales bans. So tell me what’s going on in Texas.
Shelby Bobosky:
Yeah, we were really watching New Jersey closely. So we know through amazing partners like Bailing Out Benji and Humane World for Animals. We know that over 15,000 puppies are transported into our state to be sold at retail locations. We have less than 50 stores in our vast, huge state of Texas. So we’re really explaining to legislators we need to stop the puppy mill pipeline.
Shelby Bobosky:
Of these 15,000 puppies that come in, they are not fixed. They are sold at ridiculous prices, and oftentimes they are sick. They have real congenital defects. Right. And so it’s not only an animal welfare issue, but it’s a consumer issue. And last session at both hearings, I mean, people lined up to talk about the defective dog that they purchased that either passed away or left them with mountains and mountains of vet bills. And it was really telling what the store owners were saying. So we have called it the ethical pet sales bill, because in Texas, we want to welcome all types of businesses to our state, but not those that are unethical.
And we believe that every store that came down and testified, we do not believe that they are selling puppies in an ethical manner. And because we just worked on the Texas dog or cat breeder law and we updated it and strengthened it. We have great breeders here. Obviously, in my opinion, I’m always going to go to a shelter even if I want, you know, a chiweenie teeny. Right. Like all these different expensive mutts. And let’s remind everyone they are not true breeds. They are all mutts.
Shelby Bobosky:
Right. But if I want one, anything that ends in a doodle, Bernadoodle schnitz, a doodle poodle. Right. All of those animals now can be found at shelters and rescues. But let’s say I want to go straight to a breeder again. We just passed and updated our dog or cat license breeder law so we have great breeders right here. You can go and meet the parents. You can go find out if it is a reputable breeder.
Shelby Bobosky:
There is no reason we need to import 15,000 unaltered puppies into the state a year. And I will just tell you this. Why are we killing ourselves as rescues and transporting out thousands of dogs on a daily basis out of our state only to import 15,000 puppies? It makes no sense.
Penny Ellison:
Clarify what you said. For people who aren’t in the world of rescue. So, Texas is overwhelmed. Their shelters are overwhelmed and they are transporter shelters. So they are trying to get shelters that are up north that might have some space to take their dogs. Because like you said, you can probably find any kind of breed in a Texas shelter. So some, some of those breeds, you know, wouldn’t be found that much in northern shelters. So they ship them up north. And at the same time though, there’s 15,000 puppies coming into Texas.
So you’re trying to, trying to empty the bucket, but the bucket has a hole in it because all the puppies are coming in.
Shelby Bobosky:
Yes.
Penny Ellison:
And you mentioned also, so obviously the AKC and other breeder organizations do not like these bills that say you can’t sell puppies in pet stores and think that it’s anti breeder. But as you point out, ethical breeders are willing to show you their facility. And ethical breeders want to know where their puppies are going. If they breed a particular type of dog that has particular needs, they’re going to want to know that it’s going to a home that understands those needs and is willing and able to accommodate them. I’ve always assumed that responsible breeders that care about their dogs don’t wholesale them to pet stores. Is that your view?
Shelby Bobosky:
Yes. And ethical breeders support the ethical pet sales bill. You know who else supports it? Pet stores. Right. Pet stores that don’t sell puppies because they have found a business model that works. But these pet stores that sell puppies, they hire incredibly expensive lobbyists. And remember, we only have six months to pass our bill. So there’s a thousand ways to kill a bill and only one way to pass it.
Shelby Bobosky:
So if you are listening to this today and you have not heard of THLN and you live in Texas, by all means, please go sign up for our action alerts and help us pass this bill. We were incredibly close this session, but again, this, this is a tough bill, but we believe in it and we think it is the right thing to do because we know that if we shut down that puppy mill pipeline to our state that we will be a better state as a result of it. Let me tell you really quickly about Frankie. Frankie was this amazing dog that I fostered. She was six months old and dumped at a rural shelter and sat there for two months. She had an. She was a puggle, she had an underbite, her back leg was messed up. And she was sold from a pet store in East Texas to a 78 year old man. Everybody knows that that is a terrible breed for that type of person. Right. And she sat with me and she basically came to me feral. We were able to get her on a transport and send her up north, but I could not adopt her in the DFW area. So this is a good example of what legislators really cling to because once that puppy is sold, those pet stores don’t care. They’ve made the money or sold them on a credit card or some kind of credit line and they will not take your calls again.
Penny Ellison:
Yeah, the credit that they give is another consumer issue.
Shelby Bobosky:
Exactly.
Penny Ellison:
And I know that, you know, in states like Pennsylvania where we haven’t been able to get a retail sales ban passed, we started decades ago with a puppy lemon law. So it was trying to sort of go in through the back end and say, well, if you produce puppies in such a way that they have congenital defects and get sick, you should be able to recover from the breeder in an effort to discourage the breeder from breeding dogs that are sick. But usually that means that the condition has to show up very quickly and you have to take action very quickly. And a lot of these genetic type problems don’t show up until down the road.
Shelby Bobosky:
And you’re exactly right. And our organization has made the choice to ban puppies being sold altogether because we have seen the unscrupulous actions that these breeders have taken in other states. And we don’t want to open that door here through a puppy lemon law or anything else. Again, we are talking less than 50 stores, and in our opinion, these are unethical businesses. I urge anyone that that believes differently to go watch those hearings and see for themselves. When you had a person that bought a puppy from a pet store, talk about their experience and the owner come up next and the legislators say to him, so what do you have to say about this? Oh, I, I was out of town. I’ll have to look into that case.
Penny Ellison:
Oh, my gosh. Right.
Shelby Bobosky:
I mean, we, we know it’s just about the money, so we’re excited for 2027.
Penny Ellison:
2027 is your next shot to get that bill passed.
Shelby Bobosky:
Correct.
Penny Ellison:
Okay, well, I will make sure to put the information in the show notes so that people in Texas can connect with you and get on your list. I’m excited to see, to see what happens and to learn from you in the future. So thank you.
Shelby Bobosky:
Shelby, Penny, thank you so much. Thank you for what you’re doing in your state. And I love working with other organizations in other states that are similar to ours because we have one of the most difficult jobs. Right. A lot of us serve as volunteers. We have five employees, but we didn’t 10 years ago. So we’re growing and we hope that other grassroots C4s grow in their states because it’s so important for legislators to hear from people in their own districts that animal issues are important to them. So thank you so much.
Penny Ellison:
Legislative advocacy isn’t just about good ideas. It’s about building the right partnerships, thinking through enforcement, staying engaged after a bill passes, and knowing when stopping bad policy matters just as much as advancing new proposals.
If this conversation gave you energy or sparked new ideas or ways of thinking about advocacy, I want to share something with you that I just put together. I’m really excited about it. I created a brand new resource called The Four Cs of Legislative Advocacy for Animals. I think you’ll really enjoy it; I know I enjoyed creating it. And I wanted to put something together that would be a very simple introduction to how bills really get passed. It’s a short, downloadable series that lays out a clear framework you can apply in your own advocacy work. So there’s five episodes, you’ll get one every other day. Each one is between 5 and7 minutes and you can download it at animaladvocacyacademy.com/4cs. I really hope you do. And we’ll see you next time.
That’s it for today. The Animal Advocate Podcast is brought to you by the Animal Advocacy Academy. You can find episodes and show notes at animal advocate advocacyacademy.com along with a link to our Facebook and LinkedIn pages where we discuss our podcasts, and we’d love to discuss your thoughts and experiences there. If you’re interested in learning more about protecting animals, subscribe to the show so you get every episode when it comes out. If you have any questions on this or any other topic related to animal law, email them to podcast@animaladvocacyacademy.com and we’ll make sure to get them answered. We’ll either email you back or feature them in a future episode, or both. And remember, compassion is great, but compassionate action is infinitely better. Until next week, Live with compassion.
