By Ann Griffin, Director of Advocacy
We have excellent news to share! In the early morning hours of Friday, July 3, SB 293 and SB 294 passed the House. As you may recall, these bills passed the Senate in September 2025. On July 27, the bills were signed by Governor Whitmer. Because both chambers voted to give the bills immediate effect and the bills have been filed with the Secretary of State and assigned Public Act numbers 0087 and 0088 of 2026, respectively, they are now law.
What do these bills do?
Animal shelters and law enforcement now have a new bond-or-forfeit procedure they can use when an animal is seized in connection with an animal cruelty case (MCL § 705.50b) or an animal neglect case (MCL § 750.50), and the defendant is the animal’s owner. This procedure, which protects the owner’s due process rights through notice and the opportunity to request a hearing, will ensure either that the costs of caring for the animal are appropriately paid by the owner in a timely manner through a cost of care bond or that ownership of the animal will pass to the seizing agency through forfeit so that the agency can make a prompt disposition decision.
For the animal, this means that funds will be provided for his or her care or he or she will be spared a prolonged shelter stay. For animal control (municipal) shelters, this saves taxpayer dollars. For animal protection (private) shelters, this preserves their donor-funded budgets for their intended purpose.
In addition to protecting animals and resources, these bills also have the potential to protect humans from harm. There is a proven link between violence against animals and violence against humans. An improved bond-or-forfeit process will be an incentive for agencies to investigate cases of animal cruelty and neglect, which may also result in identifying human abuse. As mental health issues are often involved in these cases, an investigation could also result in the defendant getting the assistance he or she needs.
Of course, this change in the law is only beneficial if it is utilized. We have a strategy for reaching out to shelters, law enforcement, and others to provide information about the new procedure and encourage its use. We know that many on the front lines of enforcing the anti-neglect and anti-cruelty statutes have already used a similar process that we included in the animal fighting statute several years ago, and they have been eagerly awaiting this change.
We can’t do this work alone!
This important change in Michigan law was the result of years of advocacy. We are grateful to Senator Dayna Polehanki for sponsoring the bills along with several cosponsors. This success would not be possible without allies in the legislature. We deeply appreciate the significant number of stakeholders in the animal welfare community who signed a coalition letter, reached out to legislators, and testified in support of the bills. And of course, we thank each of you who have followed our progress and responded to calls to action, reaching out to your elected representatives to voice your support for the bills.
What will happen in the rest of the 2025-26 legislative session?
The Michigan legislature will not meet often during the summer, and legislators who are not term limited or otherwise not running for reelection have turned their attention to campaigning for the August primaries and November midterm elections. After the elections, the legislature will move into the “lame duck” portion of the 2025-2026 session. The legislators’ schedule for the remaining months of this session is uncertain, but we will continue to advocate for other important pending legislation. If you want to know more about which bills we are following and supporting, you can view our bill summary and tracking tool here.
We are going to keep working to improve animal welfare and create a more humane community while serving as a voice for the animals through advocacy. Together, we can continue to make a difference in animals’ lives. If you know someone who you think would be interested in this information, please forward this to them and encourage them to sign up for our Legislative Action Network.