A number of areas in the country are debating new animal-welfare regulations. I hope this is a good sign.

Nevada: The state’s lawmakers are considering two bills – in regard to reporting animal cruelty data and to toughen anti-cockfighting rules.

Ohio: The State House is looking to increase the penalties for the mistreatment of kennel animals. For current law, it is a misdemeanor. One representative can’t understand how Nitro’s Law has passed twice before in the House, but failed in the Senate.

New York: An assemblyman in Albany, NY is calling for harsher criminal penalties for cases of animal cruelty. The bodies of two Pitbull-Sheperd mixes was found on train tracks last week.

Alabama: A bill to increase the penalties for animal cruelty and expand the definition made its way out of the Alabama House’s agriculture committee on Wednesday.