This November, every State House seat and 23 out of 59 State Senate seats are on the ballot in Illinois. Every election has profound impacts on animal protection, and as such, it has never been more important to head to the ballot box fully equipped with the facts. In the 2024 legislative session, did your legislators stand up for animals?
Humane Society Legislative Fund has the answers. Following our 2021 and 2023 Illinois Humane Scorecards, we invite you to review our 2024 Illinois Humane Scorecard, where you can learn what actions your lawmakers took, and what issues they failed to support, in our fight to protect animals in Illinois.
The 2024 Illinois legislative session followed a highly successful session in 2023—in our 2023 Scorecard, Humane Society Legislative Fund scored legislators’ actions on four pro-animal bills signed by the Governor into law, and two more that each passed one legislative chamber. The primary focus of the Illinois General Assembly in 2024 was passing a balanced state budget—even though animal protection legislation was not a top priority for the General Assembly, two bills still passed the Illinois State House which protect people and animals, alike.
As such, our 2024 Illinois Humane Scorecard only evaluates members of the State House, because the State Senate did not vote on any of our priority legislation this year. While we are hopeful the state senators will take up this important legislation during the fall veto session, we wanted to provide voters with as much information as possible to make informed decisions this November. Past Illinois State Senate votes may be evaluated in our 2023 and 2021 Illinois Humane Scorecards.
Together, we strive to make our voices louder than the special interests that would harm animals for profit—and a powerful way to do so is to hold your legislators accountable for their votes. As you prepare to cast your own votes, let your elected officials know how important animal protection is to you.
The following actions are scored in the 2024 Illinois Humane Scorecard:
- Ownership of Dangerous Wild Animals: A ✓ indicates a vote in favor of HB 4446, which prohibits the private possession of certain dangerous wild animals including servals, caracals, kangaroos, wallabies, and hybrids thereof. When these animals escape, they endanger both the public and law enforcement officials. Escaped animals are often seriously injured or killed in the process of recapture.
- Wildlife Killing Contests Ban: A ✓ indicates a vote in favor of HB 2900, which prohibits wildlife killing contests in the State of Illinois. Killing contests are organized events in which participants compete for prizes—typically cash and guns—for killing the most, the smallest, or the largest animals within a certain time.
HSLF acknowledges the limitations of judging legislators based on a few votes and co-sponsorships on animal issues, however important those issues may be. In some cases, legislators must miss votes for unavoidable reasons, such as a death in the family, serious illness, birth of a child or emergency in their district. In assessing the record of your state-level representatives, and your strategy for engaging them in the future, do consider unrecorded matters such as committee participation and performance, House or Senate leadership posts, constituent service and responsiveness, and other animal protection bills not included in this scorecard.
As with all the work we do, our humane scorecards are made possible only by the continued advocacy and support of members like you. By holding our lawmakers accountable, at the ballot box and year-round, we can build on our victories—and make greater progress in 2025 for the animals.
The full 2024 Illinois Humane Scorecard can be found online at hslf.org/state-scorecards. Please share this scorecard with family, friends, and fellow advocates to help spread the word! Remember—animals only win when humane candidates do.