I’ve just returned from western and northern Michigan, where I joined animal advocates, tribal leaders, and conservationists at kick-off meetings to launch the Keep Michigan Wolves Protected ballot measure campaign, and to turn back the state legislature’s recently passed bill authorizing the trophy hunting of wolves for the first time in nearly 50 years.

State legislatures around the country are in full swing with the beginning of their 2013 legislative sessions, and already lawmakers are considering a number of priority animal protection bills. It’s a good time to take stock of how the states are doing with animal protection policymaking, and what gaps in the state laws need to be addressed for animal welfare.

Before the November election, I posted a preliminary version of the 2012 Humane Scorecard, and last week, after the conclusion of Congress’ “lame-duck” session, I provided a look at our year in review for animals. We made some modest progress, but the 112th Congress left a lot of unfinished business on animal protection issues, paving the way for a challenging new session.

As the 113th Congress convenes this week, we take a look back at the 112th Congress that just concluded and look forward to the challenges ahead. The 112th—which covered the two years beginning January 2011—was characterized by gridlock, partisan divides, and delay until the last minute.

A new study by the National Academy of Science, commissioned by the Defense Department, this week revealed that toxic lead ammunition used on Army, Navy and Air Force firing ranges jeopardizes the health of military workers, potentially causing neurologic, cardiovascular, reproductive and other problems.

The U.S. Senate tonight passed, by voice vote, a major animal protection bill and a key priority for HSLF: S. 1947, the Animal Fighting Spectator Prohibition Act.

A few days after the election, an excerpt from this Washington Post editorial on the waning power of the NRA caught my eye:

Congress returns to Washington today after the election, and gets back to the business of the country. You’d think that first up on the Senate’s agenda today would be jobs, the economy, dealing with the fiscal cliff, or even climate change. But instead, the very first item on the Senate’s lame-duck calendar is something really important to the American people: importing 41 polar bear heads and hides from Canada so they can adorn the trophy rooms of wealthy big-game hunters.

There is disappointing news from North Dakota tonight, as Measure 5 appears to be going down to defeat. The opponents of this measure, mostly ranching and farming trade associations, were able to cast doubt among voters and tell them the proposed felony animal cruelty law was written by “outside” groups, as if the language morphs into something different depending on who backs it.