A self-professed dog lover has helped push a bill through the Legislature that updates animal welfare law.

The Washington House approved Senate Bill 6300, sponsored by Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, that includes updates to animal cruelty laws and provides more options to where people can take abandoned animals.

“I’m a dog lover, as are many of my colleagues,” Rivers said in a statement released after the House approved the bill Thursday. “So it wasn’t a surprise that we saw overwhelming support for this legislation. This is an area of the law where Republicans and Democrats have lots of common ground.”

“This bill is the first comprehensive update of animal welfare laws in years,” she said. “It responds to unfortunate situations we’ve seen in headlines, like when someone accused of badly mistreating dozens of dogs blamed their actions on a lack of resources. Some of these changes are overdue, and none is coming too soon.”

SB 6300 was approved Thursday by a 89-8 vote. Five representatives from Clark County — Republicans Paul Harris, Larry Hoff and Brandon Vick and Democrats Monica Stonier and Sharon Wylie — voted for the legislation. Republican Vicki Kraft cast one of the eight votes against the bill.