In a bid to provide legal protection for scientists who use animals in experiments, the judicial committee of the California Assembly approved on Thursday the Animal Enterprise Protection Act, which was strongly supported by the University of California. The legislation now moves to a vote in the Assembly’s appropriations committee.

The bill, which was described this week on the University of California at San Francisco’s Web site, would establish new criminal penalties for harassing researchers who work with animals and would provide employers of researchers the power to sue in civil court on behalf of their employees.

That ability could give universities new legal muscle against animal-rights extremists, according to a fact sheet prepared by the university system. The bill would also allow universities to withhold information from public records about animal research if they consider that releasing such data would expose researchers to harassment.

But the Legislature’s own analysis of the bill notes that it is opposed by civil-rights organizations, which view it as an infringement on protesters’ freedom of speech. Despite the activists’ protests, animal research has continued unabated, according to a recent analysis by The Chronicle of Higher Education. —Richard Monastersky