CA Prop 12 Concerns Linger for Ag Groups

California’s Proposition 12 is going to the Supreme Court this fall to hear arguments on the new rules for different products such as swine, veal calves and eggs in California.

Animal Agriculture Alliance President and CEO Hannah Thompson Weeman says Prop 12 could significantly impact agriculture…

“And a lot of folks in animal agriculture, especially in the pork community, are kind of waiting with bated breath to see what the result is, because it is going to set an extremely significant precedent when it comes to the state level pieces of legislation that impacts not only producers in that state that passed the legislation, but in the case of things like prop 12, affecting producers across the country. There's a reason that activist groups try to get these pieces of legislation passed in states with very little of the production in questions, a very intentional strategy and it calls a lot of questions when it comes to interstate commerce. and is that fair to producers to be regulated by citizens who live in a completely different state.”

“A lot of us followed the really outlandish ballot initiative that was proposed in Colorado that would have redefined certain production practices as sexual assault of an animal and would have established a minimum lifespan that animals had to live to before they could be processed. And similarly, an Oregon ballot initiative legislation that would have redefined any processing of an animal as cruelty. So, these ballot initiatives are really cross-species, they're really impactful, and again I think the outcome of this case is going to set the stage for what we see happening with them long into the future.”