AFBF-NPPC case challenging space requirements for gestating hogs will be heard by high court.
After nearly two months of waiting, the U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday morning they would be hearing the case brought by the National Pork Producers Council and American Farm Bureau Federation challenging California’s Proposition 12 requiring additional space requirements for gestating sows. The state law seeks to ban the sale of pork from hogs that don’t meet the state’s arbitrary production standards, even if the pork was raised on farms outside of California.
The NPPC-AFBF case, which argues that Prop. 12 violates the Constitution’s Commerce Clause, limiting states’ ability to regulate commerce outside their borders, was relisted from the SCOTUS conference on Jan. 14 and again on Jan. 21 and finally was granted certiorari in action March 28.
“AFBF is pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision to consider the constitutionality of California’s law imposing arbitrary requirements on farmers well outside its borders,” says AFBF President Zippy Duvall. “We share California’s goal of ensuring animals are well cared for, but Prop 12 fails to advance that goal. We look forward to presenting the facts to the court, including how Prop 12 hamstrings farmers’ efforts to provide a safe environment for their animals, while harming small family farms and raising pork prices across the country. One state’s misguided law should not dictate farming practices for an entire nation.”
In 2008, the voters approved Proposition 2, the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, which took effect January 1, 2015. With exceptions, Prop 2 banned three forms of animal confinement: “gestation crates for pregnant pigs, veal crates for calves, and battery cages for egg-laying hens.” Prop 2 did not prohibit sales of food derived from animals wrongly confined.
In November 2018, the voters built upon Prop 2 by approving Proposition 12, the Prevention of Cruelty to Farm Animals Act. The Act’s stated purpose is to “prevent animal cruelty by phasing out extreme methods of farm animal confinement, which also threaten the health and safety of California consumers and increase the risk of food borne illness and associated negative fiscal impacts on the State of California.”
The updated constitutional amendment seeks to not only require pork raised in the state to not be raised using sow gestation crates, but also to any pork consumed in the state to meet the same standards. After December 31, 2021, confining a breeding pig with less than 24 square feet of usable floorspace per pig was considered “confined in a cruel manner.”
An estimated 99.8% of the pork consumed in California comes from out-of-state, creating a wide net of those impacted by the rule.
