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Challenging California’s Proposition 12

The North American Meat Institute has filed a lawsuit challenging California’s Proposition 12, The Farm Animal Confinement Initiative, a measure that establishes specific housing requirements of breeding pigs, veal calves, and laying hens. 

Mark Dopp, general counsel for the North American Meat Institute says the California law will dictate farming practices across the country by prohibiting the sale of uncooked pork or veal in California from animals housed in ways that don’t meet the state’s requirements.  “For purposes of the pork industry it’s even more important because it also prohibits the sale of the meat from the offspring,” he says.  “So you can’t sell the meat from the sow you cannot sell the meat from the market hogs that sow produces.”

He tells Brownfield the law violates the commerce clause of the constitution.  “We are concerned that other jurisdictions might think they need to do something similar – not identical, but similar,” he says.  “And then we have this patchwork of regulatory requirements across the country which makes it virtually impossible for commerce to flow freely.”

Dopp says producers who want to sell products in the California market will be forced to spend millions of dollars in modifications to access the market. 

An economic study conducted by the State of California shows consumer prices will likely increase.

NAMI is seeking a preliminary injunction to halt the implementation of the law.  Should the law go into effect, beginning in 2020 calves raised for veal will require 43 square feet of floor space and beginning in 2022 breeding pigs will require 24 square feet of floor space.

AUDIO: Mark Dopp, North American Meat Institute