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NPPC working with Congress to develop federal Prop 12 legislation

The president of the National Pork Producers Council says the industry is developing federal legislation that would address California’s livestock confinement law.

Duane Stateler says Proposition 12 has created a patchwork of state regulations.

“We have Q3 in Massachusetts and we now have a new one coming in Oklahoma,” he says. “It’s just a disruption for the industry. All it is doing is costing consumers. We could end up losing smaller producers because of the added expense that doesn’t have the added capital they can see right away.”

He tells Brownfield the chairman of the U.S. House Ag Committee, Glenn “GT” Thompson, has included language in a new farm bill that is expected to come out at the end of this month.

“It did not have a capital expenditure in the budget in 2025,” he says. “It was not going to cost anything to taxpayers. If a state wants to have something for their people to consume, but they wouldn’t be able to restrict that onto another state’s production practices.”

Stateler says the industry remains optimistic for a solution that would keep producers profitable and cut costs for consumers.

The law, which was initially passed by California voters in 2018, faced legal challenges, but was ultimately upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court leading to its full enforcement in January 2024.

Brownfield interviewed Stateler during the 2026 Ohio Pork Congress.

AUDIO: Duane Stateler, National Pork Producers Council