Grassley in favor of legislation to counter Prop 12

by | May 16, 2023 | 5 Ag Stories, News

Proposition 12 is a California law that mandates more space for breeding pigs. The United States Supreme Court justices upheld a decision to dismiss the lawsuit from the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) that sought to invalidate the law. The decision was announced last Thursday, May 11th.

The law bans the sale of products from sows who are not given at least 24 square feet of space and the ability to stand up and turn around in their pens. Now, one state will have the power to force industrywide changes and raise the price of pork products across the country.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) held his weekly ag conference call with broadcasters and reporters on Tuesday and opened by addressing the Supreme Court?s Prop 12 decision.

Grassley says that the law will cause further inflation at the grocery store for consumers.

He says that Congress can and should introduce legislation to reverse Prop 12.

Grassley says that in addition to the negative effects the law would have for pork producers and consumers, it also gives too much power to one state and the ability to regulate commerce for several other states. Grassley says he is willing to help lead the efforts against Prop 12.

In 2021 U.S. Senators Roger Marshall, M.D. (KS), Chuck Grassley (IA), Joni Ernst (IA), John Cornyn (TX), and Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS) introduced the Exposing Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act to prohibit state and local government from interfering with the production or manufacture of agricultural products in other states.