Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is backing a measure to strip out California’s Proposition 12 (Prop 12), according to a release. Ernst says she’s pushing back against California’s move to ban bacon and other animal agriculture products through this law that will go into effect Jan. 1, 2022. Ernst, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, says her goal is to ensure pork producers from across the country, including her home state, can continue selling their products throughout the U.S.
Ernst is working with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to introduce 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.
“... California shouldn’t be allowed to punish hardworking farmers and producers in Iowa, which is why I’m pushing to strip out this ridiculous law and ensure Iowans can continue selling the nation’s best pork, bacon and eggs to Americans across the country,” Ernst said in a release.
The governments of nearly half the U.S. states were in agreement of the North American Meat Institute’s petition that challenged the constitutionality of California’s Prop 12 which would require that meat products raised outside the state still conform to the radical animal rights standards adopted by California under the guise of “public health.”
On June 28, the Supreme Court denied a petition to review Prop 12. A month later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declined the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and American Farm Bureau Federation’s petition to strike down Prop 12 as unconstitutional under the dormant Commerce Clause.
The Commerce Clause of the Constitution of the United States provides the federal government with the duty to regulate interstate commerce, Ernst’s office pointed out in a release.
“Consistent with that duty, the Exposing Agricultural Trade Suppression Act prevents states from impeding agricultural trade from other states within the United States. State and local units of government will still be able to regulate farming and ranching within their own state, however, this legislation is clear: impeding trade from fellow states is illegal,” the release said.
More from Farm Journal’s PORK:
Federal Court Rejects NPPC’s Petition to Strike Down Proposition 12
California’s Proposition 12 Would Cost U.S. Pork Industry Billions
Webinar: Proposition 12: Where Do We Go From Here?
Court Upholds California Proposition 12
Pork Industry, Don’t Underestimate Proposition 12
How Will California’s Prop 12 Affect the Pork Industry?
New Briefs Filed in Support of NPPC’s Proposition 12 Lawsuit
