Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is leading a 23-state challenge to a California law that regulates pork production in other states. According to Bird, California passed Proposition 12 in 2018, which restricts the sale of pork and other animal products in the state unless they comply with strict space constraints. The law, ruled constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2023, will force livestock producers nationwide to completely overhaul their facilities if they want access to California’s market. The court’s ruling affirmed states are permitted to regulate how products are sold in their respective jurisdiction, but it did not directly address the Constitution’s Commerce Clause that restricts a state’s ability to enforce laws affecting interstate commerce. That is the route Prop 12’s challengers are pursuing this time. Bird says, “California’s radical pork ban, Proposition 12, raises pork prices and threatens to drive family farms out of business with extreme costs. Iowa is the top pork producing state in the country. California doesn’t get to tell Iowa farmers how to raise hogs in Iowa.” In a petition to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the states argue, “California has fired the first shots in what could be an interstate trade war. Rather than respect her sister States’ regulatory approach to raising pork in their own States, California seeks to substitute its own inexpert judgment for what regulations are best. California does not produce meaningful amounts of commercial pork—but it is the nation’s top consumer. Proposition 12 requires pork producing States to oversee massive disruption in vital businesses to establish two supply chains: one to sell pork in California and one to sell everywhere else.” The complete 24-page petition is included below.
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