More than a dozen states are challenging a Massachusetts pork ban similar to California’s Prop-12.
The law puts restrictions on housing requirements for pigs, but it does not end there. The law prohibits pork they consider non-compliant, as well as products transferred through the state.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is leading the charge against the ban saying both Massachusetts and California are putting the burden on farmers.
“The real danger here is what do you do when different states have different requirements or when they change those requirements because the capital investment that pork producers make is quite intense. As those regulations change, does that mean they now can’t sell into certain markets? I just met with a pork-producing family. His grandpa was a pork producer, his dad’s a pork producer, and built the business, and he built it with his father and now his kids are in it. These kinds of regulations make it so their family couldn’t stay in the family farm business anymore.”
Bird and the 12 other states are fighting the law, saying it violates the constitution through the dormant commerce clause. She says that stops states from regulating import requirements.
