A new bill just hit the books, looking to provide relief to livestock producers. It is called the “Save Our Bacon Act,” and it targets regulations, such as California’s Proposition 12.
The bill was filed by Iowa Representative Ashley Hinson. The “Save Our Bacon Act would prohibit states, like California, from having a say in how other states produce their livestock. Ag groups across the spectrum have thrown their support behind the bill, like the National Pork Producers Council. They say without protections in place, America’s 60,000 pork-producing families will face business business-crushing decisions.
That bill was filed just after a House Ag Committee hearing on Prop-12, where a panel of six ag industry stakeholders testified before lawmakers. After years of back and forth, the Supreme Court sided with California in 2023, a move many in the group argued sent a direct hit to not only the pork industry, but also restaurants.
“If you increase the price of pork to the restaurant chain, if the consumer can’t afford to pay for the product, then the product is no longer available. Your restaurant goes out of business, is that correct,” said Rep. Austin Scott.
“Yes, that’s my point exactly, and that is where we’re seeing that already, just based on other regulations. So this would be yet another regulation on top of those that would affect the restaurants,” said Lilly Rocha with the Latino Restaurant Association.
Groups like the Center for Environment and Welfare claim activists spent more than $10 million to get Prop-12 passed in California, but those economists argue voters misled, and say the proof is in grocery receipts.
“They didn’t realize how much of the drive up prices for their bacon, their eggs at the grocery store by banning conventionally produced products, and so with bird flu also creating havoc on the egg prices, eggs got up to over $10 a dozen in California, and so we did some polling in May, and we found that Californians have voters’ remorse. They have buyer’s remorse about Prop 12. 60% of Californians say they want a legislative six to Prop 12,” said Will Coggin.
Coggin says their data shows just 35 percent of Californians would vote for Prop-12 if it were on the ballot again.
