Rep. Hinson in The Washington Times: California shouldn't dictate how Iowa farmers do their job

In 2018, California approved Proposition 12, a law that imposes restrictive animal housing requirements and prohibits the sale of meat and eggs in California that were not raised according to the state’s arbitrary standards. After years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately upheld California’s law. Importantly, Justice Neil Gorsuch noted several times in the majority opinion that Congress would be within its power to act in this case.

I disagree with the court’s decision to uphold Prop 12, but I do agree Congress can and should act to rectify the burdens Prop 12 has imposed on interstate commerce.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision, I proposed legislation that would prevent a state from imposing production standards for agricultural commodities in another state. This commonsense solution protects interstate commerce and our farmers.

Inexplicably, my bill has received an inordinate amount of backlash. Left-wing activists who have never been to a hog farm in Iowa have pushed deceiving narratives about my bill.

The first misconception is that my bill would overturn thousands of state laws. To be clear, the legislation speaks only to the production of an agricultural commodity. “Legal scholars” (who are actually animal rights activists on university payrolls) have argued that the bill would invalidate state laws regulating goods from mattresses to cigarettes.

This assertion is just plain wrong. The production of agricultural commodities stops at the farm gate. Any law that governs the interstate movement or processing of products remains untouched by my proposal, and this solution is well within the purview of congressional regulation of interstate commerce.

The most ridiculous accusation is that my bill is a gift to the Chinese government. While large, foreign-owned conglomerates have the resources, size and infrastructure to comply with Prop 12, small, family-owned farms may be forced out of business. It could cost as much as $4,500 per sow to make facilities comply with Prop 12. At that rate, small producers wouldn’t be able to produce for more than one market; they would be forced to choose between California and the rest of the country. This will drive further consolidation in the industry, and that would be the true gift to China.

After the Supreme Court upheld Prop 12, the price of a pork loin in California rose more than 40% overnight, hitting consumers hard in a time of high inflation. Pork producers also bear economic hardships across the country. Not only do producers face renovation costs to comply with California’s rules, but they also bear productivity losses as misguided production methods replace science-based animal health practices. This, combined with industry costs to sell a differentiated product, means higher costs for the consumer. So, if consumers and producers are losing, who benefits from Prop 12? The left-wing animal rights activists who have rebranded themselves for this anti-farmer lobbying crusade.

Unfortunately, some of my own colleagues have been hoodwinked by these activists into thinking my bill would take away the rights of states. To the contrary, my legislation protects the rights of all states. Under the proposal, California can continue to require its farmers to comply with Prop 12, and the other 49 states can regulate the farmers within their borders as they see fit. The bottom line is that California activists shouldn’t tell Iowa farmers how to do their jobs.

The opponents of my legislation have engaged in vapid attempts to disguise their radical activism by shrouding themselves in “federal overreach” and “competitive markets.” I am not fooled by them, and you shouldn’t be either. Those on the other side of the debate are leftist extremists who want to end animal agriculture altogether. This is a slippery slope. Today, they’re directing their misguided ire at pork. Tomorrow, it could be any other product that personally offends them.

Tune out the noise of the radical activists who envision a future where the only “meat” available is made in a lab. Listen to the farmers who responsibly grow our food and the families who deserve to have affordable and nutritious protein options at the grocery store.