Following the news today can be exhausting. Unfortunately, there are decisions being made daily in Washington, D.C., that are changing existing laws that we care deeply about. The Farm Bill is an example of this. The bill is supposed to protect farmers and help feed hungry families through SNAP. It just passed in the House, and the Senate will soon vote on it.

Advocates for animals strongly object to the passage of the Farm Bill because it contains Section 12006, which would nullify most of California’s Proposition 12. Proposition 12 states that if pork, veal or eggs are sold in California, they cannot come from animals kept in the most extreme forms of confinement. (The voters of Massachusetts passed a similar proposition.) After California overwhelmingly enacted Proposition 12, the pork industry refused to adapt. Instead of making the world a little less cruel, the pork industry took California to the Supreme Court. In 2023, the Supreme Court said that California had the right to ban pork cruelly produced in another state.

The Court did state in its opinion that the pork industry could seek relief in Congress because Congress controls interstate commerce. The pork industry followed the Supreme Court’s advice and tried to pass the EATS Act and then the Save Our Bacon Act. Failing to pass an independent bill, the pork industry had Section 12006 inserted into the Farm Bill.

Please urge Sen. Collins and Sen. King to not support the Farm Bill if it contains Section 12006.

Beth Gallie
South Portland