The U.S. House Agriculture Committee has introduced the latest iteration of the Farm Bill — the legislation that sets federal agriculture and nutrition policy for the next several years.

Tucked away in the bill’s more than 800 pages is the answer to the National Pork Producers Council’s long-awaited prayer: an overturning of Proposition 12.

The ballot referendum, which voters approved in 2018, mandates that pork sold in the state be raised in a pen that is at least 24 square feet.

The law survived a challenge from the NPPC at the Supreme Court in 2023, went into effect in January 2024, and has forced producers to change how they are raising their pork if they want to sell it in the Golden State.

The proposed provision would mandate that while California can enforce the rules of Proposition 12 within state borders, no state can enact or enforce, directly or indirectly, a standard on the production of livestock.

Duane Stateler, who serves as president of the National Pork Producers Council, told Spectrum News last fall that the patchwork of state laws is unsustainable long term. He applauds the proposed provision.

“America’s pork producers thank Chairman [Glenn ‘G.T.’] Thompson for continuing to take bold steps once again to protect our livelihoods from an unsustainable patchwork of state laws,” said Stateler in a statement. “We implore the full House Agriculture Committee to stand up for the American farmer, preserve states’ rights, and help keep pork affordable for the American consumers.”

The Supreme Court’s 2023 decision on Prop. 12 left the door open for Congress to create federal legislation setting a national animal welfare standard. However, Kathy Hessler, the Assistant Dean for Animal Legal Education at George Washington University Law School, said that’s not what’s happening here.

“What the government is trying to do here is act but not act. What they’re saying is not ‘okay, we have decided what is the right balance between animal welfare and commerce,’” she explained. “They’re saying we don’t want the states to do this.”

With two years having passed since Prop 12 went into effect, many pork producers already made the changes required by California in order to access one of the largest pork markets in the country.

Hessler suggested that this new provision could create new problems if it is passed into law for those who made the transition to be Prop. 12 compliant.

“All of the producers who have changed their products, changed their practices and their facilities to meet this new standard are saying, ‘wait a minute, we have made this capital investment, and now you’re going to tell us we didn’t have to?’” she said. “The people who didn’t make this investment will now be able to sell these products in these states and have a competitive advantage, and that’s not fair. So how do we even know how to make business decisions in capital investment if you’re going to keep changing the rules like this?”

Hessler also cautions that this could have wide-ranging impacts beyond pork.

“Once we say that the federal government can tell states that they can’t decide for themselves who does business in their state under what terms, then we’ve opened the door to all kinds of decision making that’s going to be problematic across the board,” she said. 

Animal advocacy groups were quick to criticize the proposed legislation.

“The stakes here involve the welfare of animals, the integrity of our food system, the investments farmers have made in their transition to cage- and crate-free systems, and the public’s trust that government won’t undo the will of millions of American voters every time a powerful industry voices objection,” said Kitty Block, CEO of Humane World for Animals, formally known as the Humane Society of the U.S. said in a statement. “Across the country, producers, retailers, and food service companies have adapted to more humane standards because they’re better for animals and people, consumers demand them, and they create stable markets and future-focused opportunities for farmers.

“It’s folly for a few on the House Agriculture Committee to champion a measure that punishes farmers who have rejected the cruelties of intensive confinement systems while rewarding the National Pork Producers Council and other interests for their efforts to perpetuate and profit from those same cruelties,” Block added.

The Farm Bill still has a ways to go, including committee markup, which is scheduled for next week, and votes in the House and Senate.

Hessler said there is a chance there could be legal challenges to the Prop 12 provision if it remains in the final legislation.