Court Sides With Iowa on Ag Trespass

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- The state of Iowa is free to enforce two ag trespass laws after a federal appeals court on Monday sided with the state on two challenges to previous court rulings.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit overturned injunctions against two Iowa ag trespass laws passed in 2019 and 2021.

Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds said a statement Monday evening the laws are important to protect farm families.

"This is a win for both Iowans and the country," she said.

"Iowa farmers feed and fuel the world and are an essential part of the global food supply chain. No longer will people be able to gain access or employment to agricultural production facilities with the intent to cause physical injury or economic harm."

In March 2022, U.S. District Court for the District of Southern Iowa declared the 2019 law unconstitutional.

The lower court found the law was too broad in its attempts to make it illegal for someone to gain access to an agriculture facility by lying on a job application to gain employment.

"We are not persuaded by these decisions that the Iowa statute is unconstitutional," the Eighth Circuit said in its ruling.

"The intent element determines whether particular conduct violates the statute, but it does not mean that a violation turns on the viewpoint of an offender's deceptive speech. Rather, the intent requirement permissibly reflects 'the general view that criminal punishment should be reserved for those who intend the harm they commit.'

"The statute filters out trespassers who are relatively innocuous and focuses the criminal law on conduct that inflicts greater harm on victims and society. In our view, the Iowa statute is not a viewpoint-based restriction on speech, but rather a permissible restriction on intentionally false speech undertaken to accomplish a legally cognizable harm."

In April 2021, the Iowa Legislature passed a bill making it an aggravated misdemeanor to enter private property without the consent of the owner and take samples of soil, water or animal products.

It also criminalized placing cameras or other surveillance devices on ag properties.

Animal activist groups in Iowa alleged in a legal challenge that the 2021 law violated their free speech rights.

The district court granted summary judgement in the case to the plaintiffs and denied a state motion to dismiss the case. The action essentially stopped the state from enforcing the 2021 law, as well.

"Without a doubt, trespassing is a legally cognizable injury because it harms the privacy and property interests of property owners and other lawfully present persons," the Eighth Circuit said in another ruling on Monday.

"Trespassers exacerbate that harm when they use a camera while committing their crime. The act is tailored to target that harm and redress that evil. Because the act's restrictions on the use of a camera only apply to situations when there has first been an unlawful trespass, the act does not burden substantially more speech than is necessary to further the state's legitimate interests."

Iowa now has a total of three laws in effect that deal with agriculture trespass.

The 2020 Food Operation Trespass Law in Iowa was ruled to be constitutional by an Iowa district court judge in Wright County on Jan. 18, 2022. Reynolds signed that bill into law in June 2020.

The 2020 law forbids what it calls "food operation trespass," which is now a misdemeanor for a first offense and a felony for subsequent offenses.

The law does not apply to people entering a right-of-way if they have not been notified or requested by signs or other means "to abstain from entering" a right-of-way or "to vacate the right-of-way."

The first Iowa ag-trespass law came about in 2012 after at least a couple of widely publicized investigations into hog operations.

The law made it illegal to enter a livestock facility under false pretenses or lie on a job application to work for a livestock operation. It was meant to effectively criminalize undercover investigations on livestock farms.

The Eighth Circuit later affirmed a district court's ruling that the 2012 law violated free speech.

Read more on DTN:

"Iowa Ag-Gag Law Found Unconstitutional," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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