Farm Bill and Restricting State Laws

OMAHA (DTN) -- A group of 32 Democratic senators on Monday wrote the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Committee to push back on legislation that would overturn state laws such as California's Proposition 12.

The Democratic senators specifically expressed their "strong opposition" to including the Food Security and Farm Protection Act (S. 1326) in the next farm bill. That bill, introduced by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, would prevent states and local governments from interfering with the production and distribution of agricultural products in interstate commerce.

Ernst's bill has eight GOP co-sponsors in the Senate. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn "GT" Thompson, R-Pa., also has indicated he would include a provision in the House version of the farm bill, the now so-called "skinny farm bill" as Congress looks to pass provisions of farm policy that were not in the budget reconciliation bill.

When this issue came up in the past, there has been bipartisan opposition to Congress stepping in to invalidate state laws effectively.

The Democrats' letter noted the bill is mainly meant to target California's Proposition 12 and Massachusetts's Question 3, which require meat products in those states to come from animals raised with certain standards for housing and cage sizes.

In their letter, Democratic senators said S.1326 and legislation similar to it, "would have a sweeping impact if passed -- threatening countless state laws and opening the floodgates to unnecessary litigation. The bill is particularly draconian in that it aims to negate state and local laws when there are no federal standards to take their place, creating an overnight regulatory vacuum. In doing so, it would drastically broaden the scope of federal preemption, and disregard the wisdom of duly-enacted laws that address local concerns."

The letter cites multiple examples where states ban certain products:

-- Alabama, Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota all regulate the labeling of bitter almonds and prohibit their sale as a poison.

-- At least 12 states ban the importation of firewood to prevent the spread of invasive species.

-- At least 23 states also restrict importation of ash trees to prevent the spread of the emerald ash borer.

-- Other states regulate the sale of certain seeds, while dozens of state laws have restrictions on noxious weeds.

-- States also have their own rules to address brucellosis and bovine tuberculosis.

Democrats note this situation came up in the farm bill in 2014 and 2018 and was rejected both times.

Not mentioned in the Democrats' letter, seven states now ban lab-grown meat despite the fact such products have been approved by the FDA and USDA as well. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill last month banning the sale of lab-grown meat in the state for two years.

As Congress looks to possibly tackle state laws and interstate commerce, the Trump administration has now filed its own lawsuit against California over egg production tied to Prop 12 and other state laws. The case, reported last week by DTN, doesn't challenge all aspects of Prop 12 that tie into pork production, but focuses on eggs sold in California from out-of-state.

See, "Trump Administration Sues California Over Egg Regulations, Claims Constitutional Violation," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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