HOUSE FARM BILL PROHIBITS STATE INTERFERENCE IN INTERSTATE COMMERCE

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The U.S. House Committee on Agriculture has passed a new five-year farm bill, HR 1947, that includes language prohibiting states from limiting the import of agricultural products from another state based on that product’s means of production. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) strongly opposed the language, which was contained in an amendment offered by Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and passed on a voice vote. 

It was just such legislation that the greyhound racing community defeated earlier this year in New Hampshire, where an initiative driven by Grey2KUSA and the HSUS would have forbidden the import of racing simulcast signals from states that do not require public reporting of greyhound injuries at racetracks.

According to AgriPulse, a weekly newsletter on agriculture issues, King’s amendment was aimed directly at efforts by HSUS to make interstate commerce of meat and poultry products more difficult based on livestock production standards.

Head HSUS “spin doctor” Wayne Pacelle reacted immediately to the committee’s action. A May 26 news release posted on the HSUS website claims the King amendment will “threaten farm animal protection laws” and “allow the overturning of every voter-approved animal welfare ballot measure relating to agriculture.”

As usual, Pacelle’s rhetoric is hypberolic but inaccurate. There’s nothing in the amended bill that will prevent states from passing animal “protection” laws or imposing livestock production standards enforceable within their own borders. The amendment simply prevents states from limiting interstate trade in agricultural products based on production standards in other states.
 
Pacelle has said HSUS will work to strip the King amendment from the bill when it reaches the House floor. There is no similar language in the Senate version of the bill.
 
Whether the King amendment survives or not, it’s significant that some members of Congress are concerned about back-door efforts by animal rights groups like HSUS to limit interstate commerce in animal products and dictate how states regulate the animal businesses within their own jurisdictions. We share their concerns.