Proposition 12 and a New Paradigm for Federal Law: Toward more humane and Ethical Farm Animal Practices in California and the U.S.

Authors

Valerie J. Watnick

Abstract

This paper explores California’s Proposition 12, a ballot measure designed to im-prove factory farmed animal welfare and marginally, the conditions for those who work on such farms. The Proposition bans cruelty in farm animal confinement within California and calls for specific space requirements. Proposition 12 also re-quires that animals raised outside the state and sold within the state comply with the more humane housing standards in the law. Based on a recent ruling upholding Proposition 12 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the introduction of multiple other state laws banning the most inhumane practices in the meat, poultry, and egg laying industry, this paper makes the case that factory farming is on the verge of great change. The paper concludes that the time is also ripe for uniform federal legislation requiring humane housing for all farm animals in the U.S, and improved conditions for farm animals in life and death. Additionally, this paper suggests that government incentives prompting more humane animal agriculture could hasten a burgeoning corporate and consumer move in this direction.

First Page

21

Recommended Citation

Valerie J. Watnick, Proposition 12 and a New Paradigm for Federal Law: Toward more humane and Ethical Farm Animal Practices in California and the U.S., 6 Bus. Entrepreneurship & Tax L. Rev. 21 (2022).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/betr/vol6/iss2/4