California has extended the state’s injunction on implementation of its Prop 12 animal welfare law, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) said.
The extension to July 1, 2023, comes after Food Equity Alliance, a coalition retailers, grocers and restaurants in California, filed a joint stipulation with the California Superior Court in Sacramento asking for a delay in order to allow the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in first on the pork industry’s legal challenge.
The California Superior Court had enjoined implementation of Prop 12 until 180 days after the final rules were issued, which had set the trigger date at Feb. 28, 2023.
“The U.S. pork industry is pleased that the state of California agrees with consumer groups on the importance of delaying the implementation of Proposition 12 until a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court comes down,” said Michael Formica, NPPC’s chief legal strategist.
Approved by California voters in November 2018, Prop 12 requires whole pork sold in the state to be derived only from breeding sows allowed at least 24 square feet of space. Its original effective date was Jan. 1, 2022.
Prop 12 would apply to all producers in and outside of California, which consumes as much as 18% of the nation’s pork and brings almost all of it in from other states.
NPPC and American Farm Bureau Federation have argued all the way to SCOTUS that Prop 12 violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution because it effectively dictates production requirements in all states.
SCOTUS heard oral arguments on the matter in October.
