Iowa pork producers sue over California’s pig standards

The Iowa Pork Producers Association sued Attorney General Rob Bonta to block Proposition 12, a 2018 voter-backed initiative that set standards for raising pigs and other animals sold in California.

"Proposition 12 poses a current and imminent risk of criminal prosecution and civil enforcement against plaintiff's members, as the act imposes both criminal and civil penalties on any noncompliant business owner or operator who is 'engaged in the sale' of whole pork meat within California," wrote Trenton H. Norris, a partner with Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP in San Francisco.

The vast majority of pork consumed in California is raised out of state. Proposition 12 was one of several attempts in recent years to regulate the sale within California of agricultural products raised elsewhere. These efforts have been broadly popular with voters; Proposition 12 garnered nearly 63% of the vote.

California's laws on animal farming standards have often stood up to judicial review, but the plaintiffs said the inclusion of criminal penalties is especially problematic.

The plaintiffs originally sued in Fresno County Superior Court on Nov. 9, but the case was transferred to the U.S. Eastern District of California on Tuesday. Bonta moved to transfer the case to federal court, arguing the plaintiffs mainly brought "federal constitutional causes of action."

The complaint also names Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross and Tomas Aragon, director of the California Department of Public Health. Iowa Pork Producers Association v. Bonta, 1:21-cv-01663-NONE-EPG (E.D. Cal., filed Nov. 16, 2021).

The complaint alleges Proposition 12 violates the due process, immunity and commerce clauses. It also claims the law is preempted by the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921 under the supremacy clause. This century-old law was enacted to federally regulate the meat supply and break up the monopoly of the big five meat producers of the time. Finally, it argues the law violates California's Constitution and state law because of how the state enacted regulations under Proposition 12.

The complaint makes clear what is at stake: Iowa is the nation's largest pork producer, with nearly $41 billion in sales last year, while California is the largest market. Norris argued the law would be prohibitively expensive for Iowa's pork producers, with an "annual approximate aggregate cost impact to Iowa pork producers of at least $176 million."

The lawsuit came days after the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the law. These groups made similar claims to the Eastern District case.

The Iowa Pork Producers Association unsuccessfully challenged Proposition 12 in federal court in Iowa. U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams dismissed the case in August, saying the venue wasn't proper. Iowa Pork Producer Association v. Bonta, 3:21-cv-03018-CJW-MAR (N.D. Iowa, filed June 18, 2021).

That case featured an amicus brief that might mirror arguments Bonta will make in California. It was filed by attorneys representing Perdue Premium Meat Company Inc., the parent company of Niman Ranch. Started in the Bay Area in 1979 but now headquartered in Colorado, Niman works with small farmers who raise meat in a manner that complies with Proposition 12.

The brief filed by Rockne Cole in Iowa City wrote that most rulings of a substantial burden on interstate commerce are because a law is discriminatory.

"The Proposition 12 sales ban makes no distinction between in-state and out-of-state pork producers," Cole wrote.