Posted on 12/04/2017 4:42:48 PM PST by Mariner
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) —
More than a dozen states banded together Monday to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to block a California law requiring any eggs sold there to come from hens that have space to stretch out in their cages.
In a lawsuit filed directly to the high court, the states allege that California's law has cost consumers nationwide up to $350 million annually because of higher egg prices since it took effect in 2015. The lawsuit argues that California's requirements violate the U.S. Constitution's interstate commerce clause and are pre-empted by federal law.
A federal appeals court panel rejected similar claims last year in a separate case brought by six states, ruling that they failed to show California's law would affect more than just individual farmers. The latest lawsuit seeks to address that by citing an economic analysis of the California law. It also asks the Supreme Court to take up the case directly instead of requiring that it first move through the lower courts.
Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, a Republican who is running for U.S. Senate in 2018, is leading the lawsuit. Other plaintiff states are Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. All have Republican attorneys general except Iowa, which has a Democrat.
The California attorney general's office said Monday that it was reviewing the lawsuit.
California produced about 5 billion eggs and imported an additional 4 billion from other states in 2012, according to the lawsuit. Thirty percent of those out-of-state eggs came from Iowa, the nation's top egg producer. About 13 percent of California's egg imports came from Missouri, the second highest percentage cited in the lawsuit.
(Excerpt) Read more at kcra.com ...
I shoot both kinds.
Wonder why?
I grow at least one small field of barley up here every year.
Mostly for the wild turkeys, the quail, and the grouse.
What I don’t use for beer goes to the birds.
Most years they get all of it.
Hmmm, we* have a few free range chickens and their egg yolks are slightly darker yellow than most commercial eggs, but certainly not orange bordering on almost red. OTOH, marigold flowers or their extract can be added to feed for continuously caged birds to “improve” yolk color.
http://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=ijps.2017.11.15
*”We”. Haha - these are supposed to be mostly my daughter’s pets, and somewhat my wife’s too, but it seems like I end up doing half the work, my wife about 49%, and our daughter 1%! But... they are interesting critters to have around. They are not very smart, yet each has its own “personality”. They sometimes eat stuff that’ll raise one’s eyebrows a bit, though.
I actually remember someone was making oat bran beer back then? Health beer?
Personally, I can’t tell any difference between eggs from California and eggs from anywhere else. So why have this law?
Thanks for naming two.
This law has to do with the humane treatment of the chickens.
“Califorkinia chicken inspectors.”
I like the red hat they wear. Only question is how do they get the chickens into the white lab coats?
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