Update: The ballot initiative organizers, Prevent Cruelty California, has collected more than 600,000 signatures of California voters! The initiative, Prevention of Cruelty to Farm Animals Act, will be on the ballot this November in California! Read more about the ballot initiative in Animal Law Coalition’s report below.
Original report February 22, 2018: Voters in Massachusetts approved by 77.6% to 22.3% a similar initiative, Question 3, in the election on November 8, 2016. Under that measure which goes into effect in 2022, egg laying hens, breeding pigs, and calves raised for veal must be able to (1) stand, (2) lie down, (3) turn freely without touching the enclosure, or in the case of hens, without touching another hen or the enclosure; and (4) fully extend their limbs touching the enclosure, or, in the case of hens, without touching another hen or the enclosure; and (5) for hens, access to at least 1.5 square foot of space.
No eggs, veal or pork can be sold in Massachusetts from hens, breeding pigs or calves kept for veal, or their offspring, that have not been kept in compliance with these standards. This means out of state producers must comply in order to sell their eggs, pork and veal in Massachusetts.
When California voters passed Proposition 2 in 2008, it was a landmark law, the first to require egg producers to give egg laying hens confined in battery cages sufficient room to stand up, lie down, turn around freely, and fully extend their wings. Prop 2 also joined other states in requiring the same standards for pregnant pigs and calves used to produce veal.
Now the Humane Society of the United States has introduced a ballot initiative in California called the Prevention of Cruelty to Farm Animals Act that would improve upon the Prop 2 standards like the new Massachusetts law and ban the sale of eggs, pork, and veal that has not been produced in accord with this new requirements.
In order to place this measure on the November, 2018 ballot HSUS and its coalition must collect 365,000 signatures in support from registered voters.