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Koster files egg bill appeal
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster and plaintiffs from five other states have filed an appeal in the case of the California egg legislation they are fighting. Last October, a district judge in California tossed out their lawsuit against California’s Proposition Two, which requires eggs produced in California and elsewhere to meet that state’s new enlarged-cage standards for egg laying hens. Koster tells Brownfield Ag News, “The egg case is a very important case. A lot of people have made fun of us for bringing this case and yet, increasingly as egg prices are now soaring because of the acts of the California legislature, they are recognizing that we were right to bring this case.”
In their appeal with the federal 9th district court, Koster, along with Attorneys General in Nebraska, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Kentucky, and, Iowa’s Governor Terry Branstad, argued that Californians consume more than 9-Billion eggs per year, nearly half of them produced by caged hens in other states, and, despite its place among the top five producers, California is a net importer of eggs. They argue that the California law violates interstate commerce by forcing other states to comply with California’s rigid production standards.
The state of Utah has filed an amicus brief – in support of the other states’ lawsuit and subsequent appeal.
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