Bills to protect farmers from animal-rights activists are headed to law books in Iowa, and maybe Utah

Photo by Al Hartmann,
Salt Lake Tribune

Legislation known as the "ag gag" bill, which would punish anyone who "makes false statements to gain access to a farm or misrepresent themselves on an employment application" is headed to Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who is expected to sign it. The bill is designed to "crack down on undercover stings in livestock operations," Ken Anderson of Brownfield Ag News reports. Supporters say it's about misrepresentation and securing the food supply, but opponents say it will discourage whistleblowing, hinder free speech and endanger food safety. The bill would make "agriculture production facility fraud" a misdemeanor and penalize groups who "aid or abet those individuals in their undercover efforts."

UPDATE: Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signed the "Agricultural Production Facility Fraud" bill into law yesterday, March 6.

State Sen. Joe Seng supports the bill and said animal rights "activists with an agenda" gain access to facilities under false pretenses and can expose livestock to disease. He added they are "trying to bring down this business," reports O. Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa. Sen. Matt McCoy opposed the bill, saying it would turn whistleblowers into criminals at the expense of public health. "This is the way . . . to give immunity to big agriculture so they can do whatever they please," he said. Sen. Herman Quirmbach also opposed the measure, saying it would endangers food safety and public health: "Passing this bill will put a big red question mark stamped on every pork chop, every chicken wing, every steak, every egg produced in this state because it will raise questions of: What have you got to hide?"

Legal scholars said yesterday the bill will "almost certainly face a constitutional challenge claiming it violates free-speech rights," reports Jason Clayworth of the Des Moines Register. A spokesman for Iowa's attorney general said the office worked with legislative leaders to draft a bill that could stand up in court, but a constitution al-law scholar at Drake University said the bill faces a big hurdle of "prior restraint," or efforts to halt speech before it can be spoken. He said courts have considered it the most "sweeping kind of free-speech restriction." In addition, it's general consensus among scholars that lies are protected free speech. Courts have also usually sided with news organizations whose members have "gone undercover to expose wrongdoing," Clayworth reports. (Read more)

In Utah, the House has passed 60-14 and the Senate is considering "a bill that would make it a crime to videotape or photograph agricultural operations without permission from owners," writes Dawn House of the Salt Lake Tribune. House Bill 187, supported by the Utah Farm Bureau, would make violations punishable by up to a year in jail. "The bill is so flawed, said National Press Photographers Association attorney Mickey Osterreicher, that someone taking photographs on public lands could be found in violation." (Read more)