Everyone else agrees: Prop 12 has to go

The Gazette editorial board does a good Chicken Little impression in squawking about the proposed Save Our Bacon Act.

The Save Our Bacon Act simply prohibits one state from trying to regulate livestock production in another state. States can continue to regulate farming practices within their own borders. The law is needed because California Proposition 12, a ballot measure financed by anti-meat activists, is a huge overreach that tries to govern farmers in Iowa and imposes costs on Iowa consumers.

In fact, Californians themselves are clamoring for just such a fix. Polling from this year finds that 60% of Californians now want Prop 12 changed to reduce prices, and the law would fail if it was on the ballot again.

Biden Secretary of Agriculture (and former Iowa governor) Tom Vilsack has raised significant concerns that Prop 12 would cause “chaos in the marketplace,” while the Trump administration also wants a fix. The Gazette’s editorial board should realize the sky isn’t falling.

Will Coggin

Research Director, Center for Environment and Welfare

Washington, D.C.