Kansas Senator Roger Marshall will introduce a bill designed to address California’s Prop 12, which was recently upheld by the Supreme Court. The Hagstrom Report says Marshall’s bill would stop states from enacting laws that affect agricultural production in other states.
The Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act will preserve the right of states and local governments to regulate agriculture within their jurisdictions free from the interference of other jurisdictions.
“U.S. agriculture currently lacks access to new markets because of non-tariff trade barriers overseas,” Marshall says. “The last thing we need is a big state like California imposing its will on ag-heavy states with regulations that will restrict our ability to trade among the states.”
Bill co-sponsor John Cornyn of Texas says California shouldn’t be able to tell ranchers in his state how to do their jobs. Iowa Representative Ashley Hinson plans to introduce a companion measure at a later date.