The beginning of the year always brings a flurry of legislative activity, with state legislatures reconvening and many bills being introduced or revived. Our “friends” at various animal rights activist organizations stay busy this time of year, as they see the legislative process as a huge opportunity to advance their goal of implementing policies that drive up the cost of animal protein, which will make plant-based and lab-grown alternatives more attractive to consumers.

Typically we see these issues play out at the state level, with no better example than California’s Proposition 12. Activists make use of the ballot initiative process, in which 26 states have various pathways for bill to be passed by public vote. Bypassing the traditional legislative process allows activist organizations to ask the general public to weigh in on topics that most of little knowledge of — such as farm animal welfare.

HSUS says it in their own words: Ballot measures have “been a vital dimension in our efforts to overcome the political obstacles of passing animal-friendly legislation in state legislatures.” According to HSUS, “Again and again, we’ve shown that the ballot measure, a form of direct democracy, works for our cause.” HSUS boasts that the “animal protection position” has won out two-thirds of the time in the more than 60 “sensible measures” placed on state ballots since 1990.

After demonstrated success at the state level, some animal rights groups are now shifting their focus to county and even city-level ballot measures as a way to get policies passed that set a precedent, even if they do very little in a practical sense. Voters in Berkeley, Calif., will be asked this year to vote on a proposed “factory farm ban” within the city limits. Doesn’t sound very impactful, right? The Guardian lays out the strategy behind the measure, which is being pushed by Direct Action Everywhere: “If successful in Berkeley, a liberal San Francisco Bay Area town that’s often been at the forefront of US environmental policy, the method can be replicated elsewhere.”

We’re already seeing the same blueprint used in other areas where the impact could be more tangible. DXE is pushing a measure in Sonoma County, Calif., which would prohibit CAFOs in the county, including requiring existing farms to downsize. The signature-gathering deadline is today, and according to local media coverage activists anticipate meeting the necessary number of signatures for the measure to proceed. In Denver, a DXE-offshoot group is behind an effort to ban processing plants in the city by citizen vote, which would put a lamb processing plant with deep roots in the city out of business.

While these measures may seem far from home to many, I would point out that the first wave of state-level animal welfare initiatives (such as banning gestation stalls in Florida) probably did as well. And now here we are navigating the fallout from Proposition 12. Even if you’re far from Denver or California, the outcomes of these initiatives will set a precedent that impacts all of animal agriculture and meat production.

Animal ag on the (local) ballot in 2024

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