Iowa Pork Producers Association v. Rob Bonta

I. INTRODUCTION

On November 9, 2021, plaintiff Iowa Pork Producers Association (“Iowa Pork’’) filed suit in Fresno Superior Court against Rob Bonta, the Attorney General of California, Karen Ross, the Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (“CDFA”), and Tomas Aragon, the Director of the California Department of Public Health (“CDPH”) (collectively, “defendants”). Dkt. 1. Iowa Pork challenges the constitutionality and seeks to prevent the enforcement of California Health & Safety Code § 25990, et seg., which California voters amended through the passage of Proposition 12 on November 6, 2018 (“Proposition 12”). Proposition 12 prohibits the sale of “whole pork meat” from a “covered animal” that was confined in a “cruel manner,” or is the immediate offspring of a covered animal that was confined in a cruel manner. Cal. Health & Safety Code § 25900. The statute defines “confined in a cruel manner” to include confining any covered animal in a manner that “prevents the animal from lying down, standing up, fully extending the animal’s limbs, or turning around freely,” or “[a]fter December 31, 2021, confining a breeding pig with less than 24 square feet…