Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed a law last Friday that will require eggs sold in the state, whether they come from commercial flocks in Oregon or are produced elsewhere, to come from cage-free hens beginning in 2024. California and Washington State have similar laws, which means, said the Humane Society of the United States, that “the entire West Coast region of the United States now has the strongest laws in the world for egg-laying hens.”
The restrictions in the three states, home to 15 percent of the U.S. population, will affect egg farmers in other states if they want to sell eggs on the West Coast, said the HSUS. Josh Balk, an HSUS vice president, said, “Smart egg producers are already … investing in converting their cage facilities to cage-free or are putting up new cage-free barns.”
In May, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a law setting welfare standards for laying hens and barring the sale of eggs produced by hens in unduly small cages beginning in 2023. It was “the strongest such bill ever to pass a state legislature,” said Vox.
California voters passed Proposition 12 by a landslide last November, requiring farmers to give sows, veal calves, and egg-laying chickens more room to move about and requiring all pork, veal, and eggs sold in the state to meet the same production standards. “Prop 12” expanded on a 2008 voter initiative to give farm animals enough room to stand up, sit down, turn around, and fully extend their limbs.
California is the most populous state in the nation, and its citizens consume far more eggs than are produced locally. As a result, there has been considerable angst in the Midwest over the prospect of remodeling poultry barns. Lawsuits against California’s rules have been unsuccessful to date. Two Purdue economists say egg prices in California are higher as a result of the 2008 initiative than they would have been if it hadn’t gone into effect.
Proposition 12 says that beginning in 2020, farmers must provide each veal calf with 43 square feet of floor space, allow pregnant sows 24 square feet of floor space, and provide at least one square foot for egg-laying hens. Beginning in 2022, floor space for hens would be determined by the cage-free guidelines set by the trade group United Egg Producers.
Brown signed the Oregon law last week without fanfare. Its requirements are based on the United Egg Producers guidelines, which, along with eliminating so-called battery cages, require that barns contain perches and nests as well as scratching and dust-bathing areas. The Oregon bill, SB 1019, passed the Senate 22-5 and the House 39-16, says an Oregon legislative database. Eggs from flocks of 3,000 hens or fewer are exempt from the law.