ASPCA: All ag-gag bills failed
July 29, 2013 | 03:54 PM
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals announced today that all 11 state “ag-gag” anti-whistleblower bills that were introduced during 2013 legislative sessions have failed.
The measures in general were aimed at preventing animal rights and food safety activists from investigating factory farms, with most making it illegal to record video or take photographs on farms without permission or to apply for a job at a farm without disclosing ties to activist groups.
North Carolina’s session ended on Friday without a vote on a Senate bill that would have suppressed whistleblower investigations at farms and other facilities, the ASPCA said.
Similar “ag-gag” legislation was introduced this year in Arkansas, California, Indiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont and Wyoming, but none of those bills became law, the ASPCA said.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the National Young Farmers Coalition, the National Press Photographers Association, Food & Water Watch, the Government Accountability Project, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Food Chain Workers Alliance joined the ASPCA in issuing statements praising the failure of the bills.
Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel of the National Press Photographers Association said: “It is gratifying to see that our concerns have been noted that these bills abridge the First Amendment rights of citizens and journalists. These unwarranted and constitutionally suspect proposals were vague and overly broad, and should never have been proposed.”
The measures in general were aimed at preventing animal rights and food safety activists from investigating factory farms, with most making it illegal to record video or take photographs on farms without permission or to apply for a job at a farm without disclosing ties to activist groups.
North Carolina’s session ended on Friday without a vote on a Senate bill that would have suppressed whistleblower investigations at farms and other facilities, the ASPCA said.
Similar “ag-gag” legislation was introduced this year in Arkansas, California, Indiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont and Wyoming, but none of those bills became law, the ASPCA said.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the National Young Farmers Coalition, the National Press Photographers Association, Food & Water Watch, the Government Accountability Project, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Food Chain Workers Alliance joined the ASPCA in issuing statements praising the failure of the bills.
Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel of the National Press Photographers Association said: “It is gratifying to see that our concerns have been noted that these bills abridge the First Amendment rights of citizens and journalists. These unwarranted and constitutionally suspect proposals were vague and overly broad, and should never have been proposed.”
