2018 California Proposition 12

The California Secretary of State's summary from the Official Voter Information Guide of Proposition 12 is as follows:[4]

ESTABLISHES NEW STANDARDS FOR CONFINEMENT OF SPECIFIED FARM ANIMALS; BANS SALE OF NONCOMPLYING PRODUCTS. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Establishes minimum requirements for confining certain farm animals. Prohibits sales of meat and egg products from animals confined in noncomplying manner. Fiscal Impact: Potential decrease in state income tax revenues from farm businesses, likely not more than several million dollars annually. State costs up to $10 million annually to enforce the measure.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and other animal protection groups argued that confining animals in small cages is cruel, and that Prop 12 was needed to improve animal welfare, including by mandating cage-free conditions for egg-laying hens.[7] Prop 12 applies equally to both animals raised in California and those raised elsewhere for the California marketplace.[5] Prop 12 was endorsed by the Center for Food Safety because research indicates that caging farm animals increases the spread of food-borne pathogens like Salmonella.[8]

The following organizations endorsed Proposition 12:

The following newspapers endorsed it:

• Los Angeles Times
• The Mercury News (San Jose)
• The Monterey Herald
• San Francisco Bay Guardian
• East Bay Express
• East Bay Times
• Marin Independent Journal
• San Diego Free Press
• Santa Cruz Sentinel

The American Veal Association argued that Prop 12 would create unnecessary regulations and that the veal industry was already well on its way to phasing out crates.[17] Ken Klippen of the National Association of Egg Farmers told Fox News that the measure would take away consumer choice and that the motivation behind the measure was to push consumers towards a vegan diet.[18]

Groups such as PETA opposed the measure because they considered it insufficient.[19]

The following organizations opposed Proposition 12:

The following newspapers opposed it:

• The Bakersfield Californian
• Los Angeles Daily News/The San Bernardino Sun
• San Francisco Chronicle
• The Fresno Bee/The Sacramento Bee
• Orange County Register
• The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa)
• The San Diego Union-Tribune
• The Tribune (San Luis Obispo)

The results of the vote were 62.65% YES to 37.35% NO.[3]

Proposition 12

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	7,516,095	62.65
No	4,481,267	37.35
Valid votes	11,997,362	100
Total votes	11,997,362	100.00

The egg industry has largely complied with the law.[8] However, despite the resounding success at the ballot box, the pork industry unsuccessfully sued to block implementation of the law.[25] In June 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States rejected a lawsuit from the North American Meat Institute to stop the law.[26] The Meat Institute had argued that Prop 12 violated the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution, but this argument was rejected because Prop 12 holds in-state and out-of-state producers to the same standard.[5] The law was implemented on January 1, 2022.[27]

On January 25, 2022, a judge ordered a temporary halt to enforcement of the prohibition on pork from gestation crates, for 180 days, pending development of final regulations by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, to give producers more time to comply.[28] The CDFA also needed more time to comply with a lawsuit filed by animal activists, who wanted to increase stringency of the regulations.[29]

The American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Pork Producers Council again asked the Supreme Court to overturn the law, in another lawsuit similar to the ones that were previously rejected.[8] On May 11, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the law, in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross.[30]

• List of California ballot propositions 2010–19
• List of California ballot propositions
• Elections in California

• Text of Proposition 12
• Prevent Cruelty California – pro-proposition website
• Californians Against Cruelty, Cages, and Fraud – anti-proposition website
• Prop 12 page in California Secretary of State's website
• California Proposition 12, Farm Animal Confinement Initiative (2018) at Ballotpedia
• Treatment of animals on the ballot at Ballotpedia