California Democrats try to use the weight of the state’s economy to regulate how the entire country operates. This extends California’s inflationary policies to the rest of the nation.
The Justice Department is suing California over several egg regulations that it contends have kept egg prices higher than they should be. Among the laws in question is Proposition 12, which voters approved in 2018. The proposition banned the sale of eggs and meat if farms were “knowingly confining these specific animals in a cruel manner.” This means enclosures for chickens and pigs must meet environmentalist-approved housing standards. Otherwise, their eggs and pork products won’t be sold in California.
The law extends to farms that are not in California, meaning that farms across the country have a choice: Restructure their legal enclosures for pigs and chickens, or lose out on selling in the California market. Consumers don’t get a choice; farmers who choose the former pass off the increased costs to consumers in the form of higher prices, and farmers who choose the latter have to increase prices to make up for the money they are losing out on in California.
That is how California has issued a de facto nationwide regulation on farmers across the country, leading to increased prices for people regardless of their state. It’s the same thing California has done with emissions standards, and it has had the effect of imposing California policies on states that have not voted for them, which is exactly what has been warned about for years.
CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS WALK BACK CLIMATE POLICIES TO AVOID A POLITICAL COLLAPSE
To make matters worse, the law does not achieve the professed animal welfare goals that inspired it, because the standards laid out by the law are arbitrary and were pushed by activists who have no experience running farms. It is a feel-good law that accomplishes nothing of value while regulating farmers across the country and increasing prices.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) can snark all he wants, but he and his fellow California Democrats know exactly what they are doing. It is the whole reason the state tried to ban state-funded travel to GOP states in an effort to change their policies (up until Newsom needed it lifted to prepare for his future presidential campaign). California Democrats try to use the state’s economy to alter how states and industries are run across the country, over the objections of other states. California’s egg and pork regulations are yet another example.