Lawmakers in Missouri enacted 13 laws over Governor Jay
Nixon’s veto last week, including two dangerous measures pushed by factory
farming interests. These lawmakers should be ashamed: They continue to roll back
Missouri’s oversight of factory farms at a time when oversight is needed most.
Many farmed animals in the Show Me State are confined in
factory farms where they can barely move for their entire lives. Instead
of addressing this problem, state lawmakers passed an “ag-gag law in 2012 criminalizing undercover animal welfare investigations and amended the state constitution in
2014 to include a “right to farm provision that makes
passing new factory farm regulations more difficult.
Now, these lawmakers have returned to
pass even more special rules favoring animal ag. These include a new “data-gag
law that exempts potentially damning agricultural documents from disclosure
under public records requirements. Lawmakers also eliminated a requirement that the state’s Clean Water Commission
include members of the general public, allowing agriculture and mining
interests to dominate this vital environmental agency.
Governor Nixon slammed each of these
bills as a “blatant attempt to limit public
oversight in favor of regulated industries and an “odious
effort to hide the industry under a “veil of secrecy. By overriding the governor’s vetoes and enacting these laws, the
legislature has sided with those who aim to keep Missouri’s cruel and unethical
factory farming practices hidden from scrutiny, creating a safe haven for
animal abuse, environmental devastation, and other criminal activity.
Fortunately, you don’t need to wait on lawmakers or
industry to take action. You can help animals every time you sit down to eat by
choosing a compassionate plant-based diet. Click here to
find out how.