Late last week, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear testimony in a case brought by the states of Iowa, Nebraska, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky and Oklahoma that challenged California’s unconstitutional law regulating agricultural producers in other states. Fourth District Congressman, Steve King, issued a statement saying the power to regulate interstate commerce does not belong to California, it is the duty of Congress. He adds he has been working to reassert the power back to where it belongs on behalf of agricultural producers in Iowa and the other 48 states. “While some entities who have been hostile to producers, such as the Humane Society’s Wayne Pacelle, welcome the United States Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the case brought by the State of Iowa and others at this time, I do not,” says King. “It is important that this Congress work to reaffirm federal supremacy in interstate commerce, especially when one considers the serious economic harm the California law is currently causing to egg producers and consumers in Iowa and elsewhere,” King adds. King has proposed the Protect Interstate Commerce Act, with a goal of protecting against rising costs, providing greater consumer choice and shielding producers across the country from the anti-farmer “whims” of California’s voters and legislature. The act was included in the 2014 House Farm Bill.
