Current Press Releases
FEDERAL COURT BLOCKS MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR "AWFUL EGG BAILOUT" - MILLIONS OF FEDERAL DOLLARS WON'T BE SPENT ON ANTI-PROP 2 ADS
SAN FRANCISCO — Yes on Prop 2 - Californians for Humane Farms, the proponents of an anti-cruelty ballot initiative that will provide more humane treatment of California farm animals, announced today that a federal court in San Francisco has just issued an injunction against the expenditure of millions of advertising dollars slated to be spent by the federal government and agribusiness giants campaigning against Prop 2. Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of U.S. District Court ruled that the advertising violates federal law and barred the expenditure.
Prop 2 will prohibit the most abusive factory farming practices in California and ensure modest animal welfare standards for farm animals by allowing them simply to turn around and stretch their limbs.
“The federal government’s scheme to sabotage Prop 2 just came to an abrupt end,” said Jonathan Lovvorn, counsel for Californians for Humane Farms. “With everything going on with our financial markets, the federal government has better things to do with millions of dollars than interfering with a state election on behalf of Big Agribusiness.”
In mid-August, the Yes on Prop 2 campaign filed suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the American Egg Board (AEB), to block a plan to spend up to $3 million in federal checkoff funds. These funds would have unlawfully influenced voter opinion in the state election. As a federal commodity promotion program, the AEB is strictly prohibited from expending any checkoff program funds “for the purpose of influencing governmental policy or action.” 7 U.S.C. § 2707(h).
Prop 2 is supported by The Humane Society of the United States, the California Veterinary Medical Association, the Center for Food Safety, the ASPCA, the Consumer Federation of America, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the United Farm Workers, Farm Sanctuary, the Cesar Chavez Foundation, California Council of Churches IMPACT, Republican and Democratic elected officials, hundreds of California veterinarians, family farmers, religious leaders, and many others.
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