Although both Congress and the Michigan Legislature are on recess now, they’ve had a busy month. We highlight two important measure that have been signed into law in the past week. For a complete update since the last month, check the Tracker here.
SB 174, Animal Industry Act (Michigan): Animal advocates and a coalition — including AFA — comprised of state and national groups, have been working tirelessly on this bill for the better part of the year.
But we got results.
Michigan has adopted a cage-free standard, to become the first midwestern state, only the 5th state in the country, and the largest egg producing state so far to do so. The new law not only requires egg-laying hens be housed in cage-free facilities, it also requires producers to provide important physical and psychological enrichments for the hens, allowing them to engage in natural behaviors. The law will go into effect by the end of 2024. The law’s standards will apply to all eggs sold in the state, so it will impact Michigan’s 15 Million + and many more hens outside the state.
HR 724: PACT Act (Congress): Called the first federal anti-cruelty bill, this measure closes a loophole in legislation passed almost ten years ago to outlaw the creation and distribution of so-called “crush videos.” However, the underlying abusive acts were not made a crime, until November 25, 2019, when the president signed the bill that had passed by huge margins (some reports say unanimous). Similar bills had passed the Senate in the two previous sessions of Congress, but could not move in the House, because the committee chair at that time refused to hold hearings.
The new law makes “animal crushing” a crime. “[T]he term ‘animal crushing’ means actual conduct in which one or more living non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians is purposely crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury…”, H.R. 724. It applies on federal land, or where interstate commerce is involved.
Time will tell, but we are hopeful that federal investigators and prosecutors will actively enforce the law, and that the courts will uphold applications of the law to a a broad range of situations.
