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DES MOINES, Iowa 鈥� North Dakota and South Dakota are among the states fighting a new Massachusetts law that bans states from selling or shipping pork through Massachusetts if they do not meet strict requirements on how hogs are raised.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says the law known as Question 3 in Massachusetts goes even farther than California's Proposition 12 鈥� a pork industry law upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year .

Courtesy of Iowa Attorney General's Office

The Massachusetss law prohibits the shipment of 鈥渘on-compliant鈥� pork through the state. This means that even if pork produced in another state meets federal safety and quality standards, it cannot be sold in, or even transported through, Massachusetts if it does not also comply with the Massachusetts hog-housing requirements.
鈥淢assachusetts鈥檚 radical pork ban hogties Iowa pork producers,鈥� Bird said in a news release. 鈥淲ith these strict new mandates in effect, Iowa farmers will face extreme costs and regulations to compete in the industry, forcing many family hog farms to close shop. Massachusetts doesn鈥檛 get to dictate how Iowans farm.鈥�

Iowa is the nation鈥檚 top pork producing state.

North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Montana are among the 12 states that signed on in support of an filed by Iowa in a case in Massachusetts.

The case challenging the new law is Triumph Foods versus Andrea Joy Campbell, the attorney general for Massachusetts.

The brief notes that the law bans the sale of uncooked pork if the hog was was 鈥渃onfined in a cruel manner.鈥�

鈥淨uestion 3鈥檚 application and accompanying regulations will deny market access to out-of-state pork farmers and processors unless their farming practices comply with Massachusetts鈥檚 dictates,鈥� the brief says.

The Massachusetts law, also known as the Act to Prevent Cruelty to Farm Animals, was a 2016 Massachusetts ballot initiative. Its implementation has been delayed by court challenges, including efforts by the National Pork Producers Council.

The brief filed Oct. 10 notes that Massachusetts produces less than one-half of 1% of the pork it consumes.

That means Massachusetts is 鈥漷rying to regulate a market in which it lacks expertise and economic stake,鈥� the brief says.

The brief argues that the law violates the Commerce Clause, which gives the federal government, not state governments, the power to regulate interstate commerce; the Import-Export Clause, which prohibits states from imposing import taxes on products brought in from other states; and the Full Faith and Credit Clause, which requires states to respect the laws passed in other states.

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld California鈥檚 Proposition 12, which also addresses hog confinement operations in other states.

Since then, there have been efforts in Congress to limit state laws like Prop 12.