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States’ bans on inhumane factory farming practices and many other state laws and rules regulating agriculture are at risk of annulment unless Congress rejects a highly destructive provision adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives in its version of the pending Farm Bill. The Senate version of the Farm Bill does not contain such a provision, and a House-Senate conference committee will now negotiate a final bill.

At a press conference to sound the alarm of these dire consequences, The Humane Society of the United States was joined by state legislators who were attending the National Conference State Legislators. NCSL previously sent a letter to House and Senate committee leaders urging them to strip King’s dangerous provision from the Farm Bill. In the bipartisan letter, New Hampshire Speaker of the House Terie Norelli, D-N.H., and Oregon State Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Ore.-the president and president-elect, respectively, of NCSL-write that the King amendment “would preempt vital state agricultural policies designed to protect the safety and well-being of our farmland, waterways, forests and most importantly, our constituents.” They add that the King amendment “would also have significant economic effects across the states” and would target “state laws that were approved by state legislatures for the purpose of protecting the health and safety of consumers and the viability of our precious farmland and forests.”