in 2008, california voters overwhelming passed an initiative that said that these battery cages where egg-laying hens are confined in incredibly concentrated conditions, they can never move around and spread their wings, california voters said we want a hire standard for eggs in our state. as written, it could have been interpreted to have a loophole that applied that standard to only eggs produced in california. so i introduced a law that passed bipartisan, signed by a republican governor in 2010. that s what this is about. missouri egg producers want to skirt the standards that california consumers have set for eggs in our state. congressman, thank you so much. it s a fascinating debate. we ll continue to watch this thing. do appreciate your time. thanks for having me. a congressional report on last year s navy yard shooting tops our look at stories around the news nation today. the report by the house oversight committee says federal investigators often don t have vital info
recently under litigation it was upheld. so we re not requiring anything different that isn t required of california s own egg producers. that is fair. does it put california farmers at all at a disadvantage with egg farmers in other states by having to shell out money more to expand their cages? no, it s actually the ob sit. what would put them at a disadvantage is if missouri were to shall how prevail, i don t position they will, in this lawsuit which would create a double standard. it would say that california can require these standards of its own egg producer, but out of state who don t want for set high standards can swoop in and steal the market. that is not right. so i m very confident this lawsuit will be defeated and we should move on from here. congressman, really quickly, for folks who may not have been following the story very closely, what exactly was the impetus for the new law?
farmers will have to make the coops larger if they want to sell their eggs in california. california has every right in the world to decide what type of housing they have for their chickens. but to close off the california market to the missouri based producers unless we expand our chicken houses is a breach of the u.s. commerce clause. joining me now, jared huffman of california. he actually wrote the legislation while he was in california state legislature. congressman, good to see you. first of all, let me get your response to the suit. well, i don t think it s a very serious lawsuit. the truth is states have every right to set their own health and safety and animal welfare standards. that has been upseld by t selhe courts and california just says they want all eggs to comply with the minimal standards that the voters established back in 2008. and the attorney general is