Recovered from the Wayback Machine.
HJR 3 was perfected today. I listened to the debate on the bill’s perfection via the House audio stream. It will probably come up for a vote this week or next.
What this bill does is put a Constitutional Amendment on the ballot in November, 2012. If voted on, HJR 3 would effectively eliminate the rights of the voters of Missouri to vote on any agricultural animal legislation.
Of course, the same people that bring us HJR 3 are the same people who have told the voters of this state that we don’t matter; that we’re stupid, and ill-informed; that urban voters have no right to vote on any rural legislation; that our votes don’t count.
What they’ll do to pass this law is, well, lie to the people of this state. They’ll play on the fears of eggs costing $10.00 a dozen, or little kiddies starving in the streets because no one can afford to buy any food.
All of this is hogwash, of course. The reps said that if laws were enacted to make lives less cruel for chickens, egg farmers would go out of business, driving the cost of eggs up. Yet in California, which did enact moderate laws to ensure a better environment for the chickens, the egg industry is thriving. If the costs for eggs is higher there, so is the cost for hamburger, bread, bananas, coffee, and potatoes. Unless you think that HSUS is pushing for more humane treatment of potatoes, the higher cost of eggs is most likely more attributable to the fact that chicken feed is no longer, urh, chicken feed—the price of both corn and soy beans has increased.