Requires a farm owner or operator that produces shell eggs or liquid eggs for human consumption to confine egg-laying hens in a cage-free housing system.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A107
SPONSOR: Rosenthal L TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to provid-
ing for cage-free egg production
PURPOSE:
This bill will require all eggs sold in New York State to come from
cage-free and free-range environments.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one contains the legislative findings.
Section two amends the agriculture and markets law by adding a new
section 160-f. Section three establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Most egg-laying hens in the United States are confined in battery-cage
systems, wire cages where as many as five to ten hens are housed their
entire lives to produce eggs. Inside these cramped cages, each hen is
only afforded an average of 60-75 square inches of space, smaller than
the size of a standard piece of paper. The space is so small that it
restricts the hens from being able to move about or spread their wings,
causing severe deterioration of their muscles and bones. The overcrowd-
ing of these cages also causes the birds to lose their feathers and
prevents them from performing some of their natural behaviors, such as
nesting, perching and dustbathing.
In recent years, consumers have increasingly called for more humane
conditions for animals used in agriculture. Several countries around the
world have banned the use of battery cages, gestation crates and veal
crates, yet the animal agriculture industry in the United States has
been slower to respond. In fact, 95% of eggs sold in the United States
continue to come from battery-caged hens.
This legislation will force a more humane industry in New York State by
requiring all eggs sold in the state be produced in cage-free and free-
range systems.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-22: A3630 - Referred to Agriculture; S.6971 - Referred to Agricul-
ture
2019-20: A.11041- Referred to Agriculture
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Undetermined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect twenty-four months after it shall have become
a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
107
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 4, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Agriculture
AN ACT to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to provid-
ing for cage-free egg production
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings and intent. The legislature hereby
2 finds the following:
3 a. According to the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal
4 Production, food animals that are treated well and provided with at
5 least minimum accommodation of their natural behaviors and physical
6 needs are healthier and safer for human consumption.
7 b. A key finding from the World Health Organization and Food and Agri-
8 cultural Organization of the United Nations Salmonella Risk Assessment
9 was that reducing flock prevalence results in a directly proportional
10 reduction in human health risk.
11 c. Egg-laying hens subjected to stress are more likely to have higher
12 levels of pathogens in their intestines and the conditions increase the
13 likelihood that consumers will be exposed to higher levels of food-borne
14 pathogens.
15 d. Salmonella is the most commonly diagnosed food-borne illness in the
16 United States.
17 e. It is the intent of the legislature to protect consumers from the
18 deleterious, health, safety, and welfare effects of the sale and
19 consumption of eggs derived from egg-laying hens that are exposed to
20 significant stress and may result in increased exposure to disease
21 pathogens including salmonella.
22 § 2. The agriculture and markets law is amended by adding a new
23 section 160-f to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01284-01-3
A. 107 2
1 § 160-f. Cage-free egg production. 1. Notwithstanding any other
2 provision of law:
3 a. A farm owner or operator shall not confine or cause to be confined
4 an egg-laying hen in an enclosure other than a cage-free housing system.
5 b. No person shall sell or contract to sell a shell egg or liquid egg
6 for human consumption if the seller knows or should have known that the
7 shell egg or liquid egg is the product of an egg-laying hen that was
8 confined in a manner that is inconsistent with the requirements of this
9 section, regardless of whether the shell egg or liquid egg was produced
10 in or out of the state.
11 2. This section shall not apply to any of the following:
12 a. Medical research;
13 b. Examination, testing, individual treatment, or operation for veter-
14 inary purposes by a licensed veterinarian;
15 c. Transportation of an egg-laying hen;
16 d. State or county fair exhibitions and similar exhibitions;
17 e. 4-H programs administered by the National Institute of Food and
18 Agriculture of the United States department of agriculture and similar
19 youth programs;
20 f. Slaughter of an egg-laying hen in accordance with applicable laws
21 and regulations; or
22 g. Temporary periods for animal husbandry purposes of no more than six
23 hours in any twenty-four-hour period, and no more than twenty-four hours
24 in any thirty-day period.
25 3. For purposes of this section:
26 a. "Cage-free housing system" means an indoor or outdoor controlled
27 environment for an egg-laying hen within which:
28 (i) An egg-laying hen is free to roam unrestricted except by exterior
29 walls;
30 (ii) An egg-laying hen is provided with, at a minimum, the amount of
31 usable floor space per hen required by the two thousand seventeen
32 edition of the united egg producers' animal husbandry guidelines for
33 United States egg-laying flocks: guidelines for cage-free production, or
34 a subsequent version of such guidelines recognized by the department in
35 a rule or regulation which provides equal or more usable floor space per
36 egg-laying hen.
37 (iii) An egg-laying hen is provided enrichments that allow a hen to
38 exhibit natural behaviors, including, at a minimum, a scratch area, a
39 perch, a nest box, and a dust bathing area;
40 (iv) A farm employee can provide care while standing somewhere within
41 a hen's usable floor space; and
42 (v) Each egg-laying hen is provided unlimited access to the outdoors
43 in a safe and secure environment that prevents access to predators.
44 b. "Commercial farm" means the land, building, and support facilities
45 that are used for the commercial production of eggs intended for human
46 consumption.
47 c. "Egg-laying hen" means a female domesticated chicken, turkey, duck,
48 goose, or guinea fowl kept for the purpose of egg production.
49 d. "Farm owner or operator" means any person who owns or controls the
50 operation of a commercial farm.
51 e. "Liquid egg" means an egg of an egg-laying hen broken from the
52 shells that is intended for human consumption, with the yolks and whites
53 in their natural proportions, or with the yolks and whites separated,
54 mixed, or mixed and strained. Liquid eggs do not include combination
55 food products, including pancake mixes, cake mixes, cookies, pizzas,
56 cookie dough, ice cream, or similar processed or prepared food products
A. 107 3
1 that are comprised of more than liquid eggs, sugar, salt, water, season-
2 ing, coloring, flavoring, preservatives, stabilizers, and similar food
3 additives.
4 f. "Shell-egg" means a whole egg of an egg-laying hen in its shell
5 form that is intended for human consumption.
6 g. "Usable floor space" means the total square footage of floor space
7 provided to each egg-laying hen, calculated by dividing the total square
8 footage of floor space in an enclosure by the number of hens in that
9 enclosure and shall include ground space and elevated level or nearly
10 level platforms to accommodate egg flow upon which a hen can roost but
11 shall not include any perch or ramp.
12 4. The department shall inspect at reasonable times commercial farms
13 engaged in the production of eggs for the purpose of enforcing the
14 provisions of this section.
15 5. The department shall promulgate such rules and regulations as are
16 necessary and appropriate to carry out the provisions of this section.
17 6. A violation of this section shall be punishable by a civil penalty
18 of up to five thousand dollars for the first violation and up to twen-
19 ty-five thousand dollars for any subsequent violation. Any civil penal-
20 ties collected pursuant to this section shall be paid to the animal
21 population control fund established by section ninety-seven-xx of the
22 state finance law.
23 7. The commissioner may institute such action at law or in equity as
24 may appear necessary to enforce compliance with any provisions of this
25 section or of the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, and, in
26 addition to any other remedy under article three of this chapter or
27 otherwise, may apply for relief by injunction without being compelled to
28 allege or prove that an adequate remedy at law does not exist. Such
29 application may be made to the supreme court in any district or county
30 as provided in the civil practice law and rules, or to the supreme court
31 in the third judicial district.
32 8. Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect any
33 protections afforded to animals under any other provisions of law or
34 rules or regulations.
35 9. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent any town,
36 city, village or county in New York state from enacting a local law or
37 ordinance to provide for the humane treatment of and prevention of
38 cruelty to animals, provided, however, that no such law shall conflict
39 with the provisions of this section.
40 § 3. Article 13-A of the agriculture and markets law, is amended by
41 adding a new article heading to read as follows:
42 SALE OF EGGS
43 § 4. This act shall take effect twenty-four months after it shall have
44 become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
45 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of
46 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed
47 on or before such effective date.
