That decision is expected in late February or early March, said Michael Formica, chief legal strategist for the National Pork Producers Council. He spoke to producers at the Iowa Pork Congress here Jan. 25.

Formica said implementation of the law has been delayed to July 1 of this year.

The law, passed in 2018, “requires that covered animals be housed in confinement systems that comply with specific standards for freedom of movement, cage-free design and minimum floor space, and identifies covered animals to include veal calves, breeding pigs and egg-laying hens, as specified”, according to the State of California’s web site.

The court heard oral arguments last October.

Formica says the law works to limit market access for producers throughout the U.S.

“Our goal is to have the law overturned, and to also establish clear boundaries for any future propositions,” he said. “Their goal is to get people to stop eating meat and raising the prices so consumers can no longer afford it.

“The issue is that one state is telling other states what they can and cannot do. The issue is how this impacts the economy of Iowa or Minnesota or Nebraska or any other state.”

Formica said if NPPC wins its case, it will be referred back to the district court. He said a trial will then be held to show what kind of impact Prop 12 would have on everything in the pork supply chain.

Formica said it could be a year or more before the dust settles.

“In the meantime, we need to work to keep Prop 12 stopped and hit them hard from every side.”

NPPC is also watching Massachusetts Question 3, a 2016 Massachusetts ballot initiative that sought to ban the sale of pork from hogs born to sows housed in individual pens. Question 3 also “prohibits the use of individual breeding pens that allow sows to receive individualized attention and care as they recover after delivering and nursing piglets and protects them from other aggressive sows seeking to fight,” according to NPPC.

“Massachusetts is a distribution point for all of the Northeast, so it’s a big deal,” Formica said.

According to NPPC, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources released final rules implementing Q3 in June.

“An FAQ Guidance Document was unveiled on July 11th and caused major concerns concerning the state’s determination of the implementation date and its impact on shipments of pork transiting through Massachusetts to other states,” said NPPC on its web site. “These problems immediately jeopardized pork sales in Massachusetts and neighboring New England states.”

On Aug. 3, a coalition led by NPPC) and with the National Restaurant Association and several New England restaurant and hospitality associations filed suit seeking to stop the law’s impeding implementation. The suit also asks the court to find the law unconstitutional.

On Aug. 10, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and the coalition working on this case came to an agreement that Q3’s rules prohibiting sales of non-compliant pork should be stayed until 30 days after the U.S. Supreme Court issues a ruling in the lawsuit challenging Proposition 12.