Tuesday, March 6, 2012

What is the "ag gag" - chill bill, speech reach, or just a lame name?

Some pieces of legislation have catchy titles, or at least garner shorthand headlines that raise their profile. Bills for "motor voter" and "cash for clunkers" come to mind almost immediately. Others miss the mark by more than a little or just plain try too hard. In this category, I would most definitely place a new category of legislation dealing with outlawing undercover video taken in agribusiness settings - so called "ag gag" laws. Some blame/credit Mark Bittman for coining the term, but he's surely not alone in pointing a small degree of attention at the debate over these laws. I'm just getting up to speed on not only what's the "gag" but also who's the "ag" in this debate. Utah, Iowa, Minnesota and New York represent the first states where laws have been drawn up. And then Iowa was the first state to pass a version, as of last week. The basic dividing line is between those who say it's an "anti-whistleblower" law versus those who see this as a way to protect agribusiness from bad actors. Aside from a snarky desire to ask Sacha Baron Cohen and Morgan Spurlock where they stand on gonzo reporting being countered with the threat of prison, I'd love to hear the various justifications and/or chilling effects people see from this. Just this morning I asked a contact back in Iowa who's in the business of enforcing these laws. Always the professional, he declined to comment. But he made a point by saying that if a law's on the books, it gets enforced. Next up on the "ag gag" front is Utah - they might pass a bill and send it to the Governor very soon. That is unless Katherine Heigl and Cloris Leachman have anything to say about it. No word yet on where either Rhoda or McDreamy fall on the issue.

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