Evil never, ever, sleeps.                                                                                                           Two Republican representatives, Joe Schmick of Colfax and J.T. Wilcox of Yelm, have sponsored Washington State’s first  2015 attempt at Ag-Gag legislation: House Bill 1104.  Schmick’s district is adjacent to Idaho, and he openly admits HB 1104 is modeled on Idaho’s new Ag-Gag law.  He says he wants a “strong deterrent” against taking pictures or recording operations of agricultural facilities without permission.  Guilty would be  anyone who “enters an agricultural production facility that is not open to the public and, without the facility owner’s express written consent or pursuant to judicial process or clear statutory authorization, makes audio or video recordings of the assets or conduct of an agricultural production facility’s operations … .” Penalties for conviction could include up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.Fully half the states have introduced such bills, and about half a dozen have passed.  The first such laws were adopted in 1990-91 in Kansas, North Dakota and Montana. Four more states — Idaho, Utah, Iowa and Missouri — have adopted similar measures since 2010.

I don’t need to tell you how important it is that not a single new state pass this legislation.  In addition to being a moral and ethical issue, a matter of educating people on exactly what happens when they pay others to turn animals into food, and in addition to being a freedom of speech issue, remember it is also a food safety issue: undercover investigations have led to the largest recalls of meat in history.                 Karma, you may think.  I did.                                                                                               I find it interesting, however, that the meat industry doesn’t care either.  Retaining profits by keeping what goes on secret is way more important than public safety.                                                                                  Why would you think people who don’t care about the animal suffering would care about your health?

Anyway…we will be hearing more about this, but it is never too soon to begin. Go here to find your legislator:

http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

Call, write, email. Monthly. Weekly.

Good article on the subject by Will Potter: http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/ag-gag-american-legislative-exchange-council/5947/