Ag-Gag Legislation Rears Its Ugly Head In Indiana

Just when it looked like the push for ag-gag legislation had petered out, there is now a bill in the Indiana legislature that once again tries to put the kibosh on whistleblowers that document unsafe, unsanitary, or cruel animal practices on farms or meat processing plants.

            Currently being considered by the Corrections and Criminal Law Committee of the Indiana legislature, SB 101 would expand the definition of trespass and, get this, would allow agricultural operations to write their own rules of conduct that would have the authority of state law. The proposed legislation reads in part:

(a) An agricultural operation may conspicuously post a notice at the agricultural operation’s locations that lists prohibited acts that may compromise the agricultural operation’s trade secrets or operations. The notice must be posted in such a manner that is likely to come to the attention of the public.

(b) A person who knowingly or intentionally commits an act at an agricultural operation that is a prohibited act listed on a notice described in subsection (a) commits a Level 6 felony.

The bill offers no restrictions on what these “prohibited acts” could be. Basically it would allow farmers and meat packing companies to write the laws of their own agricultural fiefdoms, prohibiting not only the documenting of such things as animal cruelty, but union activities and other personal freedoms that employees would have to check at the farm gate or slaughterhouse door.

Businesses have the right to maintain rules of conduct and they can punish employees who break these codes. But if this bill becomes law and you’re a farmer in Indiana, your business codes of conduct would be felonies. By the way, in Indiana a Level 6 felony can be punished by up to six months in jail.