MULTIPLE WINS AGAINST FACTORY FARMS IN MISSOURI

During the 2023 Missouri legislative session, APA member Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation (MAAL) won four victories with APA support:

1. They defeated HB 401, a bill that would have prohibited drone operation over farms, preventing public exposure of factory farm conditions. To support this effort, APA staff provided research assistance, and APA grant funding helped cover lobbying costs.

2. A veterinary practices bill, which aimed to exempt veterinarians from regulation, allowing cruel practices, especially at factory farms. The Senate sponsor, who owns a calf-cow operation, aggressively pushed this bill due to their vested interests, even resorting to threats of violence.

3. A disposition bill, which would have eliminated the process for rehoming abused and neglected animals, often leaving them with their abusers. MAAL protected this lifesaving process.

4. A factory farm protection bill, which would have eliminated all local, state, and federal laws regulating factory farming.

In the 2024 Missouri Legislative Session, MAAL won two more legislative victories against factory farming interests, with lobbying efforts supported by an APA grant:

1. Bill HB 2134, which would curtail the excessive amount of waste from slaughterhouses, was successfully passed and sent to the governor. Some of the waste is so thick and contaminated that it is referred to as "sludge waste" and is often spread on pastures where cattle are grazing. This sludge also threatens well water, streams, and waterways throughout the state. HB 2134 has already led to one large slaughterhouse shutting down operations.

2. Bill SB 981, which would have weakened environmental regulations on CAFOs and jeopardized thousands of miles of streams and drinking water, was successfully lobbied against and failed to gain passage. Such legislation was also intended to deny significant federal funding to Missouri's Department of Natural Resources to regulate CAFOs.