Here in Texas, we have a saying, “Let Texans run Texas.” This declaration is a reminder of the importance of states' rights, why we must protect our sovereignty, and each and every state’s constitutional right to determine their own laws based upon what is best for that state. It’s a reminder that we are, indeed, the United States of America.
That’s why I’ve expressed my opposition to a bill in Congress, H.R. 4417, the Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act. I realize the EATS Act is largely in response to California’s misguided Proposition 12, a ballot measure California voters passed setting needless standards on pork, veal, and eggs sold in the state.
While I don't agree with Prop 12, I'll defend to my dying day California’s right to self-determination and any state’s ability to use its constitutional authority as that state’s citizens best see fit.
So, while I understand the motivation for Congressional leaders to want to rein in California, the EATS Act is a massive overreach of federal power. If passed, it would likely override many of Texas’ own agricultural laws, laws like the ones requiring livestock to be free from diseases like rabies before entering the state or our ban on the narcotic salvia divinorum.
The bill’s language is dangerously vague, particularly its “rule of construction” - a poison pill, which would, in effect, take authority over agriculture away from Texas and federalize and centralize that authority in Washington D.C. I don’t need to tell you why that’s a bad idea.
The EATS Act would almost certainly trigger years of litigation, since it allows nearly anyone to bring a lawsuit, and could cost our hard-working farmers and taxpayers alike millions of dollars they will never see again. It's not a surprise that I am a proponent of less government and letting the states create and enforce laws that work for them instead of DC politicians and bureaucrats doing it for us.
So, while my stand on states’ rights, and specifically Texas’ rights, may put me at odds with some well-meaning farm and agriculture groups who support EATS, it doesn’t change the fact that the EATS Act, or anything like it, is an overreach of federal government powers over the nation’s agriculture industry, holistically, and each state’s agriculture laws, individually.
We don’t need the federal government wreaking havoc on the Tenth Amendment and overriding good, functioning state agriculture laws already in place that affect the health and livelihood collectively of millions of Americans. Just because California does something stupid, the people of Texas shouldn’t be penalized. Let’s stick with the Constitution and states’ rights, and let Texans run Texas.
An eighth-generation Texas farmer and rancher, Sid Miller is the 12th Commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA). A twenty-four-time world champion rodeo cowboy, he has devoted his life to promoting Texas agriculture, rural communities and the western heritage of Texas.