DES MOINES, Iowa (KCAU) — Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is leading a 13-state coalition — including South Dakota and Nebraska — in opposing a new Massachusetts law that imposes strict hog housing requirements.

In October of 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court backed a similar law in California that requires more space for breeding pigs.

In a release from Bird’s office, it said the Massachusetts pork ban goes even further than California’s law, saying “even if Iowa-produced pork meets all Iowa and federal safety and quality standards, it cannot be sold in, or even transported through, Massachusetts if it does not also comply with Massachusetts’s hog-housing requirements.”

Bird added the pork ban violates the constitution in a number of ways, including a commerce clause that gives the federal government and not state governments the power to regulate interstate commerce. She also cites the Import-Export Clause and the Full Faith and Credit Law which requires states to respect laws passed in other states.

“Massachusetts’s radical pork ban hogties Iowa pork producers,” Bird said. “With these strict new mandates in effect, Iowa farmers will face extreme costs and regulations to compete in the industry, forcing many family hog farms to close shop. Massachusetts doesn’t get to dictate how Iowans farm. We are fighting to support our pork producers and protect Iowa family farms.”

Bird filed the amicus brief in a lawsuit over the law Tuesday. Other states included in the brief are Nebraska, South Dakota, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Ne Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Wyoming.