[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 272 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 272

  To prevent States and local jurisdictions from interfering with the 
 production and distribution of agricultural products in interstate or 
               foreign commerce, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 8, 2019

 Mr. King of Iowa (for himself, Mr. Peterson, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Estes, 
and Mr. Gibbs) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
   Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on the 
 Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
 in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prevent States and local jurisdictions from interfering with the 
 production and distribution of agricultural products in interstate or 
               foreign commerce, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protect Interstate Commerce Act of 
2019''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION AGAINST INTERFERENCE BY STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS 
              WITH PRODUCTION OR MANUFACTURE OF ITEMS IN OTHER STATES.

    Consistent with article I, section 8, clause 3 of the Constitution 
of the United States, the government of a State or locality therein 
shall not impose a standard or condition on the production or 
manufacture of any agricultural product sold or offered for sale in 
interstate commerce if--
            (1) such production or manufacture occurs in another State; 
        and
            (2) the standard or condition is in addition to the 
        standards and conditions applicable to such production or 
        manufacture pursuant to--
                    (A) Federal law; and
                    (B) the laws of the State and locality in which 
                such production or manufacture occurs.

SEC. 3. FEDERAL CAUSE OF ACTION TO CHALLENGE STATE REGULATION OF 
              INTERSTATE COMMERCE.

    (a) Private Right of Action.--A person, including, but not limited 
to, a producer, transporter, distributer, consumer, laborer, trade 
association, the Federal Government, a State government, or a unit of 
local government, which is affected by a regulation of a State or unit 
of local government which regulates any aspect of an agricultural 
product, including any aspect of the method of production, which is 
sold in interstate commerce, or any means or instrumentality through 
which such an agricultural product is sold in interstate commerce, may 
bring an action in the appropriate court to invalidate such a 
regulation and seek damages for economic loss resulting from such 
regulation.
    (b) Preliminary Injunction.--Upon a motion of the plaintiff 
described in subsection (a), the court shall issue a preliminary 
injunction to preclude the State or unit of local government from 
enforcing the regulation at issue until such time as the court enters a 
final judgment in the case, unless the State or unit of local 
government proves by clear and convincing evidence that--
            (1) the State or unit of local government is likely to 
        prevail on the merits at trial; and
            (2) the injunction would cause irreparable harm to the 
        State or unit of local government.
    (c) Statute of Limitations.--No action shall be maintained under 
this section unless it is commenced within 10 years after the cause of 
action arose.

SEC. 4. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT DEFINED.

    In this Act, the term ``agricultural product'' has the meaning 
given such term in section 207 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 
1946 (7 U.S.C. 1626).
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