Latest news with #CaliforniaAttorneyGeneral
Reuters
4 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
US government sues California over egg prices
NEW YORK, July 9 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration on Wednesday sued California over its regulation of eggs and chicken farms, saying that the state's anti-animal cruelty laws created "unnecessary red tape" that had raised egg prices throughout the U.S. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles federal court, argues that the federal Egg Products Inspection Act of 1970 pre-empts state laws related to eggs. The federal law authorizes the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services to regulate eggs in order to protect consumers' health and welfare, and it also requires "national uniformity" in egg safety standards, according to the Trump administration's lawsuit. The California attorney general's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Since the federal law's enactment, California has passed several laws to regulate eggs and chicken farms, including voter initiatives passed in 2008 and 2018 that prevent farmers from packing chickens together so tightly that a hen is unable to "lie down, stand up, fully extend its limbs, and turn around freely." Those state laws aimed to reduce both animal cruelty and the risk of foodborne illness, but the U.S. government said in its lawsuit that only the federal government can regulate egg safety. California can regulate chicken farms within the state, but it cannot impose additional requirements on eggs from other states that are sold within California, according to the lawsuit. The California voter initiatives have survived previous challenges from farmers and other states. Six states – Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Alabama, Kentucky and Iowa – sued California over its egg regulations in 2014. The states who sued also argued that the federal law preempted California's laws, and they lost in both a federal district court and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2023 preserved one of the California voter initiatives, which was challenged in a lawsuit by pig farmers. The pig farmers had argued that California's 2018 ballot measure, which creates minimum space requirements for pigs and cows as well as chickens, impermissibly regulated out-of-state farmers.
CNN
10-06-2025
- Business
- CNN
US states sue 23andMe to protect customers' private data
New York and more than two dozen other US states sued 23andMe to challenge the sale of its customers' private information after the genetic testing company filed for bankruptcy in March. Twenty seven states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida, and the District of Columbia filed the lawsuit on Monday in 23andMe's US bankruptcy proceedings in Missouri, seeking a declaration that it cannot sell customers' genetic data without their consent. California-based 23andMe in a March bankruptcy filing said it was seeking to sell its business at auction after a dip in consumer demand and a data breach in 2023 that exposed genetic and other information of millions of customers. The sale will include more than 15 million DNA profiles that were collected through the company's direct-to-consumer saliva-testing kits. '23andMe cannot auction millions of people's personal genetic information without their consent,' New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, said in a statement on Tuesday. 'New Yorkers and many others around the country trusted 23andMe with their private information and they have a right to know what will be done with their information.' 23andMe in a statement said the states' arguments were without merit, and that the sale is permitted under 23andMe privacy policies and applicable law. 'Customers will continue to have the same rights and protections in the hands of the winning bidder,' the company said. In a separate filing, Democratic California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office on Monday said the state was objecting to the proposed asset sale because it would violate California's restrictions on the transfer of sensitive genetic material. 23andMe last week told a US bankruptcy judge that it wants to re-open bidding on its assets after receiving a $305 million offer from its co-founder Anne Wojcicki. The company had previously selected a $256 million bid from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals as the lead offer. A representative from Regeneron did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
CNN
10-06-2025
- Business
- CNN
US states sue 23andMe to protect customers' private data
New York and more than two dozen other US states sued 23andMe to challenge the sale of its customers' private information after the genetic testing company filed for bankruptcy in March. Twenty seven states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida, and the District of Columbia filed the lawsuit on Monday in 23andMe's US bankruptcy proceedings in Missouri, seeking a declaration that it cannot sell customers' genetic data without their consent. California-based 23andMe in a March bankruptcy filing said it was seeking to sell its business at auction after a dip in consumer demand and a data breach in 2023 that exposed genetic and other information of millions of customers. The sale will include more than 15 million DNA profiles that were collected through the company's direct-to-consumer saliva-testing kits. '23andMe cannot auction millions of people's personal genetic information without their consent,' New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, said in a statement on Tuesday. 'New Yorkers and many others around the country trusted 23andMe with their private information and they have a right to know what will be done with their information.' 23andMe in a statement said the states' arguments were without merit, and that the sale is permitted under 23andMe privacy policies and applicable law. 'Customers will continue to have the same rights and protections in the hands of the winning bidder,' the company said. In a separate filing, Democratic California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office on Monday said the state was objecting to the proposed asset sale because it would violate California's restrictions on the transfer of sensitive genetic material. 23andMe last week told a US bankruptcy judge that it wants to re-open bidding on its assets after receiving a $305 million offer from its co-founder Anne Wojcicki. The company had previously selected a $256 million bid from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals as the lead offer. A representative from Regeneron did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
