FRANKFORT, Ky. — During a committee meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 24, State Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, discussed Senate Bill 16, a farm bill that Schickel says is meant to protect animal agriculture operations.
If SB 16 is passed, it will be a Class B misdemeanor to record video or audio and take photos on or above an animal agriculture facility without formal written consent from the owner.
“I think it is a really important bill,” said Schickel. “We have a big industry in this state which is requesting this bill for protection of their facilities.”
The bill was not passed during this committee meeting because of vague language about drone usage.
“There was concerns raised by insurance companies, by public utilities that there’s legitimate uses for these drones,” said Schickel. “Insurance adjusters inspecting storm damage, power companies inspecting power lines so we wanted to accommodate those kind of legitimate interests.”
Concerns about the vagueness with the bill’s language were raised among groups like the Kentucky Conservation Committee. Its executive director, Lane Boldman, is concerned about the bill impeding on people’s first amendment rights but is glad the bill is being changed.
“We’ve sent in our comments to the committee, so we hope that they will take some of our comments under consideration as they work on making this bill better,” said Boldman.
Schickel added that the bill’s purpose is to protect operations from people wanting to make a political statement. This is an issue that has raised questions about transparency.
“This bill suggests that multinational corporations like Tyson don’t want us to know where our food is coming from,” said Todd Blevins with the Humane Society of the United States. “Why else would they be asking for it? Meanwhile, the vast majority of Kentucky’s family farmers don’t have anything to hide.”
When asked about people gathering footage on farms to expose animal cruelty and whether it’s important for companies to be transparent, Schickel responded: “I reject that argument because these are private businesses, on private property, who are following all state, federal and local laws, but you can’t have people just trespassing on their facilities at will.”
Similar ‘Ag-Gag’ laws have been struck down in five other states.
The updated bill will be presented during another committee meeting next week and Schickel says he is optimistic the bill will be passed.