Oppose: Ag-Gag Bill to Criminalize Undercover Animal Cruelty Investigations (Kansas) 

The Animal Legal Defense Fund opposes this bill.

Sponsors: House Committee on Appropriations
Introduction Date: February 29, 2024

If enacted, H.B. 2816 — an Ag-Gag bill — would prohibit anyone from entering or remaining on and knowingly making false statements on an employment application to gain access to animal facilities in Kansas. Effectively, it would prevent undercover investigators from gaining critical access to Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), the industry term for factory farms, to expose animal cruelty.

As the name suggests, Ag-Gag laws seek to “gag” would-be whistleblowers and undercover activists by punishing them for gaining access to, or recording footage of what goes on in, animal agriculture facilities. These laws were originally designed to prevent the public from learning about animal cruelty, but they also impact food and worker safety.

Undercover investigations have revealed severe animal abuse on factory farms — animals beaten, kicked, maimed, and thrown. These investigations have also exposed standard industry practices such as the confinement of pregnant and nursing pigs in crates too small for them to turn around, the removal of horns and tails from animals without anesthesia, and “downed” animals — those too sick, weak, or injured to stand — being dragged on the ground before they are slaughtered.

​​Why is this law important?  ​The ability to investigate, document, and publicize corporate animal agriculture’s abuses is not only critical to protecting the well-being of animals, but also to human health and safety.

​​For more information about animal protection legislation​ in Kansas ​and opportunities to take action for animals, visit aldf.org/​kansas.