Nevada Considers Prohibiting Confinement of Egg-Laying Hens

Nevada Assembly Bill 399 would prohibit the confinement of a hen used to produce eggs in an enclosure that is not a cage-free housing system. The bill would also prohibit confining a hen in a cage-free housing system that has “less than one square foot of usable floor space per egg-laying hen if the cage-free housing system provides egg-laying hens with unrestricted access to elevated flat platforms in a multi-tiered aviary or partially slatted system” or one that has less than “one and one-half square feet of usable floor space per egg-laying hen if the cage-free housing system does not provide unrestricted access to elevated flat platforms in a single-level, all-litter floor system.” The bill would additionally prohibit “farm owners or operators” from selling or transporting eggs or egg products without having been issued a certificate by the state Department of Agriculture that those products were produced by an egg-laying hen who was confined in a manner that complies with the bills requirements.