2021 – Upgrades to Hen Welfare Standards

An Act to upgrade hen welfare and establish uniform cage-free standards

Passed by the Senate on June 24, 2021. Passed by the House on October 6, 2021. Conference Committee appointed (Lewis-Rausch-Tarr-Dykema-Cahill-Orrall) and report accepted December 20, 2021. Signed by the Governor on December 22, 2021.  Read the law: Chapter 108 of the Acts of 2021.

This law, sponsored by Senator Jason Lewis and Representative Dan Cahill, upgraded conditions for egg-laying hens by mandating that they be able to engage in certain vital natural behaviors such as perching, nesting in boxes, dust bathing, and fully extending their wings. It also expanded the law to cover liquid eggs, which means more than two million more hens are protected.

In 2016, Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly passed Question 3, the Act to Prevent Cruelty to Farm Animals, which prohibited the confinement of egg-laying hens, mother pigs, and calves raised for veal in spaces that prevent them from lying down, standing up, fully extending their limbs, or turning around freely. The law improved upon those standards.

In the Headlines:

Groups pushing ‘upgrade’ in farm animal law. Commonwealth Magazine. April 27, 2021.

Co-Sponsors

State Senators

State Representatives