While Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson is receiving the most attention nationally for recently signing a bill to expand concealed gun rights and another to separate the celebrations of Martin Luther King Jr. and General Robert E. Lee, he also signed a bill that impacts agriculture and targets animal right activists … companies can now sue those who secretly make videotapes harming business owners.
The House Bill 1665 allows businesses to sue individuals who share documents, pictures, videos, or recordings that damage the company, if they were taken from nonpublic areas. The law also applies to employees.
Several animal rights groups have came out opposing the measure. PETA said the new legislation is a gift to animal abusers, but they won’t quit.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund went a step further.
“The ability to investigate, document and publicize corporate agriculture’s abuses is imperative to the well-being of animals, and to our own health and safety,” says Animal Legal Defense Fund Executive Director Stephen Wells. “The Animal Legal Defense Fund is already challenging Ag-Gag laws in Utah, Idaho, and North Carolina. We’ll see Arkansas in court soon.”
