Update Jan. 26, 2012: The Florida ag-gag bill is now dead. The bill, S.B. 1184, has been amended in committee and the provisions pertaining to undercover investigations have been removed and are no longer pending. 

Original report: Florida state Sen. Jim Norman has introduced once again his "Ag-gag" bill, legislation that would shut down undercover investigations of animal cruelty. S.B. 1184 and the House of Representatives version, H.B. 1021, introduced by state Rep. Ben Albritton, would make it a msidemeanor crime for anyone to enter onto the "nonpublic" area of any farm and record or videotape anything including sounds, without the owner's written consent. There are exceptions for insurers, law enforcement and other government regulatory agencies or their contractors.

This comes just as a lawsuit is filed to challenge the constitutionality of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act enacted in 2006. AETA broadly classifies many forms of protest against animal cruelty as terrorism; it is an overly vague, overlybroad, far-reaching law. This bill also comes as the Los Angeles Times reports the FBI has long recommended classifying those who carry out undercover investigations of animal cruelty, including use videotaping, as "terrorists".

Help stop the ag-gag bill, calculated only to stop undercover investigations and exposure of cruel practices in the handling and treatment of animals by factory farms and slaughter houses. In doing so, the bill would trample First Amendment protections. The bill would chill First Amendment activities, making advocates fearful of even making protests, let alone undertaking investigations to expose and stop animal cruelty.