An attempt to repeal Colorado’s cage-free egg law cracked in its first committee hearing Monday as lawmakers debated whether it would have any affect on volatile prices.
Egg prices across the country have skyrocketed in the face of inflation and an avian flu epidemic that has led to the killing of tens of millions of hens across the country. But in the background of those market shocks, a law passed in 2020 requiring Colorado’s commercial egg layers to use cage-free housing for hens took effect — adding extra costs to producers as they worked to meet the new state regulations.
State Rep. Ryan Gonzalez, a Greeley Republican, sought to repeal the requirement with House Bill 1074. It failed on a 8-5 vote, with all but one Democrat voting against it. Opponents of the repeal argued the measure would have questionable effects in the face of the disease ravaging flocks. At worse, they said, a repeal would have put Colorado egg producers at a disadvantage by putting them in competition with states with lower thresholds.
Gonzalez acknowledged that avian flu is an issue with egg prices, but ultimately he wanted to work to lower costs for consumers. The law adds an estimated 18% to the price of eggs, officials said, or about $1 per dozen.
“Affordability is a top priority for Coloradans,” Gonzalez said. “… Families in our state are struggling to make ends meet. Nowhere is that more evident than the grocery store.”
Cage-free does not mean the chickens are free to roam around, but that they have more designated floor space — a square foot-and-a-half — than traditional egg-laying operations of stacked cages.
Bill Scebbi, executive director of the trade organization Colorado Egg Producers, called the bill “a misguided response to a complex economic factor.” Colorado producers have already made the transition to cage-free, including the necessary investments to meet the state regulations. To repeal the requirement just months after it took full effect would only create further market instability, he said.
“The current cost and reduced availability of eggs are due to a nationwide and ongoing impact of avian influenza,” Scebbi told lawmakers Monday. “Not state regulations.”
Nationwide, egg prices have ridden a roller coaster since winter 2022, when avian flu first broke out among poultry producers.
Prices peaked at $4.82 a dozen then before falling by more than half, to $2.04 a dozen, the following summer, as the outbreaks ebbed. Prices then shot back up this winter to $4.15 a dozen, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Historically, Colorado has had higher egg prices than the rest of the nation, according to a December 2022 report by InstaCart during that surge in egg prices. It found the average price of eggs in Colorado were $5.77 a dozen at that time, compared to $4.25 nationally.
A spot check of prices by The Denver Post in metro Denver on Monday found prices in flux from store to store. A King Soopers on East Martin Luther King Boulevard was selling a dozen cage-free large white eggs for $8.49, while Trader Joe’s on North Colorado Boulevard had a dozen similar eggs for $3.49.
The surges in prices then and now were driven by a national outbreak of avian flu that affected more than 145 million poultry. More than 13 million birds were culled in December and the start of January alone, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The agency predicts further increases, up to 20%, in the year to come, according to USA Today.
“Eradicating the disease is where we need to focus the effort,” Jerry Wilkins, a vice president with ProEgg Inc., a cooperative of egg producers in the western United States, told lawmakers.
Democrats on the committee said they too felt the pinch of egg prices, and would be open to Gonzalez’s idea if it seemed it would have an effect on driving down prices. Importing eggs, however, can also come with additional costs like freight transportation.
“If I thought this was a silver bullet to take care of this issue, I’d be inclined to support it,” Rep. Mandy Lindsay, an Aurora Democrat, said. “But I think what I see here, especially as we’re looking at egg prices across the nation …. I don’t see that causation here.”
Reporter Jessica Alvarado Gamez contributed to this report.
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