Independent egg-law explainer — not affiliated with the 2012 Legal Eggs campaign or the British Egg Industry Council.

Last reviewed: October 13, 2026 · Not legal advice

US state cage-free egg laws

There is no federal US law that bans keeping laying hens in cages. Instead, a group of states has set hen-housing standards through ballot measures, statutes and agency rules. Some regulate only farms inside the state; others also ban the sale of non-compliant eggs, which reaches eggs shipped in from elsewhere.

State	Law	Effective date	What it requires	Source
California	Proposition 2 (2008); AB 1437 (2010); Proposition 12 (2018)	Prop 2: Jan. 1, 2015. Prop 12 cage-free: Jan. 1, 2022	Prop 12 sets cage-free housing for egg-laying hens and applies to shell and liquid eggs sold in California, wherever produced. Voters approved it 62.65% to 37.35%. In July 2025 the US Justice Department sued California, arguing the egg rules conflict with the federal Egg Products Inspection Act.	Wikipedia; Penn State; Civil Eats
Massachusetts	Question 3 (2016), amended by S.2603 (2021); regulations 330 CMR 35.00	Jan. 1, 2022	Bans sale in Massachusetts of non-compliant shell eggs and egg products; sales entirely outside the state are not covered.	MDAR FAQ; Penn State
Washington	HB 2049 (2019)	Jan. 1, 2024	Operations with more than 3,000 laying hens must meet the 2017 United Egg Producers cage-free guidelines; non-compliant eggs and egg products may not be bought or sold in intrastate commerce.	Legislature bill report
Oregon	SB 1019 (2019); earlier SB 805 (2011)	Jan. 1, 2024	Requires commercial producers to go cage-free and bars sale of eggs and egg products from non-compliant hens. Farms with fewer than 3,000 hens are exempt.	Oregon Dept. of Agriculture
Colorado	HB20-1343 (2020)	1 sq ft per hen: Jan. 1, 2023. Cage-free: Jan. 1, 2025	Covers shell eggs and egg products sold or transported for sale in Colorado; farms need an annual Certificate of Compliance. Operations with 3,000 or fewer hens are exempt.	Colorado Dept. of Agriculture; Penn State
Michigan	2009 law (HB 5127), date moved by Public Act 132 of 2019	After Dec. 31, 2024	Shell eggs sold in Michigan for human food must come from cage-free housing; applies to farms with 3,000 or more hens. Liquid and cooked eggs are not covered.	MDARD FAQ
Nevada	AB 399 (2021); AB 171 (2025)	1 sq ft: July 1, 2022. Cage-free: Jan. 1, 2024	Covers production and sale; flocks of 3,000 or fewer exempt. In 2025 the state temporarily suspended the requirement amid high egg prices, and AB 171 now allows suspensions of up to 120 days, no more than twice a year, during supply-chain disruptions.	Penn State; Fortune/AP; Review-Journal
Arizona	Arizona Department of Agriculture rule (2022)	Originally Jan. 1, 2025 — delayed (see notes)	The 2022 rule required 1 sq ft per hen from Oct. 1, 2022 and cage-free housing for hens and eggs sold in the state from 2025. The deadline was pushed back, and in March 2025 Gov. Katie Hobbs ordered a delay to 2034; a May 2025 proposed rule would set Jan. 1, 2032. Check the current rule.	Penn State; KJZZ; Feedstuffs
Utah	SB 147 (2021); SB 222 (2024)	Jan. 1, 2030 (was Jan. 1, 2025)	Farm owners may not confine egg-laying hens in enclosures (cages) after the deadline; farms with fewer than 3,000 hens exempt. A production rule, not a sales ban.	SB 222 enrolled; Penn State
Rhode Island	SB 2191 (2012); HB 7456 (2018); 2024 amendment	January 2030 (was July 1, 2026)	Housing requirement for egg producers; the 2024 bill extended the cage-free deadline by about four years.	WATTPoultry; Penn State

Production rules vs sales rules

The table mixes two kinds of law. A production rule tells farms in the state how hens must be housed. A sales rule says which eggs may be sold in the state at all, regardless of where they were laid. California’s 2010 law AB 1437, for example, extended Proposition 2’s housing standard to all shell eggs sold in the state, including those from other states, and Proposition 12 later added liquid eggs (Wikipedia). Utah’s law, by contrast, regulates what a farm owner or operator may do, according to the enrolled text of SB 222.

Shell eggs vs egg products

Coverage of liquid, frozen or processed eggs varies. Massachusetts covers shell eggs and egg products (MDAR); Colorado covers shell eggs and egg products sold or transported for sale (CDA); Michigan’s law applies only to whole eggs in shell form and not to liquid or cooked eggs (MDARD).

Small-flock exemptions

Most of these laws exempt small producers. The common threshold is 3,000 hens: Oregon exempts farms with fewer than 3,000 (ODA), Washington applies to operations with more than 3,000 (bill report), Colorado and Nevada exempt 3,000 or fewer (CDA; Penn State), and Michigan applies to farms with 3,000 or more (MDARD).

What “cage-free” means in these laws

Several states anchor their definition to the 2017 United Egg Producers (UEP) cage-free guidelines — Washington’s HB 2049 and Oregon’s rulemaking both reference them (WA; OR). Michigan’s statute describes a cage-free system as one that lets hens move freely indoors, lets workers care for hens while standing on usable floor space, and provides enrichments; battery, colony and enriched cages are not allowed (MDARD).

Recent changes: 2024–2025

Delays. Utah moved its deadline from 2025 to 2030 (SB 222); Rhode Island moved its from July 2026 to January 2030 (WATTPoultry); Arizona’s rule has been repeatedly postponed (KJZZ; Feedstuffs).
Suspensions. During the 2025 bird-flu egg price spike, Nevada temporarily suspended its cage-free requirement and then passed AB 171 to allow future suspensions of up to 120 days (Fortune/AP; Review-Journal).
Litigation. The US Supreme Court upheld Proposition 12 in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross on May 11, 2023 (a pork case) (Wikipedia). In July 2025 the Justice Department sued California over its egg rules (Civil Eats).

Status note: these laws have changed often since 2020. Dates above reflect the sources as of the review date; check the state agency linked in each row before relying on them.