Should the state legislature limit counties ability to regulate concentrated animal feeding operations?
Under Missouri law, counties are allowed to enact zoning ordinances if the county’s voters approve, but some counties have found a clever way to circumvent that requirement — the county health ordinance. In 1997, two or three Missouri counties came up with the idea of using Missouri Revised Statute 192.300 to restrict Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. The statute, simply stated, allows county commissions or county health boards to adopt ordinances to enhance public health and prevent disease. By claiming CAFOs were a health hazard, county officials had discovered a way to implement niche zoning to restrain animal agriculture without a vote of the people. Under this scheme, a form of zoning could be enacted by just two of the three county commissioners or three of the five health board members. The idea has now spread, and 16 counties have adopted county health ordinances to restrict or prohibit CAFOs. With the passage of time, the ordinances have become increasingly onerous. Some
