Can’t believe it’s almost March. but time flies, and so does recognizing equal protection of children’s contractual rights: giddiups!
Do any of you recall the tempest in the stewpot when a goat-raising child decided to exercise her right as a minor, to keep a goat raised for auction, but changed her mind and wished to give the goat to a sanctuary. (Law regarding such legal rights are subject to interpretation by judges and circumstances, but the key here was that a legal arrangement was made to save the goat.) Then adults intervened asserting their own legal rights as superior, and seized the goat without proceedings, aka due process which attached at commencement of the dealings.
Well now: A bill is proposed to ensure by specific law the right (which already existed in contract law)
Yes! California, the biggest bad-est nanny state in world history, is going to consider more oppressive laws to prevent adults without compassion from stomping all over children’s existing legal rights to make decisions about their choices. (we allow children, by law, to withdraw from contracts)
Someone will surely respond in a ‘what’s the world coming to’ comment, but we in The Golden State, long ago decided to be the world’s 5th largest economy giving us some gravitas to tell assholes who would scar children, that they can lump it, and go to Floriduh! *where children are treated like objects ….or foreigners. (Or violate those rights here, and face a judge)
February 16, 2024 - Today, AB 3053 was introduced by Assembly member Ash Kalra and sponsored by Social Compassion in Legislation (SCIL). The bill will require that state fair rules allow families participating in junior agricultural programs to opt out of a “terminal sale” at any time, thereby saving the animal from the slaughter phase of the program. Secondly, it will allow successful bidders to pick the animal up alive, which is not an option today.
Per the California Department of Food and Agriculture, "a terminal sale is a sale in which the market ready animals exhibited at the Fair are to be sent to a processing facility and harvested following the conclusion of the auction/fair."
However, California contract law permits a minor to change their mind and withdraw from such contracts.
Currently, there are no explicit rules allowing families to change their mind and save the animal, raised as part of a agricultural fair project. The result is disputes between families or bidders and fair officials that clog up the courts and fail to save the animals in both cases. (instances) **my edit
The proposed legislation is on the heels of viral civil rights litigation centered around a nine-year-old girl who raised her goat Cedar as part of a junior agricultural program. She had a change of heart and came to see Cedar not as an animal science project but rather as a family member. She wanted to see Cedar live out his life in a sanctuary. Yet even after she exercised her right as a minor to disaffirm her agreement with the fair, in accordance with California contract law, her family was not able to save Cedar, who was seized and slaughtered.
According to the pending litigation, several government officials violated the Constitution by seizing and slaughtering Cedar without due process. A January 2024 Sacramento Bee article sheds light on the details of Cedar’s case.
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What can I tell ya? First IVF’s are people and now children are considered people too. What’s the world coming to? Next thing you know, the number of scarred children shooting up schools may drop drastically.
By considering them as our legacy for the future instead of a doormat in the path of our pursuits, people might begin to consider that polluting a planet for the rulers of humanities' future is also criminal, or at the very least, immoral.
*Not a native of the state but lived there, sailed there and taught there, feel for people there.
**I edited this for clarity
***Full disclosure: I am a longtime supporter of the Director of the organization ‘Social Compassion’ and have donated to, and lobbied for passing legislation for protection of animals, children, Social Justice, and environmental causes. I have also worked in State Fairs events, exhibits, and performed placements, done inspections, and judged farm projects, so my views are my own and carry some prejudice.
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