Valley Republicans opposed last year's ballot measure banning small cages for egg-laying hens in the state. But now at least a couple of those lawmakers are supporting a bill that expands the restriction.

AB 1437, supported by the Humane Society of the United States, would prohibit the sale in California of out-of-state eggs produced by farms that don't adhere to the California standard, which under Prop. 2 requires that certain farm animals have room to move freely.

The bill passed the Assembly Agriculture Committee recently on a unanimous vote, including "ayes" from Assembly members Tom Berryhill, R-Modesto, and Connie Conway, R-Tulare.

Berryhill recently gave his explanation to the Riverside Press Enterprise: "I think there's a general consensus out there that if our industries have to do certain things for the housing of poultry, then we don't think it's too much to ask the rest of the country to adhere to the same rules that we do, just to keep our folks competitive."

The state's egg producers are neutral on the bill. They recently created a new trade association to deal with Prop. 2 called the Association of California Egg Farmers.

"California egg farmers respect the voters' decision and want to comply with Proposition 2, but the initiative's language is so vague that producers don't know what they need to do to meet the new mandates and avoid jail sentences," Debbie Murdock, the group's executive director, said in a statement.

Sixty-four percent of California voters approved Prop. 2 last November, but the initiative failed to win majorities in farm-heavy central San Joaquin Valley counties.

The backlash against the "imposition of burdensome regulations" even sparked a long-shot bid to divide the state in two.