Fighting the NAIS in Texas

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By Judith McGeary

April 10, 2006

Texas is the first battleground over NAIS to be joined by both sides. While the state authorities in Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Indiana slipped mandatory premises registration through without much fanfare, the citizens of Texas took action when the Texas Animal Health Commission attempted to do the same. Texas is home to some very large industrial agricultural operations, but it is also home to many small- and medium-size farmers and ranchers, concerned consumers and landowners, and a spirit of independence.

In May 2005, the Texas Legislature adopted HB 1361, codified at §161.056 of the Texas Agriculture Code. This innocuous-sounding statute authorized the TAHC to adopt an animal identification system "that is consistent with" the USDA's NAIS. Many of the legislators that we have spoken to were, and some still are, under the impression that NAIS was a "federal mandate" that they had to comply with. The USDA does not statutory authority to implement NAIS, so the statute was adopted based on an incorrect assumption.

On December 26, 2005, the TAHC published proposed regulations to implement the first stage of NAIS, mandatory premises registration. If adopted, these regulations would require anyone who is the "cowner, manager, or caretaker" of a premises with even one animal to register their premises with the state. "Animal" is defined so as to include essentially every animal except dogs, cats, and hamsters. Specifically, "animal" includes "livestock, exotic livestock, domestic fowl, poultry and exotic fowl." Livestock, in turn, includes cattle, horses, mules, asses, sheep, goats, and hogs; exotic livestock means "grass-eating or plant-eating ... mammals that are not indigenous to this state," and include animals from the deer and antelope families; poultry includes chickens, turkeys, and gamebirds; and exotic fowl means any avian species that is not indigenous to this state. (See 30 Tex. Reg. 8521, 8523 (Dec. 23, 2005).) The premises registration includes the GPS coordinates. (Id. See also USDA Draft Program Standards at 10.)

While the proposed regulations address only premises registration, they are clearly intended to be simply the first part of the entire system. Indeed, in releasing the proposed regulations, the TAHC's Fact Sheet stated:

"Premises registration is the foundation for all other components of the NAIS."

The proposed regulations' definitions are very broad and would cover many people, including pet owners, people who keep animals for recreation, homesteaders, and small farmers and ranchers. The TAHC has repeatedly referred to all of these people simply as "producers" or "livestock owners." But many citizens who own a few animals do not think of themselves as "producers" or "livestock owners" and remain unaware that this intrusive program will apply to them.

The proposed regulations would tax livestock owners $10 per year ($20 biennially) for the privilege of registering with the government. While this may not seem like a large financial burden, it is almost certain to increase because TAHC has significantly underestimated the number of new employees needed to handle the hundreds of thousands of registrations. And these costs also do not even begin to encompass the burdens, of both time and money, that would be imposed by the animal identification and animal tracking phases of NAIS.

Based on its faulty estimate of the costs, the TAHC has also estimated that premises registration will raise between $1.2 and $1.7 million dollars from 2008 forward, to be placed in the general revenue fund. (See 30 Tex. Reg. at 8522.) In the guise of tracking diseases, the TAHC has simply placed a tax on livestock owners. Moreover, this is a regressive tax; the person with half a dozen chickens or a milk cow in their backyard is charged the same fee as the multinational company with thousands of animals on its premises.

During the 6-week comment period, the TAHC received almost 700 letters, the vast majority of which opposed the proposed regulations. Over 200 people attended the Commissioners' meeting on February 16^th, and approximately 80 of them spoke against the regulations. The speakers came from all over the state and the full range of the political and social spectrum. After the hours of public comment, Commissioner Jerry Windham moved that the TAHC table the proposed regulations until their May 4^th meeting to allow the citizens of Texas to seek action from the legislature. The motion was unanimously adopted.

But the forces on the other side were not content. A mere ten days after the meeting, TAHC announced that it had scheduled a special meeting for March 23^rd to take action on the proposed regulations. Texans were outraged, and continued to spread the word throughout the state, and call and write their legislators, and the Governor. As a result, just one week later, the TAHC cancelled its special meeting.

On April 4, the TAHC announced that it will not take up the issue of premises registration again until 2007. But HB 1361 remains law. The opposition to NAIS is now focused on the upcoming special session of the Texas Legislature, which will meet on April 17. Representative Bryan Hughes is prepared to offer legislation to amend HB 1361, and he has support from legislators from both parties. Before this legislation can be considered, Governor Perry would have to include it in the call for the special session. Independent gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn recently issued a press release opposing NAIS, and urging Perry to include it in the call so that the problem can be addressed immediately.

To date, the organization that has led the grassroots efforts to oppose the TAHC's proposed regulations has been the Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. Their website, www.tofga.org, is regularly updated to reflect the latest events in Texas and provides information for taking action.

A new nonprofit, the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance (FARFA), has been established to lobby on behalf of non-corporate agriculture, including the thousands of independent farmers, ranchers, homesteaders, and other livestock owners in Texas, and across the country. The issue of the national animal identification system poses a serious threat to all of us, whether organic or conventional, small or large, involved with animals for business or for pleasure. NAIS must be stopped, and FARFA will lead the fight, first in Texas and then at the national level. Visit FARFA's website at www.farmandranchfreedom.org.

For more information, contact Judith McGeary, Executive Director, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, (512) 243-2706, jmcgeary@att.net

To contact your state representatives go to: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/fyi/fyi.htm
To contact Gov. Rick Perry go to: http://www.governor.state.tx.us/contact
To find your U.S. representatives go to: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
To write our U.S. senators go to: