Proposed Model Legislation

(DRAFT - in progress since July 1)

IN THE [HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OR SENATE, STATE OF ________]

A BILL

To terminate this State participation in the federal program of national livestock identification system, generally known as the USDA National Animal Identification System

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of _____________ assembled,

SEC. 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the "Livestock Farm Freedom Act."

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

This State finds the following:

(A) This state has entered into agreements with the federal government of the United States, and otherwise may have participated in establishing a National Animal Identification system, hereafter, "NAIS;"

(B) Scientific research on the causes and spread of diseases does not support mass, uniform tagging and tracking of animals as a disease prevention or control measure;

(C) Disease prevention and control must address the unique situation of each species and, in many cases, each disease;

(D) Existing means for identifying and tracking animals have been sufficient to trace outbreaks of animal diseases;

(E) There is no evidence that increased identification and tracking efforts will improve this State's or the United States' ability to respond to an outbreak of animal disease, whether natural or intentionally-introduced;

(F) The fostering of livestock ownership and farming is in the best interests of this State and its citizens;

(G) The establishment of the NAIS and other activities relative to the NAIS is deleterious to individual ownership and raising of livestock;

(H) The coercive effect of USDA funding states based on their implementation of the NAIS has caused an unwarranted control of this State's Department of Agriculture by the federal government, and is rejected;

(I) It is the will of the people of this State that no mandatory premises registration or animal identification or animal tracking ever be established by this State, whether directly or indirectly.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(A) The term "animal" means all animals except humans.

(B) The term "identification device" means any means, whether electronic, DNA, retinal scan, or other, that can be used to distinguish an individual animal or group of animals.

(C) The term "livestock" means cattle, swine, sheep, goats, equines (including mules, horses, and donkeys), poultry (including chickens, ducks, geese, guineas, pigeons, pheasants, quail, turkeys, and exotic fowl), deer, elk, bison, llamas, and alpacas, and aquatic (including clams, crawfish, catfish, mussels, oysters, salmon, striped bass, shrimp, scallops, tilapia, and trout) animals, and for the purpose of terminating any participation in the NAIS and any related program, any other animal that this State or the USDA may have, either directly or indirectly, included in the NAIS and related programs.

(D) The term "NAIS" means the program known as the National Animal Identification System or any component thereof, including:  premises or property identification by number; animal identification; and tracking or surveillance of domesticated animals, and including participation in NAIS by the individual states of the United States.

(E) The term "Premises" means a location that holds, manages, or boards livestock.

(F) The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of this State's Department of Agriculture.

(G) The term "source verification program" shall mean any program that tracks individual animals or groups of animals for the purpose of being able to determine the origin of such animal or group, the identity of all other animals that have been in contact with it, and all premises at which it has been held in its lifetime, including registration of premises that hold livestock.

(H) The term "USDA" means the United States Department of Agriculture, and any successor agency or function within the federal government of the United States.

SEC. 4. TERMINATION OF NAIS AND MANDATORY ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION

(A) This State shall not establish, or participate in, any program of animal identification, excepting the disease control programs listed in part (c) of this Section and similar programs specifically designed to address a known disease in a specific species of livestock.

(B) This State shall not establish, or participate in, any program of registration of landholdings upon which livestock animals are held, excepting the disease control programs listed in part (c) of this Section and similar programs specifically designed to address a known disease in a specific species of livestock.

(C) It shall not be a violation of this Act for this State to participate in the programs listed below, provided that this State's future participation is limited to the extent of its participation in such programs on the effective date of this Act:

(1) Tuberculosis

(2) Brucellosis

(3) Johne's disease

(4) Pseudorabies

(5) Equine Infectious Anemia

(6) Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs), including: Bovine spongiform encephalopathy, scrapie, and chronic wasting disease

(D) Any agreements entered into by this State with any other state of the United States or the United States federal government concerning the NAIS, animal identification, or registration of premises holding livestock are hereby terminated, and null and void as to this State's participation

SEC. 5. VOLUNTARY NATURE OF ANY PREMISES OR ANIMAL REGISTRATION SYSTEM.

(A) Any private system for premises registration and animal identification is subject to the following limitations:

(1) The program must provide for full and informed consent of all participants, including disclosure of the entire program, the possible uses of information collected thereunder, and every entity or person to whom such information may be disclosed.

(2) Persons who voluntarily enroll in the program shall be allowed to withdraw from the program at any time and their personal information shall be permanently removed from program records.

(3) No public funds may be used to support such a program.

(4) It shall not be used to gain unfair competitive advantage, but shall be considered a commercial term subject to laws restricting unfair competition.

(5) It shall not be used to deny services to people not participating in the program, including, but not limited to, the purchase of supplies, veterinary services, transport of animals, sale of animals at sale barns, slaughter and processing of animals, or participation in shows, parades, rodeos, or similar events.

(B) No emoluments, favors, payments, credits, special consideration or other incentives shall issue from this State or any local government, whether directly or indirectly, nor shall any such entity, directly or indirectly, provide any benefit to any participant in an animal or premises registration program based solely on that person's participation in such program. No person who chooses not to participate in any animal or premises registration program may be denied any emoluments, favors, payments, credits, special consideration or other incentives by this State or any local government, whether directly or indirectly, based solely on that person's lack of participation in an animal or premises registration program.

(C) Immediately upon the effective date of this Act, the Secretary, in concert with all governmental, public, and private entities who have established premises identification lists or databases for the purpose of identifying the location and/or tracking livestock, shall provide written notice to all persons included in such lists or databases, advising them of their inclusion. Such notices shall be completed within 60 days after the effective date of this Act. Public notice of the existence of such lists and information on methods for people to ascertain if they are included in such lists shall also be published in a newspaper of general circulation in each county of this State, on a weekly basis, during such 60-day period. All such lists shall be void, and shall not be used for any purpose by any governmental, public, or private person or entity, as of and after the effective date of this Act. This provision includes all lists and databases created using, in whole or in part, federal funds under the NAIS program. This provision does not include lists and databases that were created solely for the purposes of the programs listed in Section 4(C), addressing specific diseases in specific species of livestock, except to the extent that such lists have been used for the NAIS program.

(D) All cooperative agreements between the federal government and this State, or between this State and other states, established prior to the effective date of this Act, and related to the establishment of animal tracking, tagging, registration or information databases, premises registration or information databases, use of microchips for animal tagging purposes, and other matters directly or indirectly related to the USDA's NAIS program, are terminated and null and void.

SEC. 6. DISALLOWED AFFECTS ON ANCILLARY ACTIVITIES

(A) No person may be denied services by any governmental, public, or private person or entity for failure to participate in any animal or premises registration program or for providing services to persons who are not participants in an animal or premises registration program.

(B) No person, including but not limited to the following, may have their license, permit, or certification to conduct business, hold events, provide services or practice their profession, revoked or limited in anyway for failure to participate in any animal or premises registration program or for providing services to persons who are not participants in an animal or premises registration program:

(1) Farriers

(2) Veterinarians

(3) Slaughterhouses and meat processors

(4) Feedlots

(5) Brokers

(6) Sales outlets

(7) Transporters

(8) Feed Suppliers

(9) Retail establishments

(10) Rodeos, shows or other competitive events

(11) 4-H or Future Farmers of America programs and events

(12) State or local fairs or animal shows

(C) No insurer or other risk management organization may deny or limit coverage of any person for failure to participate in a premises registration or animal identification program, except if any such limitation is based on actuarial data established in conformance with standard statistical processes.

(D) Neither this State nor any city, county or other local government in this State may require any of its suppliers to participate in a premises registration or animal identification program as a condition of supplying goods or services.

(E) Failure to participate in a premises registration or animal identification program, or the providing of services to persons who are not participants in a premises registration or animal identification program, shall not be a crime, an element of any other crime, or evidence of any negligence or gross negligence on the part of any livestock owner or provider of goods or services.

SEC. 7. BRANDS AND EXISTING REGISTRIES

This State's and local authorities governing animal branding shall retain their authority. No merger of those authorities with USDA or this State's Department of Agriculture or any department regulating animal health or any other matter shall be allowed, except in accordance with the established constitutional legislative processes of this State.

A private source verification program identification system, device or marking shall not obliterate or supersede or otherwise make unreadable this State's or any local entity's brand or mark on any animal. A source verification program's rules may not supersede this State's local brand or marking systems rules or regulations as a matter of law.

SEC. 8. DISEASE OUTBREAKS; VACCINES; TESTING; SEARCH AND SEIZURE RIGHTS

It is the intent of this State to foster the responsible husbandry of animals. To that end, any measure taken during an outbreak of animal disease shall be designed to limit sickness and death in animals and humans. Any measures taken must be reasonably necessary to achieve such goals. To that end:

(A) In the event of an outbreak of disease which endangers animals but does not pose a present, verifiable immediate danger to human health: the relevant health authority shall determine the location of the presently affected animals, and provide notice of such outbreak to the public within a five-mile radius through notices published in local newspapers of general circulation, announcements on locally based radio, television, and internet media, or other appropriate means. If the subject disease outbreak is contagious, then such potentially affected animals within the 5 miles radius shall be quarantined, and subject to observation for symptoms of the disease, and testing for the disease. If such tests are positive for the disease, then appropriate, reasonable actions shall be taken to control the spread of the disease. Slaughter of such animals shall be avoided if at all possible. The owner has the right to request that the disease be confirmed by testing by two (2) independent laboratories, one of which shall be selected by the animal's owner.

(B) In the event of an outbreak of disease which endangers animals and presents a scientifically verifiable immediate danger to human health: the relevant health authority shall determine the location of the presently affected animals, and provide notice of such outbreak to the public within a five-mile radius through notices published in local newspapers of general circulation, announcements on locally based radio, television, and internet media, or other appropriate means. If the subject disease outbreak is contagious, then such potentially affected animals within the five-mile radius shall be quarantined, and subject to observation for symptoms of the disease, and conclusive testing for the disease. Animals may be slaughtered only if they are shown, by testing, to be infected with the disease and if generally accepted epidemiological practice would recognize slaughter as the appropriate method of controlling the disease. The owner has the right to request that the disease be confirmed by testing by two (2) independent laboratories, one of which shall be selected by the animal's owner.

(C) Because this State recognizes that monetary compensation is not always full compensation, the destruction of animals shall not be taken lightly and shall be resorted to by federal, state and local authorities only as a last resort. Quarantine and biosecurity measures shall be preferred disease control methods. If destruction of animals is necessary, destruction of individual animals shall be preferred over the destruction of entire herds or flocks, where it is scientifically reasonable to separate out affected animals from others with whom they are commingled. If animals are destroyed, the Department of Agriculture shall compensate the owners of such animals. Owners shall be compensated for the fair market value of such animals, taking into consideration breeding lines and scarcity of the species variety that has been destroyed, as well as indirect losses, including but not limited to, losses resulting from the time required to purchase new animals and raise them to the same stage of productivity or marketability.

(D) In the event of an outbreak of a communicable disease, all vaccines available to this State and any city, county or other local governmental entity shall be made available, on a reasonable basis, to livestock owners of this State so that they may protect their livestock.

SEC. 9. CONFIDENTIALITY

No source verification program, organization, association, club, or group shall be required to release, nor shall they release, the records of their members or past members to this State or any local department of agriculture or other federal, state, or local or foreign government agency, or other person or entity without the express, prior written consent of the owner of the animals in the registry.