[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3803 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3803

 To amend the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921, to prohibit livestock 
  packers from owning or feeding livestock intended for slaughter for 
                more than 14 days before such slaughter.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 27, 2002

 Mr. Boswell (for himself, Mr. Pomeroy, and Mr. Shows) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921, to prohibit livestock 
  packers from owning or feeding livestock intended for slaughter for 
                more than 14 days before such slaughter.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PROHIBITION ON PACKERS OWNING OR FEEDING LIVESTOCK FOR 
              EXTENDED PERIODS.

    (a) In General.--Section 202 of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 
1921 (7 U.S.C. 192), is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as subsections 
        (g) and (h), respectively;
            (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the following:
    ``(f) Own or feed livestock directly, through a subsidiary, or 
through an arrangement that gives the packer operational, managerial, 
or supervisory control over the livestock, or over the farming 
operation that produces the livestock, to such an extent that the 
producer is no longer materially participating in the management of the 
operation with respect to the production of the livestock, except that 
this subsection shall not apply to--
            ``(1) an arrangement entered into within 14 days before 
        slaughter of the livestock by a packer, a person acting through 
        the packer, or a person that directly or indirectly controls, 
        or is controlled by or under common control with, the packer;
            ``(2) a cooperative or entity owned by a cooperative, if a 
        majority of the ownership interest in the cooperative is held 
        by active cooperative members that--
                    ``(A) own, feed, or control livestock; and
                    ``(B) provide the livestock to the cooperative for 
                slaughter; or
            ``(3) a packer that is owned or controlled by producers of 
        a type of livestock, if during a calendar year the packer 
        slaughters less than 2 percent of the head of that type of 
        livestock slaughtered in the United States; or''.
    (b) Effective Date.--
            (1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the amendments 
        made by subsection (a) take effect on the date of enactment of 
        this Act.
            (2) Transition rules.--In the case of a packer that on the 
        date of enactment of this Act owns, feeds, or controls 
        livestock intended for slaughter in violation of section 202(f) 
        of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (as amended by 
        subsection (a)), the amendments made by subsection (a) apply to 
        the packer--
                    (A) in the case of a packer of swine, beginning on 
                the date that is 18 months after the date of enactment 
                of this Act; and
                    (B) in the case of a packer of any other type of 
                livestock, beginning as soon as practicable, but not 
                later than 180 days, after the date of enactment of 
                this Act, as determined by the Secretary of 
                Agriculture.
                                 <all>