[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3810 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3810

To prohibit livestock packers from owning or feeding livestock intended 
for slaughter for more than 14 days before such slaughter, to prohibit 
     excessive concentration resulting from mergers among certain 
 purchasers, processors, and sellers of livestock, poultry, and basic 
agricultural commodities, to require the Attorney General to establish 
 an Office of Special Counsel for Agriculture, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 27, 2002

 Mr. Nussle (for himself and Mr. Thune) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to 
    the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prohibit livestock packers from owning or feeding livestock intended 
for slaughter for more than 14 days before such slaughter, to prohibit 
     excessive concentration resulting from mergers among certain 
 purchasers, processors, and sellers of livestock, poultry, and basic 
agricultural commodities, to require the Attorney General to establish 
 an Office of Special Counsel for Agriculture, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Livestock Ownership Fairness Act of 
2002''.

          TITLE I--LIVESTOCK OWNERSHIP AND FEEDING PROHIBITION

SEC. 101. PROHIBITION ON PACKERS OWNING OR FEEDING LIVESTOCK FOR 
              EXTENDED PERIOD.

    (a) Prohibition; Exceptions.--The Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921, 
is amended by inserting after section 202 (7 U.S.C. 192) the following 
new section:

``SEC. 202A. PROHIBITION ON PACKERS OWNING OR FEEDING LIVESTOCK FOR 
              EXTENDED PERIOD.

    ``(a) Prohibition.--It shall be unlawful for any packer with 
respect to livestock, meats, meat food products, or livestock products 
in unmanufactured form to own or feed livestock intended for slaughter 
for more than 14 days prior to slaughter. The prohibition applies 
regardless of whether the ownership or feeding of the livestock is by 
the packer directly or through a subsidiary or an arrangement described 
in subsection (b).
    ``(b) Covered Arrangements.--The arrangements referred to in 
subsection (a) mean arrangements that give a packer operational, 
managerial, or supervisory control over livestock or over a farming 
operation that produces livestock to such an extent that the actual 
producer of the livestock is no longer materially participating (as 
such term is defined in section 469(h) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986) in the management of the farming operation with respect to the 
production of the livestock.
    ``(c) Exceptions.--Subsection (a) does not apply to the following:
            ``(1) Forward contracting arrangements, executed in advance 
        of slaughter and used by packers for the purchase of livestock, 
        so long as the producer retains operational, managerial, and 
        supervisory control over the livestock until their delivery for 
        slaughter and over the farming operation that produces the 
        livestock.
            ``(2) A cooperative, if a majority of the ownership 
        interest in the cooperative is held by active cooperative 
        members that--
                    ``(A) own or feed livestock; and
                    ``(B) provide the livestock to the cooperative for 
                slaughter.
            ``(3) A packer that is owned or controlled by producers of 
        a type of livestock, if, during the previous calendar year, the 
        packer slaughtered less than 2 percent of the total number of 
        that type of livestock slaughtered in the United States.
    ``(d) Conspiracy.--It shall also be unlawful for any packer to 
conspire, combine, agree, or arrange with any other person to do, or 
aid or abet the doing of, any act made unlawful by subsection (a).''.
    (b) Effective Date.--
            (1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), section 202A of 
        the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921, as added by subsection 
        (a), takes effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
            (2) Transition rules.--In the case of a packer that, as of 
        the date of the enactment of this Act, owns or feeds livestock 
        in violation of section 202A of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 
        1921, the prohibitions in subsections (a) and (d) of such 
        section shall apply to the packer--
                    (A) in the case of a packer of swine, beginning 540 
                days after the date of the 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 the enactment of 
                this Act, as determined by the Secretary of 
                Agriculture.

              TITLE II--AGRICULTURAL ANTITRUST PROVISIONS

SEC. 201. PREMERGER NOTICE REQUIREMENT.

    (a) Notice.--Whenever a person in the business of purchasing 
livestock, poultry, or a basic agricultural commodity for wholesale 
resale either unprocessed or processed, files a notification under 
section 7A of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 18a), such person shall file 
simultaneously with the Secretary a notice in accordance with rules 
issued by the Secretary, that such person has filed such notification.
    (b) Public Comments.--The Secretary shall--
            (1) publish promptly in the Federal Register a copy of each 
        notice received under subsection (a),
            (2) accept public comments on the proposed merger described 
        in such notice, and
            (3) consider as part of the review required by subsection 
        (c), such comments timely received.
    (c) Review.--Not later than 30 days after receiving a notice filed 
under subsection (a), the Secretary shall--
            (1) review the proposed acquisition described in such 
        notice;
            (2) determine--
                    (A) the probable effects such acquisition would 
                have on the prices paid to producers of any livestock, 
                poultry, or basic agricultural commodities who sell to, 
                buy from, or bargain with 1 or more of the persons 
                involved in the proposed acquisition; and
                    (B) whether such acquisition would--
                            (i) result in significantly increased 
                        market power for any of such persons; and
                            (ii) increase the potential for 
                        anticompetitive or predatory pricing conduct by 
                        any of such persons;
            (3) prepare a report containing--
                    (A) the detailed findings made by the Secretary as 
                a result of such review and such determination; and
                    (B) an economic analysis of the Secretary regarding 
                whether such acquisition may substantially lessen 
                competition or tend to create a monopoly; and
            (4) transmit to the Office of Special Counsel for 
        Agriculture, and shall publish in the Federal Register, 
        simultaneously, a copy of such report.

SEC. 202. SPECIAL COUNSEL FOR AGRICULTURE.

    (a) Establishment of Office.--The Attorney General shall establish 
in the Department of Justice an Office of Special Counsel for 
Agriculture that shall handle agricultural antitrust issues and related 
matters, as determined by the Attorney General.
    (b) Appointment.--The Special Counsel for Agriculture may be 
appointed by the Attorney General only after the expiration of the 30-
day period beginning on the date the Attorney General publishes in the 
Federal Register the name of the individual proposed to be appointed 
and requests public comment with respect to the appointment of such 
individual.

SEC. 203. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this title--
            (1) the term ``antitrust laws'' has the meaning given such 
        term in subsection (a) of the 1st section of the Clayton Act 
        (15 U.S.C. 12(a)),
            (2) the term ``basic agricultural commodity'' means corn, 
        wheat, or soybeans,
            (3) the term ``livestock'' means cattle, sheep, goats, 
        swine, or equine animals used for food or in the production of 
        food,
            (4) the term ``person'' has the meaning given such term in 
        subsection (a) of the 1st section of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 
        12(a)),
            (5) the term ``poultry'' means chickens, turkeys, ducks, 
        geese, or other domestic fowl used for food or in the 
        production of food, and
            (6) the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
        Agriculture.
                                 <all>