[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2068 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2068

    To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to establish a 
voluntary program for country of origin labeling of meat, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 4, 2005

Mr. Goodlatte (for himself, Mr. Berry, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Hayes, Mr. Scott 
 of Georgia, Mr. Bonilla, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Boehner, Mr. Etheridge, 
  Mr. Cantor, Mr. Gutknecht, Mr. Ross, Mr. Kingston, Mr. Snyder, Mr. 
 Neugebauer, Mr. Ortiz, Mr. Latham, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Doolittle, Mrs. 
   Emerson, Mr. Conaway, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Manzullo, Mr. Kennedy of 
  Minnesota, Mr. Pence, Mr. Shimkus, Mr. Graves, Mr. Thornberry, Mr. 
  Oxley, Mr. Weller, Mr. McHenry, Mr. Westmoreland, Ms. Foxx, and Mr. 
    Kline) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to establish a 
voluntary program for country of origin labeling of meat, 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 ``Meat Promotion Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. VOLUNTARY PROGRAM FOR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELING FOR MEAT.

    (a) Establishment.--The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 
U.S.C. 1621 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

           ``Subtitle E--Country of Origin Labeling for Meat

``SEC. 291. DEFINITIONS.

    ``In this subtitle:
            ``(1) Beef.--The term `beef' means meat produced from 
        cattle (including veal).
            ``(2) Covered meat product.--The term `covered meat 
        product' means ground beef, ground pork, ground lamb, and fresh 
        muscle cuts of beef, pork, and lamb.
            ``(3) Lamb.--The term `lamb' means meat produced from 
        sheep.
            ``(4) Pork.--The term `pork' means meat produced from 
        swine.
            ``(5) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary 
        of Agriculture.

``SEC. 292. VOLUNTARY PROGRAM.

    ``The Secretary of Agriculture shall establish a voluntary program 
of country of origin labeling for covered meat products.

``SEC. 293. LABEL.

    ``For purposes of the program established under section 292, the 
Secretary shall--
            ``(1) design a label to be used to designate the country of 
        origin of covered meat products; and
            ``(2) require persons participating in the program to use 
        the label designed under paragraph (1), or such other label as 
        the Secretary determines appropriate, to designate the country 
        of origin of covered meat products.

``SEC. 294. LIMITATION ON USE OF UNITED STATES AS COUNTRY OF ORIGIN.

    ``A person participating in the program established under section 
292 may not designate a covered meat product as having the United 
States as the country of origin unless the covered meat product is 
derived exclusively from--
            ``(1) an animal born, raised, and slaughtered in the United 
        States; or
            ``(2) an animal born and raised in Alaska or Hawaii, 
        transported for a period not to exceed 60 days outside of those 
        States, and slaughtered in the United States.

``SEC. 295. VERIFICATION.

    ``The Secretary may require participants in the program established 
under section 292 to maintain a recordkeeping audit trail that will 
permit the Secretary to verify compliance with the program.

``SEC. 296. ENFORCEMENT.

    ``(a) Civil Penalty.--
            ``(1) Assessment.--The Secretary may assess a civil penalty 
        against a participant in the program established under section 
        292 that purposely or knowingly violates the terms of the 
        program.
            ``(2) Amount of penalty.--The amount of the civil penalty 
        assessed under paragraph (1) may not exceed $10,000 for each 
        violation.
            ``(3) Continuing violation.--Each day during which a 
        violation of the program continues shall be considered to be a 
        separate violation.
    ``(b) Notice and Hearing.--The Secretary shall not assess a civil 
penalty under this section against a person unless the person is given 
notice and opportunity for a hearing in accordance with section 554 of 
title 5, United States Code, with respect to the violation for which 
the person is being assessed.

``SEC. 297. REGULATIONS.

    ``Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of the 
Meat Promotion Act of 2005, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations 
to carry out the program established under section 292.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Subtitle D of the Agricultural 
Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1638 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) in the heading to read as follows:

     ``Subtitle D--Country of Origin Labeling for Fish, Perishable 
                Agricultural Commodities, and Peanuts''.

            (2) in section 281--
                    (A) by striking paragraphs (1), (5), and (7);
                    (B) in paragraph (2)(A)--
                            (i) by striking clauses (i) and (ii); and
                            (ii) by redesignating clauses (iii), (iv), 
                        (v), and (vi) as clauses (i), (ii), (iii), and 
                        (iv), respectively; and
                    (C) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), (4), (6), 
                (8), and (9) as paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), and 
                (6), respectively; and
            (3) in section 282--
                    (A) in subsection (a)(2)--
                            (i) by striking subparagraphs (A) and (B); 
                        and
                            (ii) by redesignating subparagraphs (C), 
                        (D), and (E) as subparagraphs (A), (B), and 
                        (C), respectively; and
                    (B) in subsection (f)(2)--
                            (i) by striking subparagraphs (A), (B), and 
                        (C); and
                            (ii) by redesignating subparagraphs (D) and 
                        (E) as subparagraphs (A) and (B).
                                 <all>