[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6042 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6042

To amend the Animal Health Protection Act to prohibit the Secretary of 
    Agriculture from implementing or carrying out a National Animal 
    Identification System or similar requirement and to require the 
  Secretary to protect information obtained as part of any voluntary 
                     animal identification system.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 7, 2006

 Mrs. Emerson introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Animal Health Protection Act to prohibit the Secretary of 
    Agriculture from implementing or carrying out a National Animal 
    Identification System or similar requirement and to require the 
  Secretary to protect information obtained as part of any voluntary 
                     animal identification system.

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

SECTION 1. PROHIBITION ON MANDATORY ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION PROGRAM.

    Section 10409 of the Animal Health Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 8308) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) Prohibition on Mandatory Animal Identification Program.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary shall not 
implement or carry out, and no Federal funds shall be used to implement 
or carry out, a National Animal Identification System, or similar 
requirement, that mandates the participation of livestock owners.''.

SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF INFORMATION IN A VOLUNTARY ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION 
              SYSTEM.

    Section 10409 of the Animal Health Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 8308) 
(as amended by section 1) is amended by adding at the end the 
following:
    ``(d) Protection of Information in a Voluntary Animal 
Identification System.--
            ``(1) Definition of animal identification system.--In this 
        subsection, the term `animal identification system' means a 
        voluntary system for identifying or tracing animals that is 
        established by the Secretary.
            ``(2) Protection from disclosure.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Information obtained through the 
                animal identification system shall not be disclosed 
                except as provided in this subsection.
                    ``(B) Waiver of privilege or protection.--The 
                provision of information to the animal identification 
                system and the disclosure of information in accordance 
                with this subsection shall not constitute a waiver of 
                any applicable privilege or protection under Federal 
                law, including trade secret protection.
            ``(3) Limited release of information.--The Secretary may 
        disclose information obtained through the animal identification 
        system if--
                    ``(A) the Secretary determines that livestock may 
                be threatened by a disease or pest;
                    ``(B) the release of the information is related to 
                actions the Secretary is authorized to take under this 
                subtitle; and
                    ``(C) the Secretary determines that the disclosure 
                of the information to a government entity or person is 
                necessary to assist the Secretary in carrying out the 
                purposes of--
                            ``(i) this subtitle; and
                            ``(ii) the animal identification system.
            ``(4) Mandatory disclosure of information.--The Secretary 
        shall disclose information obtained through the animal 
        identification system regarding particular animals to--
                    ``(A) the person who owns or controls the animals, 
                if the person requests the information in writing;
                    ``(B) the Attorney General for the purpose of law 
                enforcement;
                    ``(C) the Secretary of Homeland Security for the 
                purpose of homeland security;
                    ``(D) the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
                for the purpose of protecting the public health;
                    ``(E) an entity pursuant to an order of a court of 
                competent jurisdiction; and
                    ``(F) the government of a foreign country if 
                disclosure of the information is necessary to trace 
                animals that pose a disease or pest threat to livestock 
                or a danger to human health, as determined by the 
                Secretary.
            ``(5) Prohibition on disclosure under state or local law.--
        Any information relating to animal identification that a State 
        or local government obtains from the Secretary shall not be 
        made available by the State or local government pursuant to 
        State or local law requiring disclosure of information or 
        records to the public.''.
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