[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1620 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1620

To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to exempt from inspection the 
 slaughter of animals and the preparation of carcasses conducted at a 
           custom slaughter facility, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 22, 2019

  Mr. King (for himself, Mr. Paul, and Mr. Alexander) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                  Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to exempt from inspection the 
 slaughter of animals and the preparation of carcasses conducted at a 
           custom slaughter facility, 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 ``Processing Revival and Intrastate 
Meat Exemption Act'' or the ``PRIME Act''.

SEC. 2. EXEMPTION FOR SLAUGHTER AND PREPARATION OCCURRING AT CUSTOM 
              SLAUGHTER FACILITIES.

    Section 23 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 623) is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (b), (c), and (d) as 
        subsections (c), (d), and (e), respectively;
            (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the following:
    ``(b) Exemption for Slaughter and Preparation Occurring at Custom 
Slaughter Facilities.--
            ``(1) Definition of state.--In this subsection, the term 
        `State' means any State or Territory.
            ``(2) Exemption.--The provisions of this title requiring 
        inspection of the slaughter of animals and the preparation of 
        the carcasses, parts thereof, meat, and meat food products at 
        establishments conducting those operations for commerce shall 
        not apply to the slaughtering by any person of animals at a 
        custom slaughter facility and the preparation at that custom 
        slaughter facility and transportation in commerce of the 
        carcasses, parts thereof, meat, and meat food products of those 
        animals if--
                    ``(A) the slaughtering and preparation carried out 
                at the custom slaughter facility is carried out in 
                accordance with the law of the State in which the 
                custom slaughter facility is located; and
                    ``(B) the animals are slaughtered and the 
                carcasses, parts thereof, meat, and meat food products 
                of the animals are prepared exclusively for 
                distribution to--
                            ``(i) household consumers within the State 
                        in which the custom slaughter facility is 
                        located; or
                            ``(ii) restaurants, hotels, boarding 
                        houses, grocery stores, or other establishments 
                        located in the State in which the custom 
                        slaughter facility is located that--
                                    ``(I) are involved in the 
                                preparation of meals served directly to 
                                consumers; or
                                    ``(II) offer meat and meat food 
                                products for sale directly to consumers 
                                in the State.''; and
            (3) in subsection (c) (as so redesignated), in the second 
        sentence, by striking ``paragraph (b)'' and inserting 
        ``subsection''.

SEC. 3. NO PREEMPTION OF STATE LAW.

    Nothing in an amendment made by section 2 preempts any State law 
relating to--
            (1) the slaughter of animals or the preparation of 
        carcasses, parts thereof, meat, and meat food products at a 
        custom slaughter facility; or
            (2) the sale of meat or meat food products.
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