I 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4284 

To amend the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 to make it unlawful for 

a packer to own, feed, or control livestock intended for slaughter. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 28, 2012 

Mr. BRALEY of Iowa introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 to make 

it unlawful for a packer to own, feed, or control livestock 

intended for slaughter. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. PROHIBITION ON PACKERS OWNING, FEEDING, 

4 OR CONTROLLING LIVESTOCK. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 202 of the Packers and 

6 Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 U.S.C. 192) is amended— 

7 (1) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as 

8 subsections (g) and (h), respectively; and 

9 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol10 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘(f) Own or feed livestock directly, through a sub2 sidiary, or through an arrangement that gives the packer 

3 operational, managerial, or supervisory control over the 

4 livestock, or over the farming operation that produces the 

5 livestock, to such an extent that the producer is no longer 

6 materially participating in the management of the oper7 ation with respect to the production of the livestock, ex8 cept that this subsection shall not apply to— 

9 ‘‘(1) an arrangement entered into within 7 days 

10 (excluding any Saturday or Sunday) before slaugh11 ter of the livestock by a packer, a person acting 

12 through the packer, or a person that directly or indi13 rectly controls, or is controlled by or under common 

14 control with, the packer; 

15 ‘‘(2) a cooperative or entity owned by a cooper16 ative, if a majority of the ownership interest in the 

17 cooperative is held by active cooperative members 

18 that— 

19 ‘‘(A) own, feed, or control livestock; and 

20 ‘‘(B) provide the livestock to the coopera21 tive for slaughter; 

22 ‘‘(3) a packer that is not required to report to 

23 the Secretary on each reporting day (as defined in 

24 section 212 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 

25 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635a)) information on the price 


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1 and quantity of livestock purchased by the packer; 

2 or 

3 ‘‘(4) a packer that owns 1 livestock processing 

4 plant; or’’. 

5 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

7 the amendments made by subsection (a) take effect 

8 on the date of enactment of this Act. 

9 (2) TRANSITION RULES.—In the case of a pack10 er that on the date of enactment of this Act owns, 

11 feeds, or controls livestock intended for slaughter in 

12 violation of section 202(f) of the Packers and Stock13 yards Act, 1921 (as amended by subsection (a)), the 

14 amendments made by subsection (a) apply to the 

15 packer— 

16 (A) in the case of a packer of swine, begin17 ning on the date that is 18 months after the 

18 date of enactment of this Act; and 

19 (B) in the case of a packer of any other 

20 type of livestock, beginning as soon as prac21 ticable, but not later than 180 days, after the 

22 date of enactment of this Act, as determined by 

23 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

Æ 


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