II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2141 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 29, 2012 

Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself, Mr. CONRAD, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, 

and Mr. HARKIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

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 


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1 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol2 lowing: 

3 ‘‘(f) Own or feed livestock directly, through a sub4 sidiary, or through an arrangement that gives the packer 

5 operational, managerial, or supervisory control over the 

6 livestock, or over the farming operation that produces the 

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

8 materially participating in the management of the oper9 ation with respect to the production of the livestock, ex10 cept that this subsection shall not apply to— 

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

12 (excluding any Saturday or Sunday) before slaugh13 ter of the livestock by a packer, a person acting 

14 through the packer, or a person that directly or indi15 rectly controls, or is controlled by or under common 

16 control with, the packer; 

17 ‘‘(2) a cooperative or entity owned by a cooper18 ative, if a majority of the ownership interest in the 

19 cooperative is held by active cooperative members 

20 that— 

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

22 ‘‘(B) provide the livestock to the coopera23 tive for slaughter; 

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

25 the Secretary on each reporting day (as defined in 


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1 section 212 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 

2 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635a)) information on the price 

3 and quantity of livestock purchased by the packer; 

4 or 

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

6 plant; or’’. 

7 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

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

9 the amendments made by subsection (a) take effect 

10 on the date of enactment of this Act. 

11 (2) TRANSITION RULES.—In the case of a pack12 er that on the date of enactment of this Act owns, 

13 feeds, or controls livestock intended for slaughter in 

14 violation of section 202(f) of the Packers and Stock15 yards Act, 1921 (as amended by subsection (a)), the 

16 amendments made by subsection (a) apply to the 

17 packer— 

18 (A) in the case of a packer of swine, begin19 ning on the date that is 18 months after the 

20 date of enactment of this Act; and 

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

22 type of livestock, beginning as soon as prac23 ticable, but not later than 180 days, after the 


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1 date of enactment of this Act, as determined by 

2 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

Æ 


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