II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1532 

To amend title 18 of the United States Code to criminalize acts of 

agroterrorism, and to enhance the protection of the United States agricultural industry and food security through the increased prevention, 

detection, response and recovery planning. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 28, 2005 

Mr. SPECTER (for himself and Mr. GRASSLEY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend title 18 of the United States Code to criminalize 

acts of agroterrorism, and to enhance the protection 

of the United States agricultural industry and food security through the increased prevention, detection, response 

and recovery planning. 

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Agroterrorism Preven5 tion Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 
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1 (1) the United States agriculture and food sys2 tems are vulnerable to biological agents that may be 

3 used in acts of terrorism; 

4 (2) the United States agriculture and food sys5 tem is an extensive, open, interconnected, diverse, 

6 and complex structure providing potential targets for 

7 terrorist attacks that could have catastrophic health 

8 and economic impacts; 

9 (3) the intentional use of agricultural disease 

10 agents to attack United States agriculture threatens 

11 an industry that accounts for approximately 13 per12 cent of the gross domestic product of the United 

13 States, and accounts for 8 percent of the United 

14 States export market; 

15 (4) the economic impact of even a small-scale 

16 agroterrorist attack affecting only a few farms with17 in a region could be measured in multi-millions of 

18 dollars, including the costs of eradication, recovery, 

19 market repercussions, production losses, and trade 

20 implications; 

21 (5) the agricultural and food industries are vul22 nerable to deliberate disruption through malicious 

23 acts; 

24 (6) risk factors affecting the spread of an agri25 cultural disease include— 
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1 (A) concentrated and intensive use of con2 temporary farming practices; 

3 (B) the use of rapid transportation sys4 tems for delivery of agricultural commodities; 

5 (C) the lack of farm and food production 

6 security and surveillance; and 

7 (D) the lack of ability to conduct rapid 

8 diagnostics and forensics analysis; 

9 (7) as with human health and bioterrorism pre10 paredness, enhancing current monitoring and re11 sponse mechanisms to deal with a deliberate act of 

12 agricultural terrorism would strengthen the ability of 

13 the United States to diagnose and respond quickly 

14 to any agricultural disease or health crisis; 

15 (8) activities to ensure the biosecurity of farms 

16 are an important tool in preventing— 

17 (A) the intentional introduction of an agri18 cultural disease; and 

19 (B) the spread of an introduced agricul20 tural disease into an outbreak; 

21 (9) in the event of an agricultural disease, the 

22 Department of Agriculture and the Department of 

23 State will need the support and resources of other 

24 Federal, State, and local agencies and volunteer or-
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1 ganizations that carry out traditional emergency 

2 management and response functions; 

3 (10) State and local partners would need assist4 ance to implement their role in the response func5 tion; 

6 (11) States and communities also require as7 sistance to prepare and plan for agricultural disas8 ters; and 

9 (12) the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 

10 through the Animal and Plant Health Inspection 

11 Service, should incorporate the Incident Command 

12 System in all agricultural disaster emergency re13 sponse plans. 

14 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

15 In this Act: 

16 (1) AGRICULTURE.—The term ‘‘agriculture’’ in17 cludes— 

18 (A) the science and practice of activities 

19 relating to food, feed, and fiber production, 

20 processing, marketing, distribution, use, and 

21 trade; 

22 (B) family and consumer science, nutri23 tion, food science and engineering, agricultural 

24 economics, and other social sciences; and 
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1 (C) forestry, wildlife science, fishery 

2 science, aquaculture, floraculture, veterinary 

3 medicine, and other environmental and natural 

4 resource sciences. 

5 (2) AGROTERRORISM.—The term 

6 ‘‘agroterrorism’’ means the commission of an 

7 agroterrorist act. 

8 (3) AGROTERRORIST ACT.—The term 

9 ‘‘agroterrorist act’’ means a criminal act consisting 

10 of causing, financing, or attempting to cause dam11 age or harm to, or destruction or contamination of, 

12 a crop, livestock, raw agricultural commodity, food 

13 product, farm or ranch equipment, a material, any 

14 other property associated with agriculture, or a per15 son engaged in agricultural activity, that is com16 mitted to— 

17 (A) intimidate or coerce a civilian popu18 lation; 

19 (B) influence the policy of a government 

20 by intimidation or coercion; or 

21 (C) disrupt interstate commerce or foreign 

22 commerce of the United States agricultural in23 dustry. 

24 (4) BIOSECURITY.—The term ‘‘biosecurity’’— 
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1 (A) means protection from the risks posed 

2 by biological, chemical, or radiological agents 

3 to— 

4 (i) plant or animal health; 

5 (ii) the agricultural economy; 

6 (iii) the environment; and 

7 (iv) human health; and 

8 (B) includes the exclusion, eradication, and 

9 control of biological agents that cause agricul10 tural disease. 

11 (5) AGRICULTURAL DISEASE.—The term ‘‘agri12 cultural disease’’ means an outbreak of a plant or 

13 animal disease, or a pest infestation, that requires 

14 prompt action in order to prevent injury or damage 

15 to people, plants, livestock, property, the economy, 

16 or the environment. 

17 SEC. 4. AGROTERRORISM. 

18 Chapter 113B of title 18, United States Code, is 

19 amended by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘§ 2339D. Agroterrorism 

21 ‘‘(a) OFFENSE.—Any person who knowingly devel22 ops, produces, stockpiles, transfers, acquires, possesses, or 

23 uses any biological agent, toxin, or delivery system in fur24 therance of or in the commission of an act causing damage 

25 or harm to, or destruction or contamination of a crop, live-
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1 stock, raw agricultural commodity, food product, farm or 

2 ranch equipment, material, or any other property associ3 ated with agriculture, or a person engaged in agricultural 

4 activity, that is committed to— 

5 ‘‘(1) intimidate or coerce a civilian population; 

6 ‘‘(2) influence the policy of a government by in7 timidation or coercion; and 

8 ‘‘(3) disrupt interstate commerce or foreign 

9 commerce of the United States agricultural industry, 

10 shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any terms 

11 of years or for life. 

12 ‘‘(b) ENHANCED PENALTY IF DEATH RESULTS.—If 

13 a death results from a violation of subsection (a) and such 

14 killing constitutes a murder (as defined in section 

15 1111(a)), the person shall be punished by death, fined 

16 under this title, or imprisoned for a term of 10 years to 

17 life.’’. 

18 SEC. 5. PREPAREDNESS. 

19 (a) FINDINGS.—The United States should protect the 

20 agriculture and food system from terrorist attacks, major 

21 disasters, and other emergencies by— 

22 (1) identifying and prioritizing sector-critical in23 frastructure and key resources for establishing pro24 tection requirements; 
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1 (2) developing awareness and early warning ca2 pabilities to recognize threats; 

3 (3) mitigating vulnerabilities at critical produc4 tion and processing nodes; 

5 (4) enhancing screening procedures for domes6 tic and imported products, especially seed sources 

7 and reproductive germplasm; and 

8 (5) enhancing response and recovery proce9 dures. 

10 (b) MONITORING AND SURVEILLANCE ENHANCE11 MENT.—The Secretary of Homeland Security, the Sec12 retary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the 

13 Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Adminis14 trator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the 

15 heads of other appropriate Federal departments and agen16 cies, shall build upon and expand current monitoring and 

17 surveillance programs to— 

18 (1) develop robust, comprehensive, and fully co19 ordinated surveillance and monitoring systems, in20 cluding international information, for animal dis21 ease, plant disease, wildlife disease, and food safety 

22 that provides early detection and awareness of dis23 ease, pest, or poisonous agents; 

24 (2) develop systems that confidentially track 

25 specific animals, commodities, and food; 
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1 (3) develop nationwide laboratory networks for 

2 food, veterinary, and plant health that— 

3 (A) integrate existing Federal and State 

4 laboratory resources; 

5 (B) are interconnected; 

6 (C) utilize standardized diagnostic proto7 cols and procedures; and 

8 (D) are capable of providing forensic evi9 dence; and 

10 (4) ensure that border inspectors and agents 

11 are adequately trained in agricultural security as a 

12 first line of defense. 

13 (c) INTELLIGENCE ENHANCEMENT.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, the 

15 Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of 

16 National Intelligence, in coordination with the Sec17 retary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Health and 

18 Human Services, and the Administrator of the Envi19 ronmental Protection Agency, shall develop and en20 hance intelligence operations and analysis capabili21 ties focusing on the agriculture and food sectors of 

22 the United States, including the collection and anal23 ysis of information concerning threats, delivery sys24 tems, and methods that could be directed against 
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1 such sectors, especially on seed production and re2 productive germplasm. 

3 (2) STUDY AND REPORT.—The Secretary of 

4 Homeland Security shall— 

5 (A) assess the ability of the Department of 

6 Homeland Security to coordinate activities to 

7 effectively address plant and animal food secu8 rity of the United States agriculture industry; 

9 and 

10 (B) submit a report to Congress describing 

11 the results of the assessment under subpara12 graph (A) not less than 120 days after the date 

13 of enactment of this Act. 

14 (d) VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENTS.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agri16 culture, the Secretary of Health and Human Serv17 ices, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall 

18 expand and continue vulnerability assessments of the 

19 agriculture and food sectors. 

20 (2) REQUIREMENTS; UPDATES.—The vulner21 ability assessments described in paragraph (1)— 

22 (A) shall identify requirements of the Na23 tional Infrastructure Protection Plan developed 

24 by the Secretary of Homeland Security; and 

25 (B) shall be updated every 2 years. 
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1 (e) STATE PLANS.— 

2 (1) DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION.— 

3 The Secretary of Agriculture, in consultation with 

4 the Director of the Federal Emergency Management 

5 Agency, shall assist States and counties in devel6 oping and implementing State plans for the preven7 tion, response, and recovery from outbreaks of agri8 cultural diseases. 

9 (2) MODEL.—Any plans developed under para10 graph (1) shall be modeled after the State Animal 

11 Response Team. 

12 (f) REGIONAL AND NATIONAL RESPONSE PLANS.— 

13 The Secretary of Agriculture shall assist States in devel14 oping regional and national response plans to carry out 

15 this section. 

16 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

17 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this sec18 tion— 

19 (1) $12,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; and 

20 (2) such sums as are necessary for each fiscal 

21 year thereafter. 

22 SEC. 6. PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN AND BIOSECURITY. 

23 (a) PUBLIC AWARENESS.—The Secretary of Agri24 culture, in coordination with Cooperative State Research 

25 Education and Extension Service and the Natural Re-
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1 sources Conservation Service, shall establish a public 

2 awareness campaign for farmers, ranchers, and other agri3 cultural producers that emphasizes— 

4 (1) the need for heightened biosecurity on 

5 farms; and 

6 (2) the reporting of agricultural disease anoma7 lies. 

8 (b) ON-FARM BIOSECURITY.—Not later than 240 

9 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

10 of Agriculture, in consultation with associations of agricul11 tural producers and after considering research conducted 

12 under the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and 

13 Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.), 

14 shall— 

15 (1) develop guidelines to— 

16 (A) improve the monitoring of vehicles and 

17 materials entering or leaving farm or ranch op18 erations; and 

19 (B) control human traffic entering or leav20 ing farm or ranch operations; and 

21 (2) disseminate such guidelines to agricultural 

22 producers through agricultural education seminars 

23 and biosecurity training sessions. 

24 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

2 appropriated to carry out this section— 

3 (A) $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; and 

4 (B) such sums as may be necessary for fis5 cal year 2007 and each fiscal year thereafter. 

6 (2) EDUCATION PROGRAM.—Of the amounts 

7 made available pursuant to paragraph (1), the Sec8 retary of Agriculture may use such sums as are nec9 essary to establish in each State an education pro10 gram to distribute the biosecurity guidelines devel11 oped under subsection (b)(1). 

12 SEC. 7. RESPONSE AND RECOVERY. 

13 (a) DEVELOPMENT OF PROGRAM.— 

14 (1) VETERINARY STOCKPILE AND PLANT DIS15 EASE RECOVERY SYSTEM.—The Secretary of Agri16 culture, through the Animal, Plant, Health, and In17 spection Service, in coordination with the Secretary 

18 of Homeland Security, and in consultation with the 

19 Secretary of Health and Human Services and the 

20 Administrator of the Environmental Protection 

21 Agency, shall work with States, units of local gov22 ernment, and the private sector to develop— 

23 (A) a National Veterinary Stockpile— 

24 (i) containing sufficient amounts of 

25 animal vaccine, antiviral, and therapeutic 
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1 products to appropriately respond to the 

2 most damaging animal diseases affecting 

3 human health and the economy; 

4 (ii) that will be capable of deployment 

5 within 24 hours of an outbreak; and 

6 (iii) that leverages the mechanisms 

7 and infrastructure that have been devel8 oped for the management, storage, and 

9 distribution of the Strategic National 

10 Stockpile; 

11 (B) a National Plant Disease Recovery 

12 System— 

13 (i) capable of responding to a high14 consequence plant disease with pest control 

15 measures, and the use of resistant seed va16 rieties within a single growing season to 

17 sustain a reasonable level of production for 

18 economically important crops; 

19 (ii) that utilizes the genetic resources 

20 contained in the U.S. National Plant 

21 Germplasm System and the scientific capa22 bilities of the Federal-State-industry agri23 cultural research and extension system; 

24 and 
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1 (iii) that includes emergency planning 

2 for the use of resistant seed varieties and 

3 pesticide control measures to prevent, slow, 

4 or stop the spread of a high-consequence 

5 plant disease, such as wheat smut and soy6 bean rust. 

7 (2) NATIONAL BIODEFENSE LABORATORIES.— 

8 The Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination 

9 with the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of 

10 Defense, the Secretary of Health and Human Serv11 ices, the Secretary of the Interior and the Adminis12 trator of the Environmental Protection Agency, shall 

13 submit a report to Congress that— 

14 (A) describes the feasibility and need for 

15 modernizing or replacing current federal BL3 

16 and BL4 laboratories responsible for research, 

17 technology development, diagnostic, and foren18 sic activities on plant and animal diseases, in19 cluding zoonotic animal diseases that are a 

20 threat to United States agriculture; and 

21 (B) contains an assessment of the capa22 bility of States to diagnose and conduct ne23 cropsy as first responders to animal diseases 

24 that threaten United States agriculture. 
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1 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this sec3 tion— 

4 (1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2006; and 

5 (2) such sums as may be necessary for fiscal 

6 year 2007 and each fiscal year thereafter. 

7 SEC. 8. ELECTION OF ARBITRATION. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 9, United 

9 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 17. LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY CONTRACTS. 

12 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

13 ‘‘(1) LIVESTOCK.—The term ‘livestock’ has the 

14 meaning given the term in section 2(a) of the Pack15 ers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 U.S.C. 182(a)). 

16 ‘‘(2) LIVESTOCK OR POULTRY CONTRACT.—The 

17 term ‘livestock or poultry contract’ means any 

18 growout contract, marketing agreement, or other ar19 rangement under which a livestock or poultry grower 

20 raises and cares for livestock or poultry. 

21 ‘‘(3) LIVESTOCK OR POULTRY GROWER.—The 

22 term ‘livestock or poultry grower’ means any person 

23 engaged in the business of raising and caring for 

24 livestock or poultry in accordance with a livestock or 
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1 poultry contract, whether the livestock or poultry is 

2 owned by the person or by another person. 

3 ‘‘(4) POULTRY.—The term ‘poultry’ has the 

4 meaning given the term in section 2(a) of the Pack5 ers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 U.S.C. 182(a)). 

6 ‘‘(b) CONSENT TO ARBITRATION.—If a livestock or 

7 poultry contract provides for the use of arbitration to re8 solve a controversy under the livestock or poultry contract, 

9 arbitration may be used to settle the controversy only if, 

10 after the controversy arises, both parties consent in writ11 ing to use arbitration to settle the controversy. 

12 ‘‘(c) EXPLANATION OF BASIS FOR AWARDS.—If arbi13 tration is elected to settle a dispute under a livestock or 

14 poultry contract, the arbitrator shall provide to the parties 

15 to the contract a written explanation of the factual and 

16 legal basis for the award.’’. 

17 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 

18 The table of sections for chapter 1 of title 9, United States 

19 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘Sec. 17. Livestock and poultry contracts.’’. 

20 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

21 subsection (a) shall apply to a contract entered into, 

22 amended, altered, modified, renewed, or extended after the 

23 date of enactment of this Act. 

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