II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2522

To amend the Federal Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to regulate the commercial transportation of horses for slaughter, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 6 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 12), 1994

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

referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

A BILL

To amend the Federal Humane Methods of Livestock

Slaughter Act to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture

to regulate the commercial transportation of horses for

slaughter, and for other purposes.

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

3 That this Act may be cited as the ‘‘Humane and Safe

4 Commercial Transportation of Horses for Slaughter Act

5 of 1994’’.

6 SEC. 2. The Act of August 27, 1958, as amended (7

7 U.S.C. 1901–1906) is amended by inserting as a second

8 title the following:
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1 ‘‘TITLE II—COMMERCIAL TRANSPORTATION OF

2 HORSES FOR SLAUGHTER

3 ‘‘SEC. 201. In order to ensure that horses sold for

4 slaughter are provided humane treatment and care it is

5 essential to regulate the transportation, care, handling,

6 and treatment of horses by any person engaged in the

7 commercial transportation of horses for slaughter.

8 ‘‘SEC. 202. When used in this title—

9 ‘‘(a) the term ‘person’ means an individual,

10 partnership, firm, company, corporation, or associa11 tion;

12 ‘‘(b) the term ‘Secretary’ means the Secretary

13 of Agriculture of the United States or his represent14 ative who shall be an employee of the United States

15 Department of Agriculture;

16 ‘‘(c) the term ‘commercial transportation’

17 means trade, traffic, commerce and transportation

18 among the several States, or between any State, ter19 ritory, possession, or the District of Columbia, or

20 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any place

21 outside thereof; or between points within the same

22 State, territories, or possession, or the District of

23 Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, but

24 through any place outside thereof; or within any ter25 ritory, possession, or the District of Columbia;
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1 ‘‘(d) the terms ‘horse’, ‘horses’, and ‘equine’ in2 clude all members of the family Equidae; and

3 ‘‘(e) the term ‘vehicle’ means any machine,

4 truck, tractor, trailer, or semitrailer, or any com5 bination thereof, propelled or drawn by mechanical

6 power and used upon the highways in the commer7 cial transportation of horses for slaughter.

8 ‘‘SEC. 203. (a) The Secretary shall promulgate by

9 rule, within six months after the date of enactment of this

10 title, standards to govern the humane commercial trans11 portation of horses for slaughter. Such standards shall in12 clude minimum requirements with respect to the humane

13 handling care, treatment, and equipment necessary to en14 sure the safe and humane transportation of horses for

15 slaughter.

16 ‘‘(b) The standards to be promulgated pursuant to

17 subsection (a) herein shall require, at a minimum, that:

18 ‘‘(1) No horse shall be transported for more

19 than 24 hours without being unloaded from the vehi20 cle and allowed to rest for at least 8 consecutive

21 hours and given access to adequate quantities of

22 food and potable water.

23 ‘‘(2) Vehicles shall provide headroom of at least

24 six feet, six inches from roof or beams or other

25 structural members overhead to floor underfoot.
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1 ‘‘(3) Vehicle interiors shall be free of protru2 sions and sharp edges or objects, all ramps and

3 floors shall be covered with a nonskid surface, and

4 shall be maintained in a sanitary condition.

5 ‘‘(4) Vehicles shall provide adequate ventilation

6 and shelter from extremes of weather and tempera7 ture for all equines; shall be of appropriate size and

8 interior design for the number of equines being car9 ried, to prevent overcrowding; shall allow for the po10 sition of horses by sex and size; and shall be

11 equipped with doors and ramps of sufficient size and

12 location to provide for safe loading and unloading,

13 including unloading during emergencies.

14 ‘‘(5) All horses transported for slaughter must

15 be fit to travel. No horse shall be transported for

16 slaughter if it is found, on pre-shipment inspection,

17 to be in imminent danger of death; to be suffering

18 from a broken or dislocated limb; to be unable to

19 bear weight on all four limbs; to be blind in both

20 eyes; or to be obviously suffering from severe illness,

21 injury, lameness or physical debilitation that would

22 make the animal unable to withstand the stresses of

23 transportation.

24 ‘‘SEC. 204. (a) Any person engaging in the commer25 cial transportation of a horse for slaughter shall establish
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1 and maintain such records, make such reports, and pro2 vide such information as the Secretary may by regulation

3 reasonably require for the purposes of implementing or de4 termining compliance with this chapter. Such records shall

5 include, at a minimum, the names and addresses of cur6 rent owners and consignors, if utilized, of the horses at

7 the time of sale or consignment to slaughter, and the bill

8 of sale or other documentation of sale for each horse. Such

9 records must accompany the horse during transport to

10 slaughter.

11 ‘‘(b) Such records shall be retained by any person en12 gaging in the commercial transportation of a horse for

13 slaughter for a reasonable period of time determined by

14 the Secretary, and upon request of an officer or employee

15 duly designated by the Secretary, shall be made available

16 at all reasonable times for inspection and copying (on or

17 off the premises) by the Secretary or his authorized rep18 resentative.

19 ‘‘SEC. 205. When construing or enforcing the provi20 sions of this title, the act, omission, or failure of any per21 son acting for or employed by any person engaging in the

22 commercial transportation of horses for slaughter, within

23 the scope of his employment or office, shall be deemed the

24 act, omission, or failure of the person engaging in the com-
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1 mercial transportation of horses for slaughter as well as

2 of such person.

3 ‘‘SEC. 206. The Secretary is authorized to establish

4 cooperative agreements and to enter into memorandums

5 of agreement with appropriate Federal and State agencies

6 or political subdivisions thereof, including but not limited

7 to State departments of agriculture and State law enforce8 ment agencies, as well as foreign governments, to carry

9 out and enforce the provisions of this title.

10 ‘‘SEC. 207. (a) The Secretary shall make such inves11 tigations or inspections as they deem necessary for pur12 poses of enforcement of this chapter, including any regula13 tion issued thereunder.

14 ‘‘(b) For the purposes of making investigations or in15 spections required under subsection (a), the Secretary

16 shall at all reasonable times have access to the place of

17 business of any person engaged in the commercial trans18 portation of horses for slaughter; to the facilities and vehi19 cles used to transport the horses; and to those records re20 quired to be kept pursuant to section 204. Such investiga21 tions and inspections shall include at a minimum an in22 spection by employees of the Secretary of all horses and

23 vehicles carrying horses, upon their arrival at the slaugh24 ter facility. The Secretary shall also conduct such inves25 tigations as may be appropriate pursuant to information
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1 regarding alleged violations of this title provided to him

2 by State officials.

3 ‘‘(c) The Secretary shall promulgate such rules and

4 regulations as be deems necessary to permit employees of

5 the Department of Agriculture to destroy in a human

6 manner any horse found to be suffering as a result of a

7 failure to comply with any provision of this title or any

8 regulation issued thereunder.

9 ‘‘SEC. 208. Any person who forcibly assaults, resists,

10 opposes, impedes, intimidates, or interferes with any per11 son while engaged in or on account of the performance

12 of his official duties under this title shall be fined not more

13 than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than three years or

14 both. Whoever, in the commission of such acts, uses a

15 deadly or dangerous weapon shall be fined not more than

16 $10,000 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

17 ‘‘SEC. 209. The United States district courts, the

18 District Court of Guam, the District Court of the Virgin

19 Islands, the highest court of Samoa, and the United States

20 courts of the other territories, are vested with jurisdiction

21 to specifically enforce, and to prevent and restrain viola22 tions of this title, and shall have jurisdiction in all other

23 kinds of cases arising under this title, except as provided

24 in section 209(b) of this title.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 210. (a) Any person who violates any provision

2 of this Act, or any rule, regulation or standard promul3 gated by the Secretary thereunder, shall be assessed a civil

4 penalty by the Secretary of not more than $2,000 for each

5 violation. Each violation and each day under which a viola6 tion continues shall constitute a separate offense. No pen7 alty shall be assessed unless such person is given notice

8 and opportunity for a hearing with respect to the alleged

9 violation, and the order of the Secretary assessing a pen10 alty shall be final and conclusive unless the affected person

11 files an appeal from the Secretary’s order with the appro12 priate United States court of appeals. Upon any failure

13 to pay the penalty assessed by a final order under this

14 section, the Secretary shall request the Attorney General

15 to institute a civil action in a district court of the United

16 States or other United States court for any district in

17 which such person is found or resides or transacts busi18 ness, to collect the penalty, and such court shall have ju19 risdiction to hear and decide any such action.

20 ‘‘(b) Any person aggrieved by a final order of the Sec21 retary issued pursuant to this section may, within days

22 after entry of such an order, seek review of such order

23 in the appropriate United States Court of Appeals and

24 such Court shall have exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set
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1 aside, suspend (in whole or in part) or to determine the

2 validity of the Secretary’s order.

3 ‘‘(c) Any person who knowingly violates any provision

4 of this Act shall, on conviction thereof, be subject to im5 prisonment for not more than one year or a fine of not

6 more than $2,000, or both. Upon conviction of a second

7 or subsequent offense, a person shall be subject to impris8 onment for not more than three years or to a fine of not

9 more than $5,000, or both.

10 ‘‘SEC. 211. The Secretary is authorized to promul11 gate such rules, regulations, and orders as he may deem

12 necessary in order to effectuate the purposes of this title.

13 ‘‘SEC. 212. If any provision of this title or the appli14 cation of any such provision to any person or cir15 cumstances shall be held invalid, the remainder of this title

16 and the application of any such provision to persons or

17 circumstances other than those as to which it is held in18 valid shall not be affected thereby.

19 ‘‘SEC. 213. There is authorized to be appropriated

20 to the Secretary to carry out the provision of this title

21 such sums as are necessary for the fiscal year beginning

22 October 1, 1994.’’.

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