I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4713 

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 

FEBRUARY 8, 2006 

Mr. BOSWELL 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) PROHIBITION.—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 new subsection (f): 
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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 one livestock proc4 essing 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 added by subsection (a)), such 

14 section shall not apply to the packer— 

15 (A) in the case of a packer of swine, until 

16 the end of the 18-month period beginning on 

17 the date of the enactment of this Act; and 

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

19 type of livestock, until such date as the Sec20 retary of Agriculture considers practicable, but 

21 not later than 180 days after the date of the 

22 enactment of this Act. 

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