I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 719

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 12, 2003

Mr. BOSWELL (for himself, Mr. LEACH, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. NUSSLE, Mr. 

POMEROY, Mr. JANKLOW, and Mr. BEREUTER) 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 
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1 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol2 lowing new subsection (f): 

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 one livestock proc6 essing 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 added by subsection (a)), such 

16 section shall not apply to the packer—

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

18 the end of the 18-month period beginning on 

19 the date of the enactment of this Act; and 

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

21 type of livestock, until such date as the Sec22 retary of Agriculture considers practicable, but 

23 not later than 180 days after the date of the 

24 enactment of this Act.

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