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.

Amends the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 to prohibit livestock packers from owning, controlling, or feeding livestock to such an extent that the producer no longer materially participates in the management of the operation, with exceptions for: (1) animals held for not more than seven days before slaughter; (2) certain cooperatives that own, control or feed livestock and provide such livestock for slaughter; (3) packers that are not required to report price and quantity information on each reporting day; or (4) packers that own one livestock processing plant.

[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2141 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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.

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

SECTION 1. PROHIBITION ON PACKERS OWNING, FEEDING, OR CONTROLLING 
              LIVESTOCK.

    (a) In General.--Section 202 of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 
1921 (7 U.S.C. 192), is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (f) and (g) as subsections 
        (g) and (h), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the following:
    ``(f) Own or feed livestock directly, through a subsidiary, or 
through an arrangement that gives the packer operational, managerial, 
or supervisory control over the livestock, or over the farming 
operation that produces the livestock, to such an extent that the 
producer is no longer materially participating in the management of the 
operation with respect to the production of the livestock, except that 
this subsection shall not apply to--
            ``(1) an arrangement entered into within 7 days (excluding 
        any Saturday or Sunday) before slaughter of the livestock by a 
        packer, a person acting through the packer, or a person that 
        directly or indirectly controls, or is controlled by or under 
        common control with, the packer;
            ``(2) a cooperative or entity owned by a cooperative, if a 
        majority of the ownership interest in the cooperative is held 
        by active cooperative members that--
                    ``(A) own, feed, or control livestock; and
                    ``(B) provide the livestock to the cooperative for 
                slaughter;
            ``(3) a packer that is not required to report to the 
        Secretary on each reporting day (as defined in section 212 of 
        the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635a)) 
        information on the price and quantity of livestock purchased by 
        the packer; or
            ``(4) a packer that owns 1 livestock processing plant; 
        or''.
    (b) Effective Date.--
            (1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), the amendments 
        made by subsection (a) take effect on the date of enactment of 
        this Act.
            (2) Transition rules.--In the case of a packer that on the 
        date of enactment of this Act owns, feeds, or controls 
        livestock intended for slaughter in violation of section 202(f) 
        of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (as amended by 
        subsection (a)), the amendments made by subsection (a) apply to 
        the packer--
                    (A) in the case of a packer of swine, beginning on 
                the date that is 18 months after the date of enactment 
                of this Act; and
                    (B) in the case of a packer of any other type of 
                livestock, beginning as soon as practicable, but not 
                later than 180 days, after the date of enactment of 
                this Act, as determined by the Secretary of 
                Agriculture.
                                 <all>