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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2792 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2792
To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to require the
Secretary of Agriculture to procure a minimum amount of meat and
poultry products from small meat processors and to develop a digital
livestock exchange platform, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 13, 2023
Mr. Fetterman introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to require the
Secretary of Agriculture to procure a minimum amount of meat and
poultry products from small meat processors and to develop a digital
livestock exchange platform, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Strengthening Local Meat Economies
Act of 2023''.
SEC. 2. PROCUREMENT OF MEAT AND POULTRY.
Subtitle A of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1621
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 210B. PROCUREMENT OF MEAT AND POULTRY.
``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Digital livestock exchange platform.--The term
`digital livestock exchange platform' has the meaning given the
term in section 210C(a).
``(2) Eligible processor.--The term `eligible processor'
means a livestock or poultry processor that--
``(A) is engaged in the slaughter of livestock or
poultry;
``(B)(i) employs fewer than 150 full-time
employees; or
``(ii) processes less than 1,000,000 total pounds
of meat food product and poultry product per month;
``(C) is not owned or in partnership with any
entity that--
``(i) employs 150 or more full-time
employees; or
``(ii) processes 1,000,000 total pounds or
more of meat food product and poultry product
per month; and
``(D) is not owned or in partnership with any
foreign entity.
``(3) Livestock.--The term `livestock' means cattle, sheep,
swine, and goats, whether alive or dead.
``(4) Meat food products.--The term `meat food products'
has the meaning given the term in section 2(a) of the Packers
and Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 U.S.C. 182).
``(5) Poultry.--The term `poultry' has the meaning given
the term in section 4 of the Poultry Products Inspection Act
(21 U.S.C. 453).
``(6) Poultry product.--The term `poultry product' has the
meaning given the term in section 4 of the Poultry Products
Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 453).
``(7) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary
of Agriculture.
``(b) Procurement Requirements.--In procuring meat food products
and poultry products for the Department of Agriculture, the Secretary--
``(1) shall increase procurement of meat food products and
poultry products from eligible processors--
``(A) in the first fiscal year that begins on or
after the date that is 1 year after the date of
enactment of this section, by an amount that is the
greater of--
``(i) $50,000,000; and
``(ii) 50 percent of the amount spent in
the previous fiscal year for that procurement;
and
``(B) in the first fiscal year following the fiscal
year described in subparagraph (A), by an amount that
is the greater of--
``(i) $100,000,000; and
``(ii) 75 percent of the amount spent in
the previous fiscal year for that procurement;
``(2) shall, in each fiscal year following the fiscal year
described in paragraph (1)(B), procure not less than 20 percent
of meat food products and poultry products from eligible
processors;
``(3) shall establish procurement contracts for the
procurement increases under paragraphs (1) and (2) through a
digital livestock exchange platform;
``(4) notwithstanding any other provision of law, shall not
accept the lowest possible bid on a meat food products or
poultry products procurement contract if that acceptance would
result in prices that would not be commercially viable for
eligible processors, as determined by the Secretary in
consultation with the advisory board established under section
210C(g) and using the data described in section 210C(d)(4);
``(5) shall post competitive or sole source contracts
exclusively to eligible processors through a digital livestock
exchange platform;
``(6) shall determine fair market price for meat food
products and poultry products processed by eligible processors
(taking into account product attributes such as organic,
regenerative, and high-welfare) through the price reporting
expertise of the Secretary; and
``(7) shall prioritize procurement from--
``(A) enterprises owned by beginning farmers or
ranchers, socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers,
or veteran farmers or ranchers (as those terms are
defined in section 2501(a) of the Food, Agriculture,
Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C.
2279(a)));
``(B) enterprises that--
``(i) source at least 51 percent of their
livestock, poultry, meat food products, or
poultry products from producers or processors
within a 250-mile radius;
``(ii) exclusively sell meat food products
or poultry products with a label of the
Department of Agriculture designating the
product as a product of the United States, if
such label exists; or
``(iii) purchase at least 51 percent of
their livestock, poultry, meat food products,
or poultry products to fulfill Federal
procurement contracts through a digital
livestock exchange platform; and
``(C) enterprises with labor agreements.
``(c) Interagency Assistance.--The Secretary shall assist other
Federal agencies seeking to procure meat food products and poultry
products by--
``(1) sharing information about the 1 or more digital
livestock exchange platforms;
``(2) offering technical assistance on how to utilize a
digital livestock exchange platform; and
``(3) facilitating through a digital livestock exchange
platform procurement contract opportunities with eligible
processors.
``(d) Offset.--Of amounts available to the Secretary for
procurement in a fiscal year, the Secretary shall use not less than
$35,000,000 to carry out procurement in accordance with this section.
``(e) Outreach.--The Secretary shall conduct outreach, and provide
technical assistance, to eligible processors and producers of meat food
products and poultry products seeking procurement contracts with the
Federal Government.
``(f) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of
this section, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report that--
``(1) describes all procurement of meat food products and
poultry products by the Department of Agriculture during the
preceding 5 years, including--
``(A) the companies that those products were
sourced from; and
``(B) by disaggregating information by categories
of slaughter volume and processed volume; and
``(2)(A) analyzes barriers to eligible processors engaging
in procurement contracts with the Department of Agriculture;
and
``(B) makes recommendations on how to remove those
barriers.''.
SEC. 3. DIGITAL LIVESTOCK EXCHANGE PLATFORM.
Subtitle A of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1621
et seq.) (as amended by section 2) is amended by adding at the end the
following:
``SEC. 210C. DIGITAL LIVESTOCK EXCHANGE PLATFORM.
``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Digital livestock exchange platform.--The term
`digital livestock exchange platform' means a digital
application or website that fulfills the purposes and
activities described in subsection (d).
``(2) Eligible processor.--The term `eligible processor'
has the meaning given the term in section 210B(a).
``(3) Formula price.--
``(A) In general.--The term `formula price' means
any price term that establishes a base from which a
purchase price is calculated on the basis of a price
that will not be determined or reported until a date
that is after the date on which the forward price is
established.
``(B) Exclusions.--The term `formula price' does
not include--
``(i) any price term that establishes a
base from which a purchase price is calculated
on the basis of a futures market price; or
``(ii) any adjustment to the base for
quality, grade, or other factors relating to
the value of livestock that are readily
verifiable market factors and are outside the
control of the packer.
``(4) Forward contract.--The term `forward contract' means
an oral or written contract for the purchase of livestock that
provides for the delivery of the livestock to a packer at a
date that is more than 7 days after the date on which the
contract is entered into, without regard to whether the
contract is for--
``(A) a specified lot of livestock; or
``(B) a specified number of livestock over a
certain period of time.
``(5) Livestock.--The term `livestock' means cattle, sheep,
swine, and goats, whether alive or dead.
``(6) Meat food products.--The term `meat food products'
has the meaning given the term in section 2(a) of the Packers
and Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 U.S.C. 182).
``(7) Poultry.--The term `poultry' has the meaning given
the term in section 4 of the Poultry Products Inspection Act
(21 U.S.C. 453).
``(8) Poultry product.--The term `poultry product' has the
meaning given the term in section 4 of the Poultry Products
Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 453).
``(9) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary
of Agriculture, acting through the Administrator of the
Agricultural Marketing Service.
``(b) Establishment.--The Secretary shall enter into cooperative
agreements with entities (including private entities, nonprofit
organizations, and small businesses) to develop, as determined by the
Secretary--
``(1) a single digital livestock exchange platform; or
``(2) multiple digital livestock exchange platforms by
region.
``(c) Status as Market Agency.--A digital livestock exchange
platform shall be a market agency (as defined in section 301 of the
Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 U.S.C. 201), except that livestock
in paragraph (1) of that section shall include poultry) for purposes of
that Act.
``(d) Purposes and Activities of Platform.--A digital livestock
exchange platform shall--
``(1) facilitate open access to online cash transfer and
open bidding on forward contracts and procurement contracts
between--
``(A) livestock and poultry producers;
``(B) livestock and poultry producers and eligible
processors;
``(C) livestock and poultry producers or eligible
processors and institutional, private sector, and
government buyers; and
``(D) distributors of meat food products and
poultry products to institutional, private sector, and
government buyers;
``(2) facilitate ease of access to--
``(A) Federal procurement opportunities for
eligible processors and producers of meat food products
and poultry products; and
``(B) subcontracting opportunities by private
entities fulfilling Federal meat food products and
poultry products procurement contracts;
``(3) facilitate connection between producers and eligible
processors offering copacking services, so that producers may
fulfill governmental, retail, restaurant, or institutional
contracts directly;
``(4) facilitate reporting by the Secretary of regional
agricultural prices while ensuring data privacy and data
ownership for individual digital livestock exchange platform
participants;
``(5) provide open-source access for producers to a tool
that allows producers to enhance the traceability of their
product attributes;
``(6) aim to prevent manipulation within markets subject to
the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 U.S.C. 191 et seq.),
and transactions across the livestock and poultry industry; and
``(7) test the value of new forms of technology, including
distributed ledger and smart contract technologies, in
livestock and poultry market platforms and supply chains, to
accomplish the objectives described in paragraphs (1) through
(6).
``(e) Compliant Forward Contracts.--
``(1) In general.--In effectuating any sale of livestock on
a digital livestock exchange platform, it shall be unlawful to
use a forward contract that--
``(A) does not contain a firm base price that may
be equated to a fixed dollar amount on the date on
which the forward contract is entered into;
``(B) is not offered for bid in an open, public
manner under which--
``(i) buyers and sellers have the
opportunity to participate in the bid;
``(ii) more than 1 blind bid is solicited;
and
``(iii) buyers and sellers may witness bids
that are made and accepted;
``(C) is based on a formula price; or
``(D) provides for the sale of livestock in a
quantity in excess of 50 animals.
``(2) Penalties.--Any participant that violates paragraph
(1) shall--
``(A) be barred from participation in a digital
livestock exchange platform or for consideration for
any Federal meat food product or poultry product
procurement contract; and
``(B) forfeit any existing Federal meat food
product or poultry product procurement contract for the
5-year period following the violation.
``(f) Prohibited Participation.--
``(1) Daily harvest volume.--A meatpacker that has a daily
harvest volume that is more than 5 percent of the national
daily harvest volume may not participate in a digital livestock
exchange platform, including by posting subcontracting
opportunities on the digital livestock exchange platform.
``(2) Eligible processors.--A meatpacker that is not an
eligible processor may not participate in a digital livestock
exchange platform, including by posting subcontracting
opportunities on the digital livestock exchange platform.
``(g) Outreach.--The Secretary shall conduct outreach through
extension services regarding the availability and use of a digital
livestock exchange platform.
``(h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be
appropriated to the Secretary to carry out subsection (b) $2,000,000,
to remain available until expended.''.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
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