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STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 59th Legislature (2023)
SENATE BILL 66 By: Young
AS INTRODUCED
An Act relating to sow farms; creating the Oklahoma
Rural Investment for Sow Farms Act of 2023; providing
short title; establishing duties for the Oklahoma
Rural Investment for Sow Farms Program; authorizing
expenditures; requiring promulgation of certain
rules; creating the Oklahoma Rural Inve stment for Sow
Farms Revolving Fund; providing for expenditures;
providing for codification; and pro viding an
effective date.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Sect ion 5087.1 of Title 74, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
This act shall be known and may be c ited as the “Oklahoma Rural
Investment for Sow Farms Act of 2023 ”.
SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Sect ion 5087.2 of Title 74, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
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A. The Oklahoma Department of Commerce is hereby authorized to
establish and administer the Oklahoma Rural In vestment for Sow Farms
Program.
B. The purpose of the Oklahoma Rural Investment for Sow Farms
Program is to create investment and jobs in the p ig industry that
align with traditional farming animal care values and to offs et the
costs of compliance with st ate and federal regulation s of
agriculture facilitie s that currently use extreme confinement
gestation stalls or crates for pregnant pigs, throug h the allocation
of funds to farms, cooperatives, b usiness entities, and other
agricultural entities to:
1. Update breeding sow pig facilities currently using
individual gestation crates (typically measuring six and six-tenths
[6.6] feet by two [2] feet per sow) into group housing pens, o f a
minimum thirty-seven and six-tenths (37.6) square feet of usable
floor space per sow, for pregn ant pigs;
2. Fund complete removal of gestation crates;
3. Fund renovation of existing space and construction of group
housing pens of a minimum thirty-seven and six-tenths (37.6) square
feet of usable space per pregnant sow pig, and related structures,
meeting Humane Farm Animal Car e size minimum space standard s; and
4. Fund training of workers on methods of Humane Farm Animal
Care standards for group housing techniques for pregnant pigs.
C. The Program shall consist of the following categories:
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1. Removal of gestation crates;
2. Installation of group housing pens and related technology;
3. Training of management teams on humane methods, technology,
and humane husbandry skills;
4. Pledge from grant recipient that all uses of individual
gestation crates shall be phased out permanently and in perpetuity
within three (3) years of accepting funds. Evidence of gestation
crate use at any point in the future shall require all grant funds
to be returned to this state. The pledge applies to all breeding
sow pig entities, corporations, cooperatives, and farms associated
with an individual applicant;
5. Additional rebates and incentives for participating farms
that make the complete conversions within on e (1) year of grant
application approval, to be established by the Department i n its
regulations governing the program, based on a per sow scheme; and
6. Credits per sow for sow farms of four pigs or more with pre -
existing group, pasture -raised, hoop barns, or Certified Humane
housing, prior to November 1, 2023.
D. The Oklahoma Department of Commerce shall promulgate rules
governing the Oklahoma Rural Investment for Sow Farms Program.
SECTION 3. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes a s Section 5087.3 of Title 74, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
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A. There is hereby created in the State Treasury a revolving
fund for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce to be designate d the
“Oklahoma Rural Investment for Sow Farms Revolving Fund”. The fund
shall be a continuing fund, not subject to fiscal year limitations,
and shall consist of all monies received by the Oklahoma Department
of Commerce to implement and maintain the Okla homa Rural Investment
for Sow Farms Program.
B. The Oklahoma Rural Investment for Sow Farms Revolving Fund
shall consist of:
1. Money received by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce in the
form of a one-time forty-seven-million-dollar appropriation
allocated by the State of Oklahoma for renovation and improvement of
breeding sow pig housi ng facilities and such other monies
specifically designated for the Oklahoma Rural Investment for Sow
Farms Program. All monies accruing to the credit of the fund are
hereby appropriated and may be budge ted and expended by the Oklahoma
Department of Commerce for the Oklahoma Rural Investment for Sow
Farms Program; and
2. Interest attributable to investment of money in the fund.
C. All appropriations received by the Depa rtment pursuant to
the provisions of this section shall be deposited with the State
Treasurer to be created or credited to the Oklahoma Rural Investment
for Sow Farms Revolving Fund. Expenditures from the fund shall be
made upon warrants issued by the Sta te Treasurer against claims
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filed as prescribed by law with the Director of the Office of
Management and Enterprise Services for approval and payment.
D. The monies deposited in the fund shall at no time become
part of the general budget of the Department or any other state
agency. Except for any administration costs incurred in developme nt
and implementation of the Oklahoma Rural Investment for Sow Farms
Program, no monies from the fund shall be transferred for any
purpose to any other state agency or to any account of the Oklahoma
Department of Commerce or be used for the purpose of cont racting
with any other state agency or reimbursing any other state agency
for any expense.
SECTION 4. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codifie d
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Sect ion 5087.4 of Title 74, unless there
is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. The Oklahoma Department of Commerce shall require eligible
applicants to submit information, forms , and reports as are
necessary to properly and efficiently a dminister the Oklahoma Rural
Investment for Sow Farms Program.
B. Persons may apply to the Department for grant funds in
accordance with rules promulgated by the Oklahom a Department of
Commerce. Applications for grant fu nds shall be approved or denied
by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce in accordance w ith criteria
promulgated by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce pursuant to the
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Oklahoma Rural Investment for Sow Farms Program and hewin g to the
standards set forth by H umane Farm Animal Care.
C. Grant funds may be made available to eligible applicants
pursuant to evaluation by the Depart ment based on the following
criteria:
1. Preference may be given to the applicants whose:
a. swine operations are licensed or register ed with this
state,
b. employee or contractor qualifications include career -
tech certification, or higher education degre es,
including associate degrees , or
c. commitment to humane treatment of farm animals, with
respect to their lives and habits, has been
demonstrated; or, desire to commit to humane
facilities for pregnant pigs has been well documented
and expressed; and
2. Consideration shall not be given to applications for:
a. the construction of individual gestation crates,
farrowing crates, or any fa rm facilities unrelated to
the humane housing of breeding sow pigs ,
b. farms outside of this state,
c. individual or group pens smaller than thirty-seven and
six-tenths (37.6) square feet of usable floor space
per sow pig,
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d. facilities, companies, farms, and cooperatives that
will or plan to co-produce or co-locate pregnant sow
pigs in confinement gestation stalls in o ther or
associated barns in this state,
e. facilities, companies, farms, and cooperatives th at do
not pledge to phase out completely and in perpetuity
within three (3) years of grant application date , or
f. entities, facilities, corporations, or farms less than
three (3) years old as of November 1, 202 3.
D. 1. Any information subm itted to or compiled by the Oklahoma
Department of Commerce wi th respect to the financial statem ents,
trade secrets, or any other proprietary inform ation of persons,
firms, associations, partnerships , agencies, corporations,
institutions of higher education, nonpro fit research institutions ,
or other entities pursuant to the Oklahoma Rural Investment for Sow
Farms Program shall not be disclosed pursuan t to the Oklahoma Open
Records Act or in public hea rings and shall be kept confidential ,
except to the extent that the person or entity which provided such
information or which is the subject of such info rmation consents to
disclosure.
2. An independent committee of reviewers, no fewer than three
and no more than seven, comprised entirely a nd equally of qualified
veterinarians, farmers, and experienced animal wellbeing ex perts,
appointed by the Governor, shall be designated to analyze and
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recommend projects for approval by the Oklahoma Department of
Commerce. This review committee shall not be exemp t from the
Oklahoma Open Meeting Act.
SECTION 5. This act shall become effective November 1, 2023.
59-1-1348 JES 12/20/2022 3:50:56 PM