II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 272
To establish the Office of High-Risk AFO Disaster Mitigation and
Enforcement in the Department of Agriculture, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY2, 2023
Mr. B
OOKER(for himself, Ms. WARREN, and Mr. SCHATZ) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agri-
culture, Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To establish the Office of High-Risk AFO Disaster Mitiga-
tion and Enforcement in the Department of Agriculture,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3
(a) S
HORTTITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4
‘‘Industrial Agriculture Accountability Act of 2023’’. 5
(b) T
ABLE OFCONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6
this Act is as follows: 7
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Definition of Secretary.
Sec. 3. Findings.
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TITLE I—HIGH-RISK AFO DISASTER MITIGATION AND
ENFORCEMENT
Sec. 101. Definitions.
Subtitle A—Department of Agriculture
Sec. 111. Office of High-Risk AFO Disaster Mitigation and Enforcement.
Sec. 112. Registration of high-risk AFOs.
Sec. 113. Covered industrial operator responsibilities and liabilities.
Sec. 114. Restriction on certain methods of depopulation.
Sec. 115. Reports.
Sec. 116. Civil actions.
Subtitle B—Department of Labor
Sec. 121. Definitions.
Sec. 122. Minimum labor standards for covered workers and affected contract
growers.
Sec. 123. Prohibition on the use of incarcerated workers.
TITLE II—GRANT AND PILOT PROGRAMS
Sec. 201. Definitions.
Sec. 202. Controlled-atmosphere stunning transition program.
Sec. 203. Pilot program for increased accessibility to inspection and technical
assistance for eligible processing facilities.
TITLE III—HUMANE HANDLING REFORMS
Subtitle A—Transport
Sec. 311. Transportation of livestock and poultry.
Sec. 312. Higher-welfare transport research funding.
Subtitle B—Nonambulatory Livestock
Sec. 321. Unlawful slaughter practices involving nonambulatory livestock.
Sec. 322. Unlawful use of drugs contributing to nonambulatory conditions.
Sec. 323. Inclusion of poultry in Humane Methods of Slaughter Act.
Subtitle C—Inspections
Sec. 331. Definitions.
Sec. 332. Ending dangerous higher-speed slaughter and self-inspection systems.
Sec. 333. Funding for additional OSHA inspectors.
Sec. 334. Funding for additional FSIS inspectors.
SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF SECRETARY.
1
In this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec-2
retary of Agriculture. 3
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 4
Congress finds that— 5
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(1) factory farms owned or controlled by indus-1
trial operators— 2
(A) lack systemic resilience; 3
(B) present significant risks, particularly 4
in the event of a disaster; and 5
(C) negatively impact— 6
(i) farmed animals, who suffer tre-7
mendously from cruel depopulation meth-8
ods and without meaningful disaster miti-9
gation efforts; 10
(ii) meat and poultry processing work-11
ers, who are subjected to exploitative con-12
ditions and abusive behavior by employers 13
in depopulation situations— 14
(I) including— 15
(aa) being required to spend 16
long hours, over days or weeks, 17
mass-killing farmed animals; and 18
(bb) being terminated fol-19
lowing the completion of a de-20
population event, without finan-21
cial support; and 22
(II) that lead to long-term psy-23
chological impacts, including increased 24
feelings of anger and stress; and 25
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(iii) neighboring communities and the 1
environment, including through— 2
(I) flood waters overrunning ma-3
nure lagoons resulting in ecological 4
degradation in the form of soil, sur-5
face, and groundwater contamination; 6
(II) algae blooms; and 7
(III) wildlife population crashes; 8
(2)(A) since 2019, more than 60,000,000 poul-9
try and 10,000,000 swine have been depopulated; 10
and 11
(B) those massive cullings are often conducted 12
using incredibly inhumane practices including ven-13
tilation shutdown, ventilation shutdown plus, sodium 14
nitrite poisoning, and water-based foaming (as those 15
terms are defined in section 114(a)); 16
(3) since 2019, industrial operators put slaugh-17
terhouse workers in jeopardy and cost taxpayers mil-18
lions of dollars; 19
(4) industrial operators continue to experience 20
record profits, including a 300-percent growth in 21
profits during the COVID–19 pandemic; 22
(5) industrial operators have created a system 23
that allows for the inhumane handling of non-24
ambulatory livestock (as defined in section 3(a) of 25
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Public Law 85–765 (commonly known as the ‘‘Hu-1
mane Methods of Slaughter Act of 1958’’)) that 2
causes needless suffering, unsafe working conditions, 3
and the spread of foodborne and zoonotic diseases; 4
(6) industrial operators have abused the use of 5
certain drugs that increase the risk of livestock be-6
coming nonambulatory livestock (as so defined); 7
(7) slaughterhouse deregulation and decreased 8
Federal oversight of meat and poultry slaughter pose 9
significant risks to workers, consumers, and animals; 10
(8) Federal humane slaughter laws currently 11
exempt 98 percent of animals slaughtered for food; 12
(9) current Federal animal transport laws are 13
ineffective and inherently cruel; and 14
(10) Federal support is needed to create a level 15
playing field for farmers engaged in higher-welfare 16
practices who are struggling to compete in a highly 17
monopolized market controlled by industrial opera-18
tors. 19
TITLE I—HIGH-RISK AFO DIS-20
ASTER MITIGATION AND EN-21
FORCEMENT 22
SEC. 101. DEFINITIONS. 23
In this title: 24
(1) A
NIMAL FEEDING OPERATION ; AFO.— 25
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(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘animal feed-1
ing operation’’ or ‘‘AFO’’ means a single lot or 2
facility at which— 3
(i) for not less than a total of 45 days 4
in any 12-month period, animals (other 5
than aquatic animals) are— 6
(I) stabled or confined; and 7
(II) fed or maintained; and 8
(ii) crops, vegetation, forage growth, 9
or postharvest residues are not sustained 10
in the normal growing season over any por-11
tion of the lot or facility. 12
(B) M
ULTIPLE LOTS.—For purposes of 13
subparagraph (A), 2 or more lots or facilities 14
described in that subparagraph shall be consid-15
ered to be a single animal feeding operation if 16
the lots or facilities— 17
(i) are located within 3 miles of each 18
other; and 19
(ii) are under common ownership or 20
control. 21
(C) E
XCLUSION.—The term ‘‘animal feed-22
ing operation’’ or ‘‘AFO’’ does not include a 23
pasture-based livestock or poultry production 24
system in which animals— 25
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(i) are primarily raised on pasture, 1
grassland, or other vegetative environ-2
ments; 3
(ii) have the ability to exercise spe-4
cies-specific natural behaviors; and 5
(iii) have access to appropriate shel-6
ter, healthy vegetation, potable water, and 7
adequate protection from predators. 8
(2) C
OVERED INDUSTRIAL OPERATOR .—The 9
term ‘‘covered industrial operator’’ means an indi-10
vidual or entity that owns or controls not less than 11
the following number of livestock or poultry, as ap-12
plicable, that are housed in an AFO at a single point 13
in time: 14
(A) 2,500 swine. 15
(B) 30,000 turkeys or ducks. 16
(C) 82,000 laying hens or broilers. 17
(3) D
EPOPULATION.—The term ‘‘depopulation’’ 18
means the rapid destruction of a population of ani-19
mals in response to urgent circumstances. 20
(4) D
ISASTER EVENT.—The term ‘‘disaster 21
event’’ means— 22
(A) a public health emergency declared by 23
the Secretary of Health and Human Services 24
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under section 319 of the Public Health Service 1
Act (42 U.S.C. 247d); 2
(B) a major disaster declared by the Presi-3
dent under section 401 of the Robert T. Staf-4
ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 5
Act (42 U.S.C. 5170); 6
(C) a disaster designated by the Secretary 7
pursuant to part 759 of title 7, Code of Federal 8
Regulations (or successor regulations); and 9
(D) a quarantine designated by the Sec-10
retary pursuant to the Plant Protection Act (7 11
U.S.C. 7701 et seq.) or animal quarantine laws. 12
(5) H
IGH-RISK AFO.—The term ‘‘high-risk 13
AFO’’ means an AFO that houses livestock or poul-14
try owned or controlled by a covered industrial oper-15
ator. 16
(6) O
FFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the Of-17
fice of High-Risk AFO Disaster Mitigation and En-18
forcement established under section 111. 19
Subtitle A—Department of 20
Agriculture 21
SEC. 111. OFFICE OF HIGH-RISK AFO DISASTER MITIGA-22
TION AND ENFORCEMENT. 23
The Secretary shall establish an office within the De-24
partment of Agriculture, to be known as the ‘‘Office of 25
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High-Risk AFO Disaster Mitigation and Enforcement’’, 1
which shall carry out or enforce, as applicable, sections 2
112 through 115. 3
SEC. 112. REGISTRATION OF HIGH-RISK AFOS. 4
(a) R
EGISTRATIONREQUIREMENT.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—A covered industrial oper-6
ator shall be required to register with the Office 7
prior to selling, buying, or transferring livestock, 8
poultry, or any product derived from livestock or 9
poultry across State lines. 10
(2) I
NFORMATION.—In registering with the Of-11
fice under paragraph (1), a covered industrial oper-12
ator shall submit to the Office— 13
(A) identifying information about the cov-14
ered industrial operator, including the location, 15
animal type, and peak inventory animal totals 16
for all high-risk AFOs owned or controlled by 17
the covered industrial operator; and 18
(B) a standard disaster mitigation plan 19
that includes— 20
(i) a description of the type, location, 21
and extent of all potential disaster events 22
that can affect livestock or poultry housed 23
in a high-risk AFO, including information 24
on previous occurrences of disaster events 25
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and the probability of future disaster 1
events; 2
(ii) a plan to ensure that animals do 3
not go without necessary resources such as 4
shelter, food, and water during an extreme 5
weather event; 6
(iii) a plan to increase flexibility and 7
resiliency, including— 8
(I) identifying ways to house ani-9
mals past their intended slaughter 10
date; and 11
(II) alternative slaughter and 12
processing arrangements, including 13
contracting with small-scale Depart-14
ment of Agriculture, State-certified, 15
or mobile operations with existing ca-16
pacity, in the event of supply chain 17
disruptions; 18
(iv) a plan for accessing necessary re-19
sources, personal protective equipment, 20
and labor to carry out depopulation in 21
ways that most rapidly render animals un-22
conscious in the event that depopulation is 23
unavoidable; 24
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(v) a plan for disposal of any deceased 1
animals that— 2
(I) satisfies requirements under 3
all relevant Federal, State, and local 4
environmental and public health laws; 5
and 6
(II) does not rely on unlined bur-7
ial or onsite incineration; and 8
(vi) other information, as determined 9
appropriate by the Secretary. 10
(3) A
NNUAL SUBMISSION.—A covered industrial 11
operator that is registered with the Office pursuant 12
to this subsection shall submit to the Office the in-13
formation described in paragraph (2) on an annual 14
basis. 15
(4) R
ESTRICTED FUNDS FOR PLAN .—A covered 16
industrial operator shall not, in developing a stand-17
ard disaster mitigation plan described in paragraph 18
(2)(B), use any Federal funds, including funds pro-19
vided under the environmental quality incentive pro-20
gram under subchapter A of chapter 4 of subtitle D 21
of title XII of the Food Security Act of 1985 (16 22
U.S.C. 3839aa et seq.). 23
(b) D
ISASTERMITIGATIONMAINTENANCEFEE.— 24
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(1) IN GENERAL.—A covered industrial oper-1
ator registered under subsection (a) shall pay to the 2
Office an annual fee by January 15 of each year for 3
each high-risk AFO owned or controlled by the cov-4
ered industrial operator. 5
(2) T
OTAL AMOUNT OF FEES .—The amount of 6
the fee required under paragraph (1)— 7
(A) shall be determined by the Secretary in 8
a manner that will ensure that the total amount 9
of fees collected for each fiscal year shall suffi-10
ciently fund the activities of the Office for that 11
fiscal year; but 12
(B) shall not be less than $1 per animal 13
unit (as defined by the Administrator of the 14
Environmental Protection Agency) for each fis-15
cal year. 16
(3) R
ESTRICTION.—A covered industrial oper-17
ator may not reduce wages or grower payments in 18
order to derive the amount of the fee required under 19
paragraph (1). 20
(c) H
IGH-RISKAFO DISASTERMITIGATION ANDEN-21
FORCEMENTFUND.— 22
(1) E
STABLISHMENT.—There is established in 23
the Treasury of the United States a fund, to be 24
known as the ‘‘High-Risk AFO Disaster Mitigation 25
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and Enforcement Fund’’ (referred to in this sub-1
section as the ‘‘Fund’’). 2
(2) S
OURCE; USE.—All moneys derived from 3
fees collected by the Office under subsection (b) 4
shall be deposited in the Fund and made available 5
to the Secretary, without fiscal year limitation, to 6
offset costs relating to— 7
(A) the administrative costs associated 8
with operating the Office and technical assist-9
ance offered by staff of the Office; 10
(B) creating the national stockpile pursu-11
ant to section 114(c)(2); 12
(C) enforcement actions against covered 13
industrial operators that do not comply with 14
this subtitle; and 15
(D) any other activities determined by the 16
Secretary. 17
SEC. 113. COVERED INDUSTRIAL OPERATOR RESPONSIBIL-18
ITIES AND LIABILITIES. 19
A covered industrial operator shall be responsible and 20
liable for, with respect to each high-risk AFO owned or 21
controlled by the covered industrial operator, all costs as-22
sociated with activities related to disaster events or de-23
population of livestock or poultry, including— 24
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(1) procuring resources for depopulation of live-1
stock or poultry, including from the national stock-2
pile described in section 114(c)(2); 3
(2) disposal of deceased animals that— 4
(A) satisfies requirements under all rel-5
evant Federal, State, and local environmental 6
and public health laws; and 7
(B) does not rely on unlined burial or on-8
site incineration; 9
(3) compensation for contract growers and 10
workers, as provided in subtitle B; 11
(4) compensation for any adverse health im-12
pacts, property value diminution, and loss of use and 13
enjoyment of property suffered by neighboring resi-14
dents of the high-risk AFO; and 15
(5) other costs determined by the Secretary. 16
SEC. 114. RESTRICTION ON CERTAIN METHODS OF DE-17
POPULATION. 18
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 19
(1) R
ESTRICTED PRACTICE .—The term ‘‘re-20
stricted practice’’ means— 21
(A) sodium nitrite poisoning; 22
(B) ventilation shutdown; 23
(C) ventilation shutdown plus; 24
(D) water-based foaming; and 25
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(E) any other method identified by the 1
Secretary. 2
(2) S
ODIUM NITRITE POISONING .—The term 3
‘‘sodium nitrite poisoning’’ means a method of ani-4
mal depopulation that involves feeding the toxic sub-5
stance sodium nitrite to animals, causing changes to 6
the blood that prevent delivery of oxygen to tissues 7
and result in prolonged respiratory distress prior to 8
loss of consciousness. 9
(3) V
ENTILATION SHUTDOWN .—The term ‘‘ven-10
tilation shutdown’’ means a method of animal de-11
population that involves sealing a building in which 12
animals are confined, shutting inlets, and turning off 13
fans in order to raise the temperature in the build-14
ing until the animals die from hyperthermia or hy-15
poxia, including ventilation shutdown plus. 16
(4) V
ENTILATION SHUTDOWN PLUS .—The term 17
‘‘ventilation shutdown plus’’ means a ventilation 18
shutdown method that involves the use of additional 19
heat or humidity. 20
(5) W
ATER-BASED FOAMING .—The term 21
‘‘water-based foaming’’ means a method of animal 22
depopulation that involves pumping foam con-23
centrate combined with water into a building in 24
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which animals are confined until the animals die 1
from hypoxia. 2
(b) R
ESTRICTIONS; CIVILPENALTY.—Notwith-3
standing any other provision of law, beginning 1 year after 4
the date of enactment of this Act, a covered industrial op-5
erator that uses 1 or more restricted practices for any 6
event of depopulation of livestock or poultry on a high- 7
risk AFO owned or controlled by the covered industrial 8
operator, as determined by the Office— 9
(1) shall not be eligible for any Federal contract 10
for a period of 10 years beginning on that date; 11
(2) shall not be eligible for inspection of any fa-12
cility owned or controlled by the covered industrial 13
operator pursuant to the Federal Meat Inspection 14
Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) or the Poultry Products 15
Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.), as applica-16
ble, for a period of 10 years beginning on that date; 17
and 18
(3) shall be assessed a civil penalty of up to 19
$1,000 per animal per act of depopulation, with con-20
sideration given to the appropriateness of the pen-21
alty with respect to the gravity of the violation and 22
the good faith of the covered industrial operator. 23
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(c) STANDARDS AND RESOURCES.—Not later than 1 1
year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 2
shall issue a final rule— 3
(1) to establish depopulation standards that 4
rapidly induce unconsciousness and death with mini-5
mal pain and distress; and 6
(2) to coordinate a national stockpile of re-7
sources— 8
(A) to carry out depopulation activities 9
during a disaster event in a way that rapidly in-10
duces unconsciousness and death of the animals 11
with minimal pain and distress; and 12
(B) using funds from the High-Risk AFO 13
Disaster Mitigation and Enforcement Fund es-14
tablished by section 112(c)(1). 15
SEC. 115. REPORTS. 16
(a) R
EPORTS TOSECRETARY.—Not later than 3 17
business days after completing any depopulation of any 18
animals, a covered industrial operator performing or re-19
quiring such depopulation shall submit to the Secretary 20
a report on that depopulation instance that specifies— 21
(1) the 1 or more dates on which, and location 22
at which, the depopulation and disposal of the ani-23
mals occurred; 24
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(2) the total number, species, breed, and in-1
tended product of the depopulated animals; 2
(3) the depopulation and disposal methods uti-3
lized; 4
(4) any monitoring, testing, or sampling pro-5
tocol put in place to monitor releases of environ-6
mental contaminants from the disposal location; 7
(5) a summary of any assets utilized or received 8
from the national stockpile established pursuant to 9
section 114(c)(2), as applicable; 10
(6) documentation of compliance or noncompli-11
ance with the standard disaster mitigation plan de-12
scribed in section 112(a)(2)(B) of the covered indus-13
trial operator; and 14
(7) the cost associated with the depopulation 15
and disposal, including labor. 16
(b) P
UBLICLYSEARCHABLEDATABASE.—The Sec-17
retary, acting through the Office, shall develop and make 18
publicly available an electronically searchable and sortable 19
online database that contains information— 20
(1) reported under subsection (a); and 21
(2) submitted by covered industrial operators 22
registering under section 112. 23
SEC. 116. CIVIL ACTIONS. 24
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Any person may— 25
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(1) bring a civil action against a covered indus-1
trial operator or the Secretary in an appropriate 2
court to redress any violation of this subtitle or any 3
other law relating to the activities described in this 4
subtitle; and 5
(2) obtain appropriate relief in that civil action, 6
including equitable relief and compensatory dam-7
ages. 8
(b) A
TTORNEY’SFEES FORPLAINTIFF.—The court 9
shall award a reasonable attorney’s fee as part of the costs 10
to a prevailing plaintiff in a civil action described in sub-11
section (a). 12
Subtitle B—Department of Labor 13
SEC. 121. DEFINITIONS. 14
In this subtitle: 15
(1) A
FFECTED CONTRACT GROWER .—The term 16
‘‘affected contract grower’’ means an owner of an 17
AFO— 18
(A) that raises livestock or poultry pursu-19
ant to a written contract, marketing arrange-20
ment, or other arrangement, with a covered in-21
dustrial operator; and 22
(B) whose AFO is impacted by a disaster 23
mitigation event. 24
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(2) AFFECTED CONTRACTOR .—The term ‘‘af-1
fected contractor’’ means an individual or entity that 2
supplies, either with or without a contract, a covered 3
industrial operator with a worker to perform labor 4
directly or indirectly related to a disaster mitigation 5
event. 6
(3) C
OVERED WORKER.— 7
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘covered 8
worker’’— 9
(i) means an employee who performs 10
labor in connection with a disaster mitiga-11
tion event for a covered industrial oper-12
ator; and 13
(ii) includes any employee of an af-14
fected contract grower, or of another af-15
fected contractor, of a covered industrial 16
operator. 17
(B) A
DDITIONAL TERMS .—In this para-18
graph, the term ‘‘employee’’ means an indi-19
vidual performing any labor for a covered in-20
dustrial operator, including through an affected 21
contract grower or other affected contractor, 22
unless— 23
(i) the individual is free from control 24
and direction in connection with the per-25
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formance of the labor, both under the con-1
tract for the performance of labor and in 2
fact; 3
(ii) the labor is performed outside the 4
usual course of the business of the covered 5
industrial operator; and 6
(iii) the individual is customarily en-7
gaged in an independently established 8
trade, occupation, profession, or business 9
of the same nature as that involved in the 10
labor performed. 11
(4) D
ISASTER MITIGATION EVENT .—The term 12
‘‘disaster mitigation event’’ means a disaster event 13
affecting a covered industrial operator that triggers 14
activities described in the disaster mitigation plan 15
submitted by the covered industrial operator under 16
section 112(a)(2)(B). 17
SEC. 122. MINIMUM LABOR STANDARDS FOR COVERED 18
WORKERS AND AFFECTED CONTRACT GROW-19
ERS. 20
(a) A
PPLICABILITY.—A covered industrial operator 21
that employs or contracts with covered workers, affected 22
contract growers, or other affected contractors related to 23
a disaster mitigation event shall comply with the labor 24
standards described in subsection (b). 25
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(b) LABORSTANDARDS.—The labor standards de-1
scribed in this subsection are the following: 2
(1) W
HISTLEBLOWER PROTECTIONS .—A cov-3
ered industrial operator shall not discharge, cause to 4
be discharged, or in any other manner discriminate 5
against any covered worker or affected contract 6
grower because such covered worker or affected con-7
tract grower— 8
(A) has filed any complaint or instituted or 9
caused to be instituted any proceeding under or 10
related to this section; or 11
(B) has testified or is about to testify in 12
any such proceeding. 13
(2) H
EALTH INSURANCE REQUIREMENT .—Dur-14
ing a disaster mitigation event and for a period of 15
not less than 2 years following the disaster mitiga-16
tion event, the covered industrial operator shall offer 17
each covered worker and affected contract grower of 18
the covered industrial operator a health plan that 19
provides coverage that is at least equivalent to cov-20
erage provided by an essential health benefits pack-21
age (as defined in subsection (a) of section 1302 of 22
the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (42 23
U.S.C. 18022)) at the silver level of coverage (as de-24
fined in subsection (d)(1)(B) of such section), re-25
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gardless of their employment status or contract with 1
the covered industrial operator. Such covered indus-2
trial operator shall pay the full premium amount for 3
such health plan for each such covered worker or af-4
fected contract grower who elects to enroll in such 5
plan. 6
(3) S
EVERANCE PAY FOR COVERED WORK -7
ERS.—In the case of a disaster mitigation event, the 8
covered industrial operator shall provide any covered 9
worker terminated by the covered industrial oper-10
ator, or by an affected contract grower or other af-11
fected contractor of the covered industrial operator 12
impacted by the disaster mitigation event, during 13
the 60-day period following the disaster mitigation 14
event with 12 weeks of severance pay, at a weekly 15
rate equal to the average weekly earnings of the cov-16
ered worker during the disaster mitigation event. 17
(4) L
OST REVENUE FOR AFFECTED CONTRACT 18
GROWERS.—In any case in which a covered indus-19
trial operator terminates the contract of an affected 20
contract grower following a disaster mitigation 21
event, the covered industrial operator shall provide 22
an amount of lost revenue to the affected contract 23
grower equal to the affected contract grower’s rev-24
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enue from the covered operator during the preceding 1
180 days. 2
(c) E
NFORCEMENT BY THE SECRETARY OF 3
L
ABOR.— 4
(1) G
ENERAL AUTHORITY .—The Secretary of 5
Labor shall receive, investigate, and attempt to re-6
solve complaints of violations of this section in the 7
same manner that the Secretary of Labor receives, 8
investigates, and attempts to resolve complaints of 9
violations of sections 6, 7, and 15(a)(3) of the Fair 10
Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206, 207, 11
and 215(a)(3)), including such Secretary’s authority 12
to supervise payment of wages and compensation 13
under section 16(c) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 216(c)). 14
(2) C
IVIL PENALTIES.—The Secretary of Labor 15
may assess a civil penalty against a covered indus-16
trial operator that violates any provision of this sec-17
tion. 18
(3) M
ONITORING COMPLIANCE .—Not later than 19
90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 20
Secretary of Labor shall— 21
(A) develop a process to monitor compli-22
ance with the standards under this section that 23
requires covered industrial operators to provide 24
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information to demonstrate such compliance; 1
and 2
(B) issue rules to determine penalties for 3
noncompliance with this section. 4
(4) N
OTIFICATION OF OFFICE.—The Secretary 5
of Labor shall notify the Office of any covered in-6
dustrial operator that is determined to be non-7
compliant with the requirements of this section. 8
(d) R
IGHT OFACTION FORVIOLATIONS.— 9
(1) P
RIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION FOR VIOLA -10
TIONS.—An action to recover damages or obtain re-11
lief prescribed in paragraph (2) may be maintained 12
against any covered industrial operator in any Fed-13
eral or State court of competent jurisdiction by 1 or 14
more covered workers or affected contract growers 15
for and on behalf of themselves and other similarly 16
situated covered workers or affected contract grow-17
ers. 18
(2) L
IABILITY.— 19
(A) I
N GENERAL.—A covered industrial 20
operator who violates this section shall be liable 21
to each covered worker or affected contract 22
grower that is aggrieved by the violation for— 23
(i) damages in the amount of unpaid 24
wages, salary, overtime compensation, or 25
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other compensation denied or lost by rea-1
son of the violation; and 2
(ii) an additional equal amount as liq-3
uidated damages. 4
(B) A
TTORNEY’S FEES AND COSTS.—In a 5
civil action brought under paragraph (1) in 6
which the plaintiff prevails, the court shall 7
award the plaintiff reasonable attorney’s fees 8
and costs of the action. 9
(3) E
NFORCEMENT BY THE SECRETARY OF 10
LABOR.—The Secretary of Labor may bring an ac-11
tion in any court of competent jurisdiction to recover 12
damages or obtain relief described in paragraph (2) 13
on behalf of a covered worker or affected contract 14
grower aggrieved by a violation of this section. 15
SEC. 123. PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF INCARCERATED 16
WORKERS. 17
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a covered 18
industrial operator that the Secretary of Labor determines 19
entered into a contract, on or after the date of enactment 20
of this Act, with any entity to utilize incarcerated workers 21
to perform labor related to a disaster mitigation event 22
shall not be eligible for— 23
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(1) any Federal contracts for a period of 10 1
years beginning on the date of the determination; 2
and 3
(2) inspection of any facility owned or con-4
trolled by the covered industrial operator pursuant 5
to the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601 6
et seq.) or the Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 7
U.S.C. 451 et seq.), as applicable, for a period of 10 8
years beginning on that date. 9
TITLE II—GRANT AND PILOT 10
PROGRAMS 11
SEC. 201. DEFINITIONS. 12
In this title: 13
(1) C
ONTROLLED-ATMOSPHERE STUNNING .— 14
The term ‘‘controlled-atmosphere stunning’’ means 15
rendering poultry unconscious through exposure to a 16
mixture of gas (nitrogen and argon or concentra-17
tions of carbon dioxide) before slaughter. 18
(2) E
LIGIBLE PROCESSING FACILITY .—The 19
term ‘‘eligible processing facility’’ means an eligible 20
facility described in section 764 of division N of the 21
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (21 U.S.C. 22
473), that has a labor peace agreement in place. 23
(3) L
ABOR PEACE AGREEMENT .—The term 24
‘‘labor peace agreement’’ means an agreement— 25
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(A) between an employer and a labor orga-1
nization that represents, or is actively seeking 2
to represent as of the date on which the labor 3
peace agreement is entered, the employees of 4
the employer; and 5
(B) under which such employer and such 6
labor organization agree that— 7
(i) the employer will not— 8
(I) hinder any effort of an em-9
ployee to join a labor organization; or 10
(II) take any action that directly 11
or indirectly indicates or implies any 12
opposition to an employee joining a 13
labor organization; 14
(ii) the labor organization will refrain 15
from picketing, work stoppages, or boy-16
cotts against the employer; 17
(iii) the employer will— 18
(I) provide the labor organization 19
with employee contact information; 20
and 21
(II) facilitate or permit labor or-22
ganization access to employees at the 23
workplace, including facilitating or 24
permitting the labor organization to 25
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meet with employees to discuss joining 1
the labor organization; and 2
(iv) the employer will, upon the re-3
quest of the labor organization, recognize 4
the labor organization as the bargaining 5
representative of the employees if a major-6
ity of the employees choose the labor orga-7
nization as their bargaining representative. 8
(4) L
IVE-SHACKLE SLAUGHTER .—The term 9
‘‘live-shackle slaughter’’ means the method of stun-10
ning poultry before slaughter by shackling the poul-11
try upside down by their legs and moving the poul-12
try through electrified baths meant to render the 13
poultry unconscious. 14
SEC. 202. CONTROLLED-ATMOSPHERE STUNNING TRANSI-15
TION PROGRAM. 16
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 17
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish 18
a transition program to award grants to eligible processing 19
facilities that process poultry to transition from live-shack-20
le slaughter to controlled-atmosphere stunning. 21
(b) E
LIGIBILITY.—As a condition of receipt of a 22
grant under subsection (a), an eligible processing facility 23
shall not, for a period of 10 years following the date of 24
receipt of the grant, sell a slaughter or processing facility 25
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to, or merge the slaughter or processing facility with, a 1
packer that owns more than 10 percent of the market 2
share of meat and poultry markets. 3
(c) F
UNDING.—There is appropriated, out of any 4
funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 5
$750,000,000 to the Secretary to carry out this section. 6
SEC. 203. PILOT PROGRAM FOR INCREASED ACCESSIBILITY 7
TO INSPECTION AND TECHNICAL ASSIST-8
ANCE FOR ELIGIBLE PROCESSING FACILI-9
TIES. 10
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 11
5-year pilot program within the Meat and Poultry Inspec-12
tion Division of the Food Safety and Inspection Service— 13
(1) to expand the availability of processing in-14
spectors, technical assistance, and onsite inspection 15
for eligible processing facilities, including no-cost 16
overtime inspections; and 17
(2) to identify and train part-time inspectors 18
and technical assistance providers. 19
(b) P
ROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE.—The Secretary 20
shall determine the appropriate professional experience of 21
inspectors and providers described in subsection (a)(2), 22
which shall include individuals with expertise in veterinary 23
medicine, public health, food service management, and 24
animal science, as applicable. 25
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(c) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be appro-1
priated to the Secretary not less than $50,000,000 to 2
carry out this section. 3
TITLE III—HUMANE HANDLING 4
REFORMS 5
Subtitle A—Transport 6
SEC. 311. TRANSPORTATION OF LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY. 7
(a) T
RANSPORTATION LASTINGMORETHAN8 8
H
OURS.— 9
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 80502 of title 49, 10
United States Code, is amended— 11
(A) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ‘‘a rail 12
carrier’’ and all that follows through ‘‘territory 13
or possession,’’ and inserting ‘‘a covered pro-14
vider of transportation’’; 15
(B) in subsection (b)— 16
(i) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘sub-17
section (a) of this section’’ and inserting 18
‘‘subsection (b)’’; 19
(ii) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 20
through (3) as subparagraphs (A) through 21
(C), respectively, and indenting appro-22
priately; 23
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(iii) in the matter preceding subpara-1
graph (A) (as so redesignated), in the 2
third sentence— 3
(I) by striking ‘‘the rail carrier’’ 4
and all that follows through ‘‘a ves-5
sel’’ and inserting ‘‘the covered pro-6
vider of transportation’’; and 7
(II) by striking ‘‘When the ani-8
mals’’ and inserting the following: 9
‘‘(3) R
ESPONSIBILITY OF COVERED PROVIDER 10
OF TRANSPORTATION.—When the animals’’; 11
(iv) in the matter preceding para-12
graph (3) (as so designated), in the second 13
sentence, by striking ‘‘The owner’’ and in-14
serting the following: 15
‘‘(2) R
ESPONSIBILITY OF OWNER OR PERSON 16
HAVING CUSTODY.—The owner’’; and 17
(v) in the matter preceding paragraph 18
(2) (as so designated), by striking ‘‘Ani-19
mals being’’ and inserting the following: 20
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Animals being’’; 21
(C) in subsection (d)— 22
(i) in the second sentence, by striking 23
‘‘On learning’’ and inserting the following: 24
‘‘(2) C
IVIL ACTION.—On learning’’; and 25
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(ii) in the first sentence, by striking 1
‘‘A rail carrier’’ and all that follows 2
through ‘‘a vessel’’ and inserting the fol-3
lowing: 4
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—A covered provider of 5
transportation’’; 6
(D) by redesignating subsections (a) 7
through (d) as subsections (b), (c), (g), and (f), 8
respectively, and moving the subsections so as 9
to appear in alphabetical order; 10
(E) by inserting before subsection (b) (as 11
so redesignated) the following: 12
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 13
‘‘(1) C
OVERED INDUSTRIAL OPERATOR .— 14
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘covered in-15
dustrial operator’ means an individual or entity 16
that owns or controls a quantity of livestock or 17
poultry that is not less than the quantity de-18
scribed in subparagraph (B) for the applicable 19
livestock or poultry. 20
‘‘(B) Q
UANTITY OF LIVESTOCK OR POUL -21
TRY IN AFOS.—The quantity of livestock or 22
poultry referred to in subparagraph (A) is 1 or 23
more of the following quantities of livestock or 24
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poultry housed in 1 or more Animal Feeding 1
Operations at a single point in time: 2
‘‘(i) 2,500 swine. 3
‘‘(ii) 30,000 turkeys or ducks. 4
‘‘(iii) 82,000 laying hens or broilers. 5
‘‘(2) C
OVERED PROVIDER OF TRANSPOR -6
TATION.— 7
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘covered 8
provider of transportation’ means an individual 9
or entity described in subparagraph (B) that is 10
transporting animals from a place in a State, 11
the District of Columbia, or a territory or pos-12
session of the United States through or to a 13
place in another State, the District of Colum-14
bia, or a territory or possession of the United 15
States. 16
‘‘(B) I
NDIVIDUALS AND ENTITIES DE -17
SCRIBED.—An individual or entity referred to 18
in subparagraph (A) is— 19
‘‘(i) a rail carrier, express carrier, or 20
common carrier (except by air or water); 21
‘‘(ii) a receiver, trustee, or lessee of a 22
carrier described in clause (i); or 23
‘‘(iii) an owner or master of a vessel. 24
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‘‘(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 1
the Secretary of Agriculture.’’; and 2
(F) by inserting after subsection (c) (as so 3
redesignated) the following: 4
‘‘(d) T
RANSPORTATION LASTINGMORETHAN8 5
H
OURS.— 6
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—In any case in which ani-7
mals are transported by a covered provider of trans-8
portation on behalf of a covered industrial operator 9
for a period lasting, or expected to last, more than 10
8 consecutive hours, the covered provider of trans-11
portation transporting the animals shall ensure 12
that— 13
‘‘(A) the means of transport provides ade-14
quate protection of the animals from high 15
winds, rain, and snow; 16
‘‘(B) any livestock or poultry are provided 17
with appropriate bedding or equivalent material 18
that— 19
‘‘(i) prevents slipping; 20
‘‘(ii) ensures a level of comfort appro-21
priate to— 22
‘‘(I) the species of the livestock 23
or poultry; 24
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‘‘(II) the number of animals 1
being transported; 2
‘‘(III) the duration of the period 3
of transportation; and 4
‘‘(IV) the weather; and 5
‘‘(iii) provides adequate absorption of 6
urine and feces; 7
‘‘(C) the animals are not overcrowded dur-8
ing transport, including by complying with the 9
regulations promulgated under paragraph (2); 10
‘‘(D) the means of transport is equipped 11
with a water supply that ensures that each ani-12
mal has access to water in a manner and quan-13
tity appropriate to the species and size of the 14
animal; 15
‘‘(E) watering devices on the means of 16
transport are— 17
‘‘(i) in good working order; 18
‘‘(ii) appropriately designed; and 19
‘‘(iii) positioned appropriately for the 20
species of animal to be watered during 21
transport; and 22
‘‘(F) the animals are not transported when 23
the temperature within the means of transport 24
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cannot be maintained between 40 degrees Fahr-1
enheit and 86 degrees Fahrenheit. 2
‘‘(2) R
ULEMAKING.— 3
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 4
promulgate regulations setting species-specific 5
space allowances during periods of transpor-6
tation lasting more than 8 hours. 7
‘‘(B) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The regulations 8
promulgated under subparagraph (A) shall en-9
sure that each species of animal has enough 10
space— 11
‘‘(i) to turn around; 12
‘‘(ii) to lie down; and 13
‘‘(iii) to fully extend the limbs of the 14
animal. 15
‘‘(e) R
ECORDKEEPING.— 16
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Each covered industrial op-17
erator shall maintain records of all livestock trans-18
ported by the covered industrial operator. 19
‘‘(2) P
RODUCTION OF RECORDS .—A covered in-20
dustrial operator shall provide the records main-21
tained under paragraph (1) to the Secretary on re-22
quest.’’. 23
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(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 1
by paragraph (1) take effect on the date that is 1 2
year after the date of enactment of this Act. 3
(3) R
ULEMAKING.—Not later than 1 year after 4
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 5
shall promulgate final regulations to implement the 6
amendments made by paragraph (1). 7
(b) M
ODIFICATION OF28-HOURRULE.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 80502 of title 49, 9
United States Code (as amended by subsection (a)), 10
is amended— 11
(A) in subsection (b)— 12
(i) in paragraph (1)— 13
(I) by striking ‘‘(1) Except as 14
provided’’ and inserting the following: 15
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro-16
vided’’; and 17
(II) by striking ‘‘28’’ and insert-18
ing ‘‘8’’; 19
(ii) by striking paragraph (2) and in-20
serting the following: 21
‘‘(2) E
XCEPTIONS.— 22
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—Animals may be con-23
fined for more than 8 hours when the animals 24
cannot be unloaded because of accidental or un-25
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avoidable causes that could not have been an-1
ticipated or avoided when being careful. 2
‘‘(B) S
HEEP.—Sheep may be confined for 3
an additional 8 consecutive hours without being 4
unloaded when the 8-hour period of confine-5
ment described in paragraph (1) ends at 6
night.’’; and 7
(iii) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘(3) 8
Time’’ and inserting the following: 9
‘‘(3) L
OADING AND UNLOADING .—Time’’; and 10
(B) by striking subsection (g). 11
(2) E
FFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 12
by paragraph (1) take effect on the date that is 10 13
years after the date of enactment of this Act. 14
SEC. 312. HIGHER-WELFARE TRANSPORT RESEARCH FUND-15
ING. 16
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 17
(1) E
LIGIBLE RESEARCH INSTITUTION .—The 18
term ‘‘eligible research institution’’ means— 19
(A) an 1862 Institution (as defined in sec-20
tion 2 of the Agricultural Research, Extension, 21
and Education Reform Act of 1998 (7 U.S.C. 22
7601)); 23
(B) an 1890 Institution (as defined in that 24
section); 25
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(C) a 1994 Institution (as defined in sec-1
tion 532 of the Equity in Educational Land- 2
Grant Status Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 301 note; 3
Public Law 103–382)); 4
(D) a non-land-grant college of agriculture 5
(as defined in section 1404 of the National Ag-6
ricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching 7
Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3103)) that has 8
a demonstrable capacity to conduct livestock or 9
poultry research, as determined by the Sec-10
retary; 11
(E) Hispanic-serving agricultural colleges 12
and universities (as defined in that section); 13
and 14
(F) a center of excellence recognized under 15
section 1673 of the Food, Agriculture, Con-16
servation, and Trade Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 17
5926). 18
(2) H
IGHER-WELFARE TRANSPORT .—The term 19
‘‘higher-welfare transport’’ means the handling, 20
loading, and transport mechanisms by which live-21
stock and poultry are transported, at any time, 22
which take into account animal welfare and species- 23
specific requirements to ensure that— 24
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(A) animal welfare is maintained through-1
out transport; and 2
(B) animals are spared unnecessary dis-3
tress or injury. 4
(b) G
RANTPROGRAM.—The Secretary shall establish 5
a program to provide grants to eligible research institu-6
tions to study higher-welfare transport. 7
(c) A
PPLICATIONS.—To be eligible for a grant under 8
this section, an eligible research institution shall submit 9
to the Secretary an application at such time, in such man-10
ner, and containing such information as the Secretary may 11
require. 12
(d) R
EQUIREMENTS.—In carrying out the program 13
established under subsection (b), the Secretary shall en-14
sure that none of the grant funding may be used to per-15
form any experiment that would not comply with current 16
transport law. 17
(e) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 18
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry 19
out this section $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2024 20
through 2026. 21
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Subtitle B—Nonambulatory 1
Livestock 2
SEC. 321. UNLAWFUL SLAUGHTER PRACTICES INVOLVING 3
NONAMBULATORY LIVESTOCK. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Public Law 85–765 (commonly 5
known as the ‘‘Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of 6
1958’’) is amended by inserting after section 2 (7 U.S.C. 7
1902) the following: 8
‘‘SEC. 3. NONAMBULATORY LIVESTOCK. 9
‘‘(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 10
‘‘(1) C
OVERED ENTITY.—The term ‘covered en-11
tity’ means— 12
‘‘(A) a stockyard; 13
‘‘(B) a market agency; 14
‘‘(C) a packer (as defined in section 201 of 15
the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 16
U.S.C. 191)); 17
‘‘(D) a dealer (as defined in section 301 of 18
the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 19
U.S.C. 201)); 20
‘‘(E) a slaughter facility; and 21
‘‘(F) an establishment. 22
‘‘(2) E
STABLISHMENT.—The term ‘establish-23
ment’ means an establishment that is subject to in-24
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spection pursuant to the Federal Meat Inspection 1
Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). 2
‘‘(3) H
UMANELY EUTHANIZE .—The term ‘hu-3
manely euthanize’ means to immediately render an 4
animal unconscious by mechanical, chemical, or 5
other means, with the unconscious state remaining 6
until the death of the animal. 7
‘‘(4) N
ONAMBULATORY LIVESTOCK .—The term 8
‘nonambulatory livestock’ means any cattle, sheep, 9
swine, goats, or horses, mules, or other equines who 10
cannot stand or walk unassisted. 11
‘‘(5) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 12
the Secretary of Agriculture. 13
‘‘(b) H
UMANETREATMENT, HANDLING, ANDDIS-14
POSITION.—The Secretary shall promulgate regulations to 15
provide for the humane treatment, handling, and disposi-16
tion of all nonambulatory livestock by covered entities, in-17
cluding requirements for covered entities— 18
‘‘(1) to immediately humanely euthanize non-19
ambulatory livestock when the livestock becomes 20
nonambulatory livestock, subject to subsection (c); 21
and 22
‘‘(2)(A) to have written policies and procedures 23
in place, and proper equipment, relating to the hu-24
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mane handling, euthanization, and disposition of all 1
nonambulatory livestock; 2
‘‘(B) to maintain records of all nonambulatory 3
livestock; and 4
‘‘(C) to electronically submit those written poli-5
cies and procedures and records to the Adminis-6
trator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service. 7
‘‘(c) H
UMANEEUTHANASIA.— 8
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall pro-9
mulgate regulations specifying— 10
‘‘(A) the methods of euthanasia that shall 11
be acceptable for the humane disposition of 12
nonambulatory livestock required under the reg-13
ulations promulgated under subsection (b); and 14
‘‘(B) processes for ensuring effective en-15
forcement of the use of those methods. 16
‘‘(2) D
ISEASE TESTING.—The regulations pro-17
mulgated under subsection (b) shall not limit the 18
ability of the Secretary to test nonambulatory live-19
stock for a disease. 20
‘‘(d) T
RANSACTING ORPROCESSING.—A covered en-21
tity shall not— 22
‘‘(1) buy or sell a nonambulatory animal; or 23
‘‘(2) process, butcher, or sell meat or products 24
of nonambulatory livestock. 25
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‘‘(e) RECORDS.—The Administrator of the Food 1
Safety and Inspection Service shall maintain all docu-2
ments submitted by covered entities pursuant to the regu-3
lations under subsection (b).’’. 4
(b) I
NSPECTION OF NONAMBULATORY LIVESTOCK; 5
L
ABELING.—Section 6 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act 6
(21 U.S.C. 606) is amended by adding at the end the fol-7
lowing: 8
‘‘(c) I
NSPECTION OFNONAMBULATORY LIVESTOCK; 9
L
ABELING.— 10
‘‘(1) D
EFINITION OF NONAMBULATORY LIVE -11
STOCK.—In this subsection, the term ‘non-12
ambulatory livestock’ means any cattle, sheep, swine, 13
goats, or horses, mules, or other equines who cannot 14
stand or walk unassisted. 15
‘‘(2) I
NSPECTION.—It shall be unlawful for an 16
inspector at an establishment subject to inspection 17
under this Act to pass through inspection any non-18
ambulatory livestock or carcass (including parts of a 19
carcass) of nonambulatory livestock. 20
‘‘(3) L
ABELING.—An inspector or other em-21
ployee of an establishment described in paragraph 22
(2) shall label, mark, stamp, or tag as ‘inspected 23
and condemned’ any carcass (including parts of a 24
carcass) of nonambulatory livestock.’’. 25
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(c) EFFECTIVEDATE.— 1
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-2
graph (2), the amendments made by subsections (a) 3
and (b) shall take effect on the date that is 1 year 4
after the date of enactment of this Act. 5
(2) R
EGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after 6
the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 7
shall promulgate final regulations to implement the 8
amendments made by subsections (a) and (b). 9
SEC. 322. UNLAWFUL USE OF DRUGS CONTRIBUTING TO 10
NONAMBULATORY CONDITIONS. 11
The Animal Health Protection Act is amended by in-12
serting after section 10409A (7 U.S.C. 8308a) the fol-13
lowing: 14
‘‘SEC. 10409B. UNLAWFUL USE OF DRUGS ON CERTAIN ANI-15
MALS. 16
‘‘Any use of a beta-agonist drug, including 17
ractopamine, zilpaterol, and lubabegron, in an animal in 18
the absence of disease, including use for growth promotion 19
or feed efficiency, is prohibited.’’. 20
SEC. 323. INCLUSION OF POULTRY IN HUMANE METHODS 21
OF SLAUGHTER ACT. 22
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Public Law 85–765 (commonly 23
known as the ‘‘Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of 24
1958’’) (7 U.S.C. 1901 et seq.) is amended by adding 25
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‘‘and poultry’’ after the term ‘‘livestock’’ each place it ap-1
pears, except as provided in subsection (b). 2
(b) O
THERCONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 3
2(a) of Public Law 85–765 (commonly known as the ‘‘Hu-4
mane Methods of Slaughter Act of 1958’’) (7 U.S.C. 5
1902) is amended by striking ‘‘and other livestock,’’ and 6
inserting ‘‘other livestock, and poultry’’. 7
(c) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 8
subsections (a) and (b) shall take effect on the date that 9
is 10 years after the date of enactment of this Act. 10
Subtitle C—Inspections 11
SEC. 331. DEFINITIONS. 12
In this subtitle: 13
(1) C
OVERED ESTABLISHMENT .—The term 14
‘‘covered establishment’’ means— 15
(A) an official establishment (as defined in 16
section 301.2 of title 9, Code of Federal Regu-17
lations (or successor regulations)) that is sub-18
ject to inspection under the Federal Meat In-19
spection Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.); and 20
(B) an official establishment (as defined in 21
section 381.1 of title 9, Code of Federal Regu-22
lations (or successor regulations)) that is sub-23
ject to inspection under the Poultry Products 24
Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.). 25
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(2) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ has the 1
meaning given the term in section 3 of the Occupa-2
tional Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C. 3
652). 4
SEC. 332. ENDING DANGEROUS HIGHER-SPEED SLAUGHTER 5
AND SELF-INSPECTION SYSTEMS. 6
(a) D
EFINITION OFCOVEREDPROGRAM.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘‘covered pro-8
gram’’ means any waiver, program, or regulation 9
that— 10
(A) allows covered establishments to oper-11
ate at slaughter speeds that exceed existing lim-12
its required by regulations of the Department 13
of Agriculture as of the date of enactment of 14
this Act; 15
(B) reduces the number of Federal inspec-16
tors in covered establishments; or 17
(C) replaces Federal inspectors at covered 18
establishments with employees of the covered 19
establishments for purposes of inspection. 20
(2) I
NCLUSIONS.—The term ‘‘covered program’’ 21
includes— 22
(A) the New Swine Slaughter Inspection 23
System described in the final rule entitled 24
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‘‘Modernization of Swine Slaughter Inspection’’ 1
(84 Fed. Reg. 52300 (October 1, 2019)); 2
(B) the New Poultry Inspection System 3
described in the final rule entitled ‘‘Moderniza-4
tion of Poultry Slaughter Inspection’’ (79 Fed. 5
Reg. 49566 (August 21, 2014)); and 6
(C) any waiver issued under an inspection 7
system described in subparagraph (A) or (B). 8
(b) T
ERMINATION OF COVEREDPROGRAMS.—The 9
Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Food 10
Safety and Inspection Service, shall terminate or suspend 11
implementation of or conversion to, as applicable, all cov-12
ered programs. 13
SEC. 333. FUNDING FOR ADDITIONAL OSHA INSPECTORS. 14
There is authorized to be appropriated $60,000,000 15
for each of fiscal years 2024 through 2033 for the hiring 16
of additional inspectors to carry out inspections under sec-17
tion 8 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 18
(29 U.S.C. 657) in covered establishments. 19
SEC. 334. FUNDING FOR ADDITIONAL FSIS INSPECTORS. 20
(a) I
NGENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro-21
priated to the Secretary $50,000,000 for each of fiscal 22
years 2024 through 2033 to hire additional full-time 23
equivalent positions within the Food Safety and Inspection 24
Service relating to inspections conducted pursuant to, and 25
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the enforcement of, Public Law 85–765 (commonly known 1
as the ‘‘Humane Methods of Slaughter Act of 1958’’) (7 2
U.S.C. 1901 et seq.). 3
(b) P
RIORITY FORHIRING.—In carrying out sub-4
section (a), priority shall be given to hiring personnel— 5
(1) to inspect processing facilities (as described 6
by the term ‘‘eligible facility’’ in section 764 of divi-7
sion N of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 8
(21 U.S.C. 473)); and 9
(2) in regions with the highest number of va-10
cancies within the Food Safety and Inspection Serv-11
ice. 12
Æ
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