119-hr1648

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1648 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

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119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 1648

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to amend certain regulations to 
 clarify that livestock auction owners may have an interest in small 
 meatpacking businesses, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 February 27, 2025

Mr. Alford (for himself, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Johnson of South Dakota, Mr. 
Rouzer, Mr. Graves, Ms. Tokuda, Mr. Vasquez, Mr. Smith of Nebraska, Mr. 
 Davis of North Carolina, Mr. Feenstra, Mr. Finstad, and Mr. Moore of 
 Alabama) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to amend certain regulations to 
 clarify that livestock auction owners may have an interest in small 
 meatpacking businesses, 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 ``Amplifying Processing of Livestock 
in the United States Act'' or the ``A-PLUS Act''.

SEC. 2. AMPLIFYING PROCESSING OF LIVESTOCK IN THE UNITED STATES (A- 
 PLUS).

    (a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary shall revise 

section 201.67 of title 9, Code 
of Federal Regulations, as in effect on January 1, 2025, to specify 
that--

    (1) market agencies may have an ownership interest in, 
 finance, or participate in the management or operation of, a 
 packer, so long as such packer--
        (A) with respect to cattle and sheep, has a 
 cumulative slaughter capacity of less than--
            (i) 2,000 animals per day; or
            (ii) 700,000 animals per year; and
        (B) with respect to hogs, has a cumulative 
 slaughter capacity of less than--
            (i) 10,000 animals per day; or
            (ii) 3,000,000 animals per year; and

    (2) market agencies that have an ownership interest in, 
 finance, or participate in the management or operation of, a 
 packer shall disclose to sellers of livestock the existence of 
 such ownership interest, financial relationship, or 
 participation.

    (b) Savings Clause.--Nothing in this section shall be interpreted 
as a limitation on the authority of the Secretary to adopt or enforce 
rules or regulations under the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 
U.S.C. 181 et seq.) related to the protection of producers, 
competition, market integrity, or the prevention of conflicts of 
interest.
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