The Texas Legislature is considering a bill to authorize the Texas Animal Health Commission to adopt federal Animal ID regulations, one of which would require every chicken to have a permanent leg band with a unique ID number when it is sold or moved to a new location. While commercial hatcheries and large confinement operations would be exempt, the requirement would impact both small farmers and people with backyard chickens.

The bill also gives the agency a blank check to adopt other federal regulations governing animal ID for all kinds of livestock animals, including goats, sheep, pigs, cattle, and horses. The federal regulations govern the movement of animals between states, which is not a frequent occurrence for small farmers. But imposing those same regulations on every movement within the state could cause significant problems for small farmers.

No one knows what federal rules may be adopted next year or 5 years from now, which means that the Texas Legislature is buying into the federal regulations without even knowing what they will be!

Tagging animals, without having any connection to disease control measures, is unnecessary and time-consuming. This creates a significant burden for small farmers, ultimately making it more difficult for them to remain viable sources of local food for the community.

TAKE ACTION

1. Call your Texas State Senator ASAP! SB 1233 is set for a vote this Thursday, April 25, so time is short!

You can find out who represents you at www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/Home.aspx or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 512-463-4630. The switchboard can connect you to your Senator’s office, and the call takes just a couple of minutes.

Message:
“Hi, my name is _____ and I am a constituent. I urge Senator ______ to vote against SB 1233, the Animal ID bill. While the bill sounds like it limits the Texas Animal Health Commission’s authority, it actually does the opposite – it is giving the agency renewed authority to adopt Animal ID rules. This is bad for backyard poultry owners and small farmers, and it’s ultimately bad for the community they provide food for. The state’s animal ID programs should be tied to actual disease control measures, not simply tagging animals for the sake of tagging. I urge you to oppose SB 1233 and HB 2311.”

2. Call your Texas State Representative. If we can’t stop it in the Senate, we need to stop it in the House. Again, you can find out who represents you at www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/Home.aspx or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 512-463-4630, which can connect you directly to your Representative’s office.

Message:
“Hi, my name is _____ and I am a constituent. I urge Representtaive ______ to vote against HB 2311 / SB 1233, the Animal ID bill. While the bills sound like they limit the Texas Animal Health Commission’s authority, they actually do the opposite – they are giving the agency renewed authority to adopt Animal ID rules. This is bad for backyard poultry owners and small farmers, and it’s ultimately bad for the community they provide food for. The state’s animal ID programs should be tied to actual disease control measures, not simply tagging animals for the sake of tagging. I urge you to oppose HB 2311 and SB 1233.”

3. Call all of the members of the House Calendars Committee (if you live in Austin, we encourage you to visit): their office numbers along with maps are listed here. They are responsible for scheduling bills for a vote on the House floor and can prevent the bill from ever coming to a vote in the House of Representatives.

If you are in one of their districts, please ALSO ask your friends and family in the area to call. Calls from constituents have the greatest impact! (note that the zip codes are often “split” among multiple districts).

MORE INFORMATION

Requiring animals to be tagged, with no connection to any testing or other disease control measure, is not the answer for animal health or food safety.

The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) already has extensive powers to address animal diseases and to include animal ID as part of those programs. This bill, however, gives the agency authority to require animal identification solely for the sake of identification, unrelated to any real animal disease control measure.

Back in 2005, the Texas Legislature adopted a law that allowed the TAHC to impose mandatory National Animal Identification System (NAIS). NAIS would have required that anyone who owned even a single livestock or poultry animal register their property, individually ID each animal (in most cases with electronic ID such as microchips or RFID), and report their movements to the government.

The TAHC rushed forward with the first stage of NAIS, ignoring protests from hundreds of small farmers and animal owners. It was only when legislators stepped back in to stop the agency that they slowed down.

The outcry against NAIS was so great all over the country that the U.S. Department of Agriculture withdrew the program in 2009. When NAIS died, so did the agency’s legal authority to impose animal identification requirements unrelated to disease control programs.

The mandatory NAIS statute in Texas is defunct. At this moment, the TAHC can only legally require identification when it is connected to a disease control program.

HB 2311 and SB 1233 breathe new life into the statute, however, and gives the TAHC authority to require tagging by itself, with no connection to any disease control measure.

The original intent behind the bills was to address the fact that TAHC has been overstepping its bounds, most recently by issuing a mandatory cattle ID rule that requires cattle – even those going direct to slaughter – to be ear tagged. But the bills have been amended to undermine that original intent, and they now grandfather in the agency’s illegal regulation!

The same Agribusiness groups that supported mandatory NAIS are supporting this new bill. They want to give the state agency – which has a track record of ignoring the interests of small farmers – authority to mandate federal regulations on every farmer and animal owner within our state.

We need both farmers and consumers who care about small and diversified livestock farms – which are healthy sources of local food – to speak up!

Please call your Texas State Representative and Senator to urge them to vote NO on HB 2311 and SB 1233, the Animal ID bills. You can find out who represents you at www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/Home.aspx or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 512-463-4630.

MYTHS AND TRUTHS

The proponents of the Animal ID bill are fighting back with lies and half-truths. Beloware some of the inaccurate statements made by the Animal ID proponents. Be armed with the truth when you call!

CLAIM 1: The bill limits the agency’s authority.
TRUTH: Right now, the Texas Animal Health Commission has no authority to adopt mandatory animal ID requirements. It lost that authority in 2009, when the USDA withdrew the plans for the National Animal Identification System. This bill gives the agency new authority to impose more regulations on small farmers and animal owners.

CLAIM 2: We’re protected by the language that the state requirements can be “no more stringent” than the federal.
TRUTH: If the agency uses the authority given by this bill and applies the federal standards on an in-state basis, many small farmers and backyard poultry owners will be placed under significant burdens. Federal regulations only apply when the animals cross state lines, limiting their impact. Those same regulations become much more burdensome if they apply to every single movement in-state, such as neighbors selling or giving animals to each others. The federal agency comes up with a lot of bad rules, and the Texas Legislature should not simply buy into them, without even knowing what they are!

CLAIM 3: The bill doesn’t include poultry.
TRUTH: While the language of the bill does not mention poultry (or any other species), it does specifically reference the federal animal disease traceability program. You can read the federal rule here — it clearly includes requirements for tagging poultry, including keeping records for 2 years. When asked, the agency testified that the bill would give it authority for animal ID for all of the species within its jurisdiction, which includes poultry, sheep, goats, pigs, cattle, bison, and horses.

CLAIM 4: We need this bill so the agency can deal with dangerous diseases like avian flu.
TRUTH: The agency has ample authority to address animal diseases. There are seven chapters in the Texas Agriculture Code that give TAHC authority to address animal disease through testing, vaccination, quarantines, and more. The agency can even include animal ID as part of those disease control measures.

This bill is about requiring identification solely for the purpose of tracking, unrelated to any disease control program.

CLAIM 5: Small farmers were consulted in developing this bill.
TRUTH: Small farm advocates have been cut out of the process. While we knew about the original version of the bill — which had both pro’s and con’s — we were never told about the Committee Substitute version, which is significantly worse than the original, until it was unveiled at the Senate Committee hearing. At no time did the bill sponsors or any of the industry groups writing the Committee Substitute version of the bill even tell us that they were working on amendments.

On the agency side, the Texas Animal Health Commission has never included FARFA or the Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association in any working group or informal meeting.

Please call your State Senator, State Representative, and the members of the House Calendars Committee today and tell them to vote NO on Animal ID, HB 2311 / SB 1233.