Animal Law Digest

House Resolution 9552, the Transparency in Depopulation Act, would prevent federal funding from being used for certain methods of animal slaughter, including ventilation shutdown, which entails elimination of ventilation and fan systems to raise temperatures and kill animals by inducing hyperthermia and hypoxia. The provisions also would require farms to publicly disclose their killing methods and other associated data. The bill was introduced by Representative Pramila Jayapal and has been referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. The bill text is not yet publicly available.

Senator Cory Booker announced the Industrial Agriculture Accountability Act of 2022, which would impose multiple reforms, including by:

• Requiring industrial operators to register high-risk CAFOs, submit disaster preparedness plans, and pay to cover the costs of preparing for and responding to disaster events;
• Ensuring that industrial operators aren’t using the worst depopulation and slaughter practices, including dangerously fast line-speed increases and self-inspection programs;
• Amending the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act to include poultry, with a 10-year phase in and grants provided to assist transitions to controlled atmosphere stunning systems;
• Creating new protections for nonambulatory (downer) pigs at slaughter;
• Amending the 28-Hour Law to include new protections for animals during transport; and
• Prohibiting the use of prison labor during disaster events.

The bill has not yet been assigned a number or a committee.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s ruling denying pork producers’ motion to intervene in a case brought by unionized workers challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rule eliminating pork processing line-speed limits. The lower court granted summary judgment in favor of plaintiff workers to aside the USDA rule and found that the pork producers’ motion was untimely.

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is inviting pork producers to increase slaughter line speeds during a one-year trial period after a federal judge ruled that the USDA had improperly eliminated line speed limitations in March 2021 due to workplace safety concerns associated with faster processing. During the pilot program, processing plants will work with labor unions and other worker safety communities to implement workplace safety measures and share data with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to help shape future industry regulations.

House Bill 3835, the Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption Act, would exempt “custom slaughter facilities” from required federal inspection of the “slaughter of animals and the preparation of the carcasses, parts thereof, meat and meat food products” if the custom facility is in compliance with laws of the state where it is located, and the meat products processed are distributed exclusively within that state. The bill specifically notes that none of its provisions shall be interpreted to preempt any state laws concerning slaughter at custom facilities.

President Biden has withdrawn an executive order that would have allowed poultry processing plants to slaughter 175 birds per minute.

Senate Booker has introduced Senate Bill 4338, the Safe Line Speeds in COVID-19 Act, a companion bill to H.R. 7521, which proposes to suspend all current and future USDA line speed waivers amidst the pandemic.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union and local counterparts in six states have filed suit against the United States Department of Agriculture, alleging that the agency’s line speed waiver program violates the Administrative Procedure Act.

New Jersey Assembly No. 4404 proposes additional protections for farm workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, including increased inspections, government reporting on enforcement activities, prioritization of farm workers for testing, provision of separate living facilities for workers exposed to communicable diseases, and proper availability of personal protective equipment.

H.R. 7521 proposes to suspend active and prohibit future waivers for high line speeds in slaughterhouses during the COVID-19 pandemic.