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October 27, 2006
Texas counties sign anti-NAIS resolutions
Don't mess with Texas! I've said many times since 1999 when I first started CASPIAN that Texans are some of the most ornery, feisty, freedom-loving individuals in the country. And I love 'em to death.
The latest battle to hit Texas involves resistance to a Big Brother scheme to tag, number, and monitor every chicken, cow, and goat in America under the USDA's National Animal Information System (NAIS). The plan involves identifying all premises with livestock and registering them in a federal database. ("The first step in implementing the NAIS is registering each premises in the United States and assigning that location its own unique identification number," is how the USDA puts it.)
When NAIS becomes mandatory, if you own a food animal or a horse you will also be required to number it with an RFID tag or other numbering system and register it with the federal government. Then you'll have just 24 hours to report the birth, death, slaughter, transport, or sale of each and every animal -- or face huge fines.
That's the background, and it looked like the scheme was moving forward in Texas when state legislators agreed to comply last year. But the people who cooked this up didn't count on fierce resistance from Texas ranchers and small farmers. There's been a lot of hollerin' in Texas over this, and yesterday two Texas counties, Bandera County and Blanco County, signed anti-NAIS resolutions. The anti-NAIS farmers even got front page coverage in the Bandera Bulletin newspaper with a headline reading "Ranchers Prepare for a Revolution."
For those wanting more information on NAIS, click the extended entry below for links to the regulations, commentary, groups you can join, and various legislative efforts related to NAIS.
- Katherine Albrecht
Further resources on the National Animal Identification System (NAIS)
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USDA NAIS website
http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/index.shtml
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Yale-educated attorney Mary Zanoni's comments on NAIS
(Includes discussion of its constitutionality and enforceability)
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ofgu/ID060202.cfm
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Clearinghouse for NAIS opposition
Run by Vermont farmer Walter Jeffries
http://nonais.org/
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Farm and Ranch Freedom Association
Texas group opposing NAIS nationwide
http://www.farmandranchfreedom.org./
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Tennessee legislation to prevent the state from participating in NAIS
http://www.spychips.com/blog/2006/03/tennessee_members_help_stop_an.html
See full text of the bill and actions taken to date here:
http://www.legislature.state.tn.us/
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Texas legislation related to NAIS
First the bad news:
The Texas Legislature passed HB 1361 in 2005 authorizing the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) to "develop and implement an animal identification system consistent with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Animal Identification System (NAIS)."
HB 1361
Signed into law 5/05, Effective 9/05
Text here:
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/79R/billtext/html/HB01361F.htm
Then the good news:
TEXAS HB 47 would amend the statute making it voluntary, not mandatory
HB 47: Relating to prohibiting mandatory participation in an animal
identification system
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=793&Bill=HB47
Bill text:
http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/793/billtext/html/HB00047I.htm
Would repeal this section of the agriculture code:
http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/AG/content/htm/ag.006.00.000161.00.htm#161.056.00
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Posted by Katherine Albrecht at October 27, 2006 4:41 PM
Comments
What has happened in Texas? Did HB 47 Pass?
Is NAIS not voluntary only? Thank you.
Barbara Gallegly
Panting Deer Acres
Michigan
Posted by: Barbara Gallegly at December 11, 2006 1:02 AM