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R E S O L U T I O N
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WHEREAS, Texans increasingly seek out locally sourced food |
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products, but the availability of local meat and poultry is limited |
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because small farms and ranches often lack access to small and |
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midsize production facilities; and |
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WHEREAS, Over the past two decades, the meat processing |
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industry in the United States has undergone massive consolidation, |
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with just four corporations slaughtering about 80 percent of the |
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cattle; facilities that process meat on this enormous scale are not |
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geared to accommodate local producers due to mismatches in size, |
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services, and business models; and |
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WHEREAS, Farmers and ranchers wishing to market meat and |
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poultry locally need small-scale, state-inspected slaughter |
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facilities, but this type of processing capacity is limited; |
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federal regulations create a barrier to the operation of such |
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facilities by requiring state inspection programs to enforce |
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regulations "at least equal" to those imposed at the national |
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level; current federal law regarding animal slaughter and meat |
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processing, however, is chiefly designed to ensure the safety of |
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corporate agribusiness, and regulations do not recognize the |
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differing practices applicable to small producers; forcing smaller |
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operations to use the same equipment as producers operating on a |
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vast scale creates an onerous and inappropriate financial burden; |
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and |
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WHEREAS, At present, despite consumer demand, the percentage |
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of direct sales of meat products is significantly lower than the |
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percentage of such sales of other agricultural products; the |
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one-size-fits-all approach of current federal law is hampering the |
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ability of small farmers and ranchers to sell directly to customers |
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and retailers, but by revising regulations to better reflect the |
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sharply different needs of corporate agriculture and small-scale |
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farming and ranching, the federal government can facilitate growth |
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in a sector of the agricultural economy that is primed for |
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expansion; now, therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 83rd Texas |
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Legislature hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to |
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amend existing laws and regulations governing animal slaughter and |
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meat processing to remove procedural requirements that are unsuited |
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to small and midsize slaughterhouse facilities, including basing |
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scientific substantiation and microbial testing on individual |
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product lines; to develop scale-appropriate approaches to the |
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regulation of small and midsize slaughterhouses that take into |
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consideration both the total volume and diversity of operations; to |
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provide for appropriate regulation of mobile slaughter and |
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processing units, including flexibility of the slaughter location |
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and scale-appropriate provisions for the disposal of offal and |
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wastewater; to allow feral hogs to be donated for food when |
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field-killed and custom-processed; and to expand the current |
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exemption for on-farm processing of poultry to allow for on-farm |
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processing of other animals at a similar scale; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the chief clerk forward official copies of |
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this resolution to the president of the United States, to the |
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president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of |
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Representatives of the United States Congress, to the secretary of |
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the United States Department of Agriculture, and to all the members |
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of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that this |
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resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a |
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memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |