By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

FRANKFORT, Ky. — As the 2010 General Assembly winds down, livestock farmers have waited anxiously to see the fate of specific legislation that would affect them.

Senate Bill 105 would create a 14-member Kentucky Livestock Care Standards Commission (KLCSC) that would set rules for the treatment of animals and poultry on the farm in an effect to keep groups such as the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) from pushing their legislative agendas into the industry.

The much anticipated bill was passed unanimously by the full Senate earlier in the month and got one step closer last week to becoming law as it passed out of the House Agriculture and Small Business Committee with some tweaking.

Jeff Harper, director of the Kentucky Farm Bureau (KFB) Public Affairs Division said the bill came through with a House Committee Substitute (HCS), but the original intent stayed intact; the biggest change being the new commission would serve as an advisory board to an existing ag board.

“In Kentucky we have in place a state board of agriculture that is already authorized to promulgate regulations, so rather than the KLCSC promulgating the regulations, it will make recommendations for on-farm livestock and poultry care standards to the state board of agriculture,” he said.

Those recommendations would then be either approved by the board and enacted within 30 days or rejected with the reasons for rejection being sent in writing to the commission, according to Harper.

Through the course of the legislation some groups have voiced concern about language included in the original bill prompting some of the changes.

“The big compromise is, the state board of agriculture can not take any action in terms of on-farm livestock and poultry care standards without a recommendation from this commission,” said Harper. “In other words, even after these standards are in place and as agriculture not only in Kentucky but all over the U.S. evolves, and standards may need to be tweaked or changed, the state board of agriculture can not revise any of these standards without a recommendation from the commission.”

The bill also maintains the pre-emption clause for local governments, which will prohibit them from enacting more stringent regulations for on-farm livestock and poultry care than is recommended by the commission, the KFB reported.

The commissioner of agriculture would chair both the new commission as well as the state board and both entities would be “housed” in the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.

Commissioner Richie Farmer has supported the legislation from the start and said the guidelines of the bill should be based not on emotion, but on scientific research and widely accepted practices.
Harper noted that the changes have made good legislation even better.

“It was a really good compromise. It does not reduce or harm the original intent of SB 105, it is just a mechanism where we already have a board that can write regulations so everybody is in agreement,” he said. “We’ve worked with both of the bill sponsors, Sen. David Givens (R-Greensburg) and Rep. Tom McKee (D-Cynthiana) on this compromise. We look forward to moving this legislation into the House as soon as possible so we protect Kentucky’s livestock and poultry industry.”

Many other state agriculture groups have supported the legislation including the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Assoc., the Kentucky Pork Producers Assoc., the Kentucky Soybean Assoc., and the Kentucky Corn Growers Assoc., just to name a few.

The Community Farm Alliance (CFA) was one of the organizations concerned with the earlier version of the bill but has always been supportive, according to its president Adam Barr.

He said more representation by farmers was needed in such a commission, and that it should serve in an advisory role rather than a regulatory role.

“We like the bill as it is and we think it will do what it is intended to do, protect Kentucky livestock,” said Barr. “The majority of farmers are behind something like this and this bill takes care of their concerns.”

Harper said it was always the intent of the bill to obviously have farmer representation from all sectors nominated by their respective Kentucky commodity organizations on the commission and the changes made would reinforce that fact more clearly.
“The Committee Sub does more clearly define that and if that makes folks more comfortable, that is perfectly fine with us,” he said.

The bill was scheduled to be voted on last Monday by the full House where it was expected to pass.