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NAIS UPDATE: May, 19,
2008
NAIS Update
USDA Privacy Act Notices, Missouri and
Illinois News
While Congress focuses on passing the
Farm Bill, the NAIS fight continues on
other fronts. Calls are needed to
support an anti-NAIS bill in Illinois,
and
Missouri has passed its anti-NAIS bill!
The USDA has published a Privacy Act
notice in the Federal Register, and
people can submit comments until May 30.
More details on all of these below.
Calls Needed in
Illinois
HB 5776 is heading for the "3rd reading"
and vote on the Senate floor this week!
This bill does two things: (1) forbids
the Illinois Department of Agriculture
from requiring premises registration or
NAIS electronic identification for the
fairs, unless required by federal law
and (2) requires the IDOA to develop a
procedure for people to withdraw from
NAIS, so that the thousands of people
who have already signed up can get back
out.
Below is a list of the Senate sponsors.
If your Senator has sponsored the bill,
please call and say thank you! It is
important that they hear that their
constituents appreciate their
sponsorship, so that they don't change
their minds. If your Senator has not yet
sponsored the bill, please call and make
sure that they intend to vote yes.
It's also critical that you call your
Representative. HB 5776 was amended by
the Senate Agriculture Committee, and so
the bill will go back to the House for
concurrence. The session adjourns on May
29, so time is running very short!
Please call now!!
For talking points and more information
about NAIS and Illinois, go to
http://farmandranchfreedom.org/content/illinois-2008
or contact the Farm and Ranch
Freedom Alliance, 866-687-6452 or
info@farmandranchfreedom.org
TAKE ACTION
1) Contact your Senator. You can look up
who represents you at
http://www.congress.org
Remember,
HB 5776 is a state bill, so look for
your state legislators' information. You
can also call the Illinois Legislature's
information line at 217-782-3944.
Current Senate sponsors of HB 5776:
Pamela J. Althoff, Tim Bivins, J.
Bradley Burzynski, Gary G. Dahl, Deanna
Demuzio, Gary Forby, Michael Frerichs,
David Luechtefeld, John Jones, Christine
Radogno, Dale A. Righter, John M.
Sullivan, Frank C. Watson
MESSAGE: If your Senator is already a
co-sponsor, call and tell them "Thank
you for supporting HB 5776 and
independent agriculture in Illinois." If
your
Senator is not already a co-sponsor,
call and urge him or her to vote yes on
HB 5776!
2) Contact your Representative. You can
look up who represents you at
http://www.congress.org
Remember, HB 5776 is a state bill, so
look for your state
legislators' information. You can also
call the Illinois Legislature's
information line at 217-782-3944.
MESSAGE: "Vote yes on HB 5776 when it
comes back from the Senate."
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
There is a lot of debate around a
provision that was added to HB 5776 in
the House. This provision would strip
the Governor and agency of rulemaking
authority without legislative approval.
The provision was added to many of the
bills in the House and has nothing to do
with NAIS -- it is about the balance of
power between the branches of
government. The Senate Agriculture
Committee removed the provision.
Assuming HB 5776 passses the Senate,
either the House will have to concur in
the Senate version or the Senate will
have to concur in the House version. In
other words, there's major risk that the
bill could die because of disagreements
that have nothing to do with NAIS. So
it's important to call BOTH your Senator
and Representative, and be clear that
you want them to pass HB 5776. Ask them
to set aside the other issues, and agree
that NAIS should not be
forced on our children and that people
should be able to withdraw from it.
Missouri Bill Passes
On Thursday, the Missouri Legislature
passed SB 931, an omnibus agriculture
bill that includes an anti-NAIS
provision!!!
Section 267.168 of SB
931 states:
267.168. 1. The state of Missouri may
support a voluntary animal
identification program. The department
of agriculture shall not mandate or
otherwise force national animal
identification system (NAIS) premises
registration without specific statutory
authorization from the Missouri general
assembly.
2. Any person who participates in the
national animal identification system
may withdraw from the system at any
time. All personal information relating
to a participant shall be deleted from
the system when the participant
withdraws, unless the participant is
part of an ongoing disease investigation
or disease monitoring or control
program.
3. If the provisions of this section
interfere with the marketing of Missouri
livestock, the governor by executive
order may waive the provisions of this
section in whole or in part until the
Missouri general assembly takes action
to reinstate or modify the provisions of
this section.
Many thanks and congratulations to all
of the people and organizations in
Missouri who worked so hard to make this
happen! Special thanks to Ray Cunio,
Russell Woods, Doreen Hannes, Bob
Parker, and the others who have worked
tirelessly in this fight. The bill
contains some loopholes, so the fight is
not over. But this is an important step.
The Governor is expected to sign SB 931
without any problem. This will make four
states that have adopted statutes
rejecting a mandatory NAIS!!!
USDA Privacy Act
Notices
The USDA published a Privacy Act Notice
in the April 30th issue of the Federal
Register, at 73 Fed. Reg. 23412. It is
online at
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-9419.htm
The Privacy Act of 1974 is intended to
"provide certain safeguards for an
individual against an invasion of
personal privacy" by giving individuals
certain rights and requiring agencies to
follow certain procedures. One of the
required procedures is to publish notice
in the Federal Register "upon
establishment or revision" of a "system
of records." That notice must include
the routine uses of the information,
which determine when the information can
be disclosed.
So, by publishing this notice, USDA is
essentially stating when information
collected under NAIS can be disclosed as
a matter of course.
In the notice, the USDA states: "APHIS
may routinely share information
contained in USDA's portion of the NAIS
with Federal and State animal health
officials during an incident of an
animal disease, bioterrorism, or other
animal health event. APHIS may
disseminate information to Federal and
State animal health officials within the
system for educational purposes and to
obtain feedback regarding the NAIS
program and emergency preparedness
guidelines. Other routine uses of this
information include releases related to
investigations pertaining to violations
of law or related to litigation. A
complete listing of the routine uses for
this system is included in this notice.
The information collection requests
associated with this system have been
approved by the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork
Reduction Act." The notice then sets out
a long list of "routine uses" of the
information.
Comments on the Privacy Act notice are
due by May 30, 2008. You can submit
comments online here, or by mailing to:
Docket No. APHIS-2007-0015, Regulatory
Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS,
Station 3A-03.8, 4700, River Road Unit
118, Riverdale, MD, 20737-1238.
If you submit comments to the USDA, be
sure to send a copy to your U.S.
Representative and Senators. You can
find out who represents you at
www.congress.org
Double Your Donation!
A generous donor has provided a $1,500
matching donation! That means that, when
you donate to FARFA, your donation will
be doubled!!
Donate at
http://farmandranchfreedom.org/content/join-farfa
If you are a member, please help us meet
this matching donation by giving an
additional donation. And if you aren't
already a member, please consider
becoming a member! The more members we
have, the more the legislators will pay
attention to what we have to say!! And,
of course, we need money to keep doing
this work. Printing costs, the website,
telephone, mailing costs, exhibits at
conference, and travel for lobbying are
not free.
Please help us to
protect your rights and your food
supply. Join today!
This is an exciting time in the movement
to stop NAIS. More states are passing
anti-NAIS bills and the Legal Defense
Fund has sent a notice of intent to sue
the USDA (see the press release at
http://www.ftcldf.org/press-15May2008.html).
These are wonderful developments! But we
still have a long way to go. Educating
the public and our legislators about
NAIS and the threats to independent
agriculture is critical to long-term
success. Please help in this effort
by downloading materials from our
website,
http://farmandranchfreedom.org/content/take-action,
and sharing them with your community and
elected officials.
Working together, we can make our voices
heard.
Judith McGeary
Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance
http://www.farmandranchfreedom.org
866-687-6452 |
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