Action Alert
March 2, 2007
Amended version of SB 486 passes the Senate and goes to the House
On Monday, SB 486 was brought up for the second reading. Senator Hershman proposed an amendment that completely replaced the original bill with a bill that barred only the mandatory animal ID and tracking phases of NAIS. The amended bill:
- allows mandatory premises registration to remain law and
- does not prevent coercive measures from being used to force people to participate in animal ID and tracking.
The amendment was adopted. The amended bill was then passed by the
full Senate on Tuesday. You can read the amended bill at:
www.in.gov/legislative/bills/2007/SAMP/RS048602.002.html
SB 486 now goes to the House. Representatives Grubb (h42@in.gov) and Koch (h65@in.gov) are sponsoring SB 486 in the House. After first reading, it will be assigned to the House Agriculture and Rural Development Committee. The committee members' contact information is provided below.
ACTION: Call or write all of the members of the House
Agriculture Committee. You should also call your own
Representative. If you don't know who your legislator is, you can find
out at:
www.in.gov/apps/sos/legislator/search/
Ask them to amend SB 486 back to its original version or, at a
minimum, to bar mandatory or coercive participation in ALL of the
three phases of NAIS. A sample letter and talking points are provided
below.
You can get in-depth arguments against NAIS at www.libertyark.net. And, as always, if you have questions or concerns, you can reach us at noah@libertyark.net.
House Agriculture Committee:
Chair: Rep Pflum (D) h56@in.gov Vice chair: Stemler (D) h71@in.gov Battles (D) h64@in.gov Bischoff (D) h68@in.gov Dembowski (D) h17@in.gov Goodin (D) h66@in.gov Grubb (D) h42@in.gov Gutwein (R) h16@in.gov Friend (R) h23@in.gov Knollman (R) h55@in.gov Lehe (R) h15@in.gov Stutzman (R) h52@in.govYou can call all the legislators at 1-800-382-9842 (for Democrats) or 1-800-382-9841 (for Republicans)
Talking points for calls:
NAIS will hurt Indiana's economy:
- There has been no analysis at federal or state level that establishes the costs or benefits of NAIS.
- Costs of the program include the cost of the tags, hardware, software, time and labor.
- Many small farmer and ranchers cannot afford these costs.
- Service providers (veterinarians, feed stores, auction houses, meat processors, etc.) will be harmed when the farmers and ranchers go out of business.
- Remaining farmers will pass the costs on to consumers, lowering demand for local foods.
Neither the USDA nor the IDA has scientific proof that NAIS will improve disease control:
- It does not address the cause, treatment, or transmission of disease, in domestic or wild animals.
- It does not significantly improve on current methods for identification and tracking of disease.
NAIS is not necessary for the market. Age- and source-verification is already available through the USDA's Process Verified Program.
NAIS will not improve food safety:
- USDA itself has stated that this is not a food safety program.
- Contamination of food with e. coli and other bacteria occurs at the slaughterhouse or afterwards, while NAIS will stop before that point.
NAIS will not protect against terrorism:
- The microchips chosen by the state can be cloned, destroyed, or infected with computer viruses, and reprogrammed. Any terrorist or thief can use this.
- The database of information, created by IDA and available to USDA, will provide a target for hackers.
NAIS infringes on people's constitutional rights, including due process, privacy, and religious freedom.
NAIS unfairly attacks the rights of pet owners and those who raise animals as food for their family.
USDA states that NAIS is voluntary at the federal level, so there is no "federal mandate" requiring Indiana to implement this program.
Other states are also rejecting or limiting NAIS, so Indiana will not be disadvantaged by refusing to participate.
As amended in the Senate, SB 486 does NOT address the problems with NAIS:
- Mandatory premises registration violates our rights. For the first time in our history, individuals would be required to register with the government simply because they own animals.
- Voluntary animal identification and tracking could easily be abused by the government forcing people to participate in NAIS in order to buy, sell, or slaughter animals, go to shows, etc.
- SB 486, as originally proposed and approved by the Committee, would prevent these abuses. It still allows for a private, market-driven program that can address the interests of commercial producers. Please propose an amendment to restore the original version of SB 486 or, at a minimum, to bar mandatory or coercive participation in ALL of the three phases of NAIS.
Sample letter - Personalize and put it into your own words for the greatest effect!!
Dear Representative _________:
I am a ____ (small farmer, consumer, taxpayer - tell them a sentence about yourself). I am opposed to all three stages of NAIS - premises registration, animal identification, and tracking - because they impose heavy burdens on our rights and our economy, without providing any real benefits. Neither the USDA nor the Indiana State Department of Agriculture has provided any scientific basis for the claims of improved disease control. NAIS is an unprecedented expansion of the government bureaucracy into people's private lives and infringes on our property rights. NAIS will drive many small and medium-size farmers and ranchers out of business and discourage people from owning horses and other livestock as pets, resulting in far-reaching effects on our economy. The only winners in this program are the microchip manufacturers, the associations that will manage the databases, and the government employees.
I urge you to support amendments to SB 486 that would stop any portion of NAIS from being mandatory, including premises registration, and prevent coercion from being used to force people into the program. The best approach would be the one taken in the original version of SB 486, namely barring any government program at all, whether mandatory or voluntary.
Thank you for your attention to this issue.
Name
Address
City, State, Zip