Text: SF02065 Text: SF02067 Text: SF02000 - SF02099 Text: SF Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
PAG LIN
1 1 Section 1. NEW SECTION. 172E.1 DEFINITIONS.
1 2 1. "Livestock" means live cattle, swine, or sheep.
1 3 2. "Packer" means a person who is engaged in the business
1 4 of slaughtering livestock or receiving, purchasing, or
1 5 soliciting livestock for slaughter, if the meat products of
1 6 the slaughtered livestock are, directly or indirectly, to be
1 7 offered for resale or for public consumption and have a total
1 8 annual value of ten million dollars or more. As used in this
1 9 chapter, "packer" includes an agent of the packer engaged in
1 10 buying or soliciting livestock for slaughter on behalf of a
1 11 packer. "Packer" does not include a frozen food locker plant
1 12 regulated under chapter 172.
1 13 Sec. 2. NEW SECTION. 172E.2 PRICE DISCRIMINATION –
1 14 PROHIBITION.
1 15 1. Except as provided in subsection 2, a packer purchasing
1 16 or soliciting livestock for slaughter in this state shall not
1 17 discriminate in prices paid or offered to be paid to sellers
1 18 of that livestock.
1 19 2. This section shall not apply to the purchase of
1 20 livestock by a packer if all of the following requirements are
1 21 met:
1 22 a. The price differential is based on one of the
1 23 following:
1 24 (1) The quality of the livestock, if the packer purchases
1 25 or solicits the livestock based upon a payment method
1 26 specifying prices paid for criteria relating to carcass merit.
1 27 (2) Actual and quantifiable costs related to transporting
1 28 and acquiring the livestock by the packer.
1 29 (3) An agreement for the delivery of livestock at a
1 30 specified date or time.
1 31 b. The packer provides all sellers with the same terms and
1 32 conditions offered to a seller who receives the differential
1 33 price based on any of the criteria described in paragraph "a".
1 34 The packer is not required to provide sellers with the same
1 35 terms and conditions after the close of business day on which
2 1 the packer provided the differential price. The packer shall
2 2 post a notice in a conspicuous place informing sellers of the
2 3 terms and conditions offered to a seller who receives a
2 4 differential price.
2 5 3. An agreement made by a packer in violation of this
2 6 section is voidable.
2 7 4. A packer acting in violation of this section is guilty
2 8 of a fraudulent practice as provided in chapter 714.
2 9 5. The attorney general shall enforce this section. The
2 10 department shall refer any violations of this section to the
2 11 attorney general. The attorney general or any person injured
2 12 by a violation of this section may bring an action in district
2 13 court to restrain a packer from violating this section. A
2 14 seller who receives a discriminatory price or who is offered
2 15 only a discriminatory price for livestock based upon a
2 16 violation of this section by a packer, has a civil cause of
2 17 action against the packer and, if successful, shall be awarded
2 18 treble damages.
2 19 6. The department shall adopt rules pursuant to chapter
2 20 17A necessary in order to administer this chapter.
2 21 EXPLANATION
2 22 This bill creates new Code chapter 172E which regulates
2 23 meat packers. A packer is defined as a person who is engaged
2 24 in the business of slaughtering livestock or receiving,
2 25 purchasing, or soliciting livestock for slaughter. The
2 26 definition includes a packer's agent, but does not include a
2 27 frozen food locker plant.
2 28 This bill prohibits price discrimination in the purchase of
2 29 livestock by a packer. The prohibition does not apply if,
2 30 first, the price differential is based on the quality of the
2 31 livestock, transportation costs, or the delivery of livestock
2 32 at a specified date or time, and second, the packer provides
2 33 all sellers with the same terms and conditions offered to the
2 34 seller who receives the differential price. The bill provides
2 35 that an agreement made in violation of the bill's requirements
3 1 is voidable. The bill requires the department of agriculture
3 2 and land stewardship to adopt rules necessary to administer
3 3 the bill's provisions. A packer violating the provision is
3 4 guilty of a fraudulent practice. The bill provides that the
3 5 attorney general is responsible for enforcing the provision.
3 6 The bill provides that the attorney general or an injured
3 7 seller may seek injunctive relief. The injured seller may be
3 8 awarded treble damages in a court action.
3 9 LSB 5942XS 78
3 10 da/cf/24
Text: SF02065 Text: SF02067 Text: SF02000 - SF02099 Text: SF Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
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