Senate File 288

                                       SENATE FILE       
                                       BY  BRUNKHORST


    Passed Senate, Date               Passed House,  Date             
    Vote:  Ayes        Nays           Vote:  Ayes        Nays         
                 Approved                            

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act providing for the animal unit capacity of pullets for
  2    purposes of regulation under the animal agriculture compliance
  3    Act.
  4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
  5 TLSB 2620SS 80
  6 da/sh/8

PAG LIN

  1  1    Section 1.  Section 459.102, subsection 6, paragraph i,
  1  2 Code 2003, is amended to read as follows:
  1  3    i.  Broiler or layer chickens Chickens weighing twenty ounces
  1  4 or more .................................................. 0.010
  1  5    j.  Chickens weighing less than twenty ounces ........ 0.0025
  1  6                           EXPLANATION
  1  7    BACKGROUND.  This bill relates to provisions under the
  1  8 "Animal Agriculture Compliance Act", relating to the
  1  9 regulation of animal feeding operations by the department of
  1 10 natural resources (DNR) which were amended, enacted, and
  1 11 consolidated in Code chapter 459 during the 2002 legislative
  1 12 sessions pursuant to Senate File 2293 and House File 2627
  1 13 (2002 Iowa Acts, ch. 1137, and 2002 Iowa Acts, Second
  1 14 Extraordinary Session, ch. 1003).
  1 15    ANIMAL UNIT CAPACITY.  Regulations affecting confinement
  1 16 feeding operations are often based on size.  Senate File 2293
  1 17 replaced animal weight capacity with animal unit capacity as a
  1 18 means of measuring size.  An animal unit is a number based
  1 19 upon the product of multiplying the number of animals of each
  1 20 category by a special equivalency factor.  Categories are
  1 21 established based on species.  However, the section sometimes
  1 22 divides categories for a single species based on maturity or
  1 23 weight.  Slaughter or feeder cattle equal 1 animal unit,
  1 24 immature dairy cattle equal 1 animal unit, mature dairy cattle
  1 25 equal 1.4 animal unit, butcher or breeding swine weighing more
  1 26 than 55 pounds equal 0.4 animal unit, swine weighing between
  1 27 15 and 55 pounds equal 0.1 animal unit, sheep or lambs equal
  1 28 0.1 animal unit, horses equal 2 animal units, turkeys equal
  1 29 0.018 animal unit, chickens, both broiler and layer, equal
  1 30 0.010 animal unit.
  1 31    PROVISIONS OF THIS BILL.  This bill creates another
  1 32 distinction for poultry.  It retains the equivalency factor
  1 33 for chickens at 0.010 but provides that the category does not
  1 34 apply to chickens weighing less than 20 ounces.  The bill
  1 35 provides a new equivalency factor for those chickens,
  2  1 sometimes referred to as pullets (0.0025 animal unit).
  2  2 LSB 2620SS 80
  2  3 da/sh/8