DIRECT Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 547 To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspec- tion Act to allow for the interstate internet sales of certain State- inspected meat and poultry, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 28, 2021 Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota (for himself and Mr. CUELLAR) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture A BILL To amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act to allow for the interstate inter- net sales of certain State-inspected meat and poultry, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Direct Interstate Re- 4 tail Exemption for Certain Transactions Act’’ or the ‘‘DI- 5 RECT Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:26 Feb 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H547.IH H547 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 547 IH SEC. 2. INTERSTATE INTERNET SALES OF CERTAIN STATE- 1 INSPECTED MEAT. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 301 of the Federal Meat 3 Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 661) is amended— 4 (1) in subsection (a)(1), by inserting ‘‘or for 5 distribution pursuant to the second sentence of sub- 6 section (c)(2)’’ before the period at the end; and 7 (2) in subsection (c)(2)— 8 (A) in the first sentence, by inserting ‘‘or 9 by’’ after ‘‘conducted at’’ each place it appears; 10 and 11 (B) by inserting after the first sentence 12 the following: ‘‘For the purposes of this para- 13 graph, any retail store, restaurant, or similar 14 retail-type establishment may sell over the 15 internet and ship by carrier in commerce (other 16 than for export to a foreign country) any State- 17 inspected meat or meat food product, provided 18 that the State-inspected meat or meat food 19 product is shipped directly to household con- 20 sumers and in normal retail quantities.’’. 21 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—Section 301 of the 22 Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 661) is amend- 23 ed— 24 (1) by striking ‘‘he’’ each place it appears and 25 inserting ‘‘the Secretary’’; and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:26 Feb 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H547.IH H547 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 547 IH (2) in subsection (c)— 1 (A) in paragraph (1), in the first sentence, 2 by striking ‘‘subparagraph (2)’’ and inserting 3 ‘‘paragraph (2)’’; 4 (B) in paragraph (2)— 5 (i) in the first sentence, by striking 6 ‘‘paragraph (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- 7 section’’; and 8 (ii) in the third sentence (as so redes- 9 ignated), by striking ‘‘subparagraph’’ and 10 inserting ‘‘paragraph’’; 11 (C) in paragraph (3)— 12 (i) by striking ‘‘paragraph (c)’’ each 13 place it appears and inserting ‘‘sub- 14 section’’; 15 (ii) by striking ‘‘subparagraph (1)’’ 16 and inserting ‘‘paragraph (1)’’; and 17 (iii) by striking ‘‘this paragraph’’ each 18 place it appears and inserting ‘‘this sub- 19 section’’; and 20 (D) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘para- 21 graph (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection’’. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:26 Feb 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H547.IH H547 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 547 IH SEC. 3. INTERSTATE INTERNET SALES OF CERTAIN STATE- 1 INSPECTED POULTRY. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 5 of the Poultry Products 3 Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 454) is amended— 4 (1) in subsection (a)(1), by inserting ‘‘or for 5 distribution pursuant to the second sentence of sub- 6 section (c)(2)’’ before the period at the end; and 7 (2) in subsection (c)(2)— 8 (A) in the first sentence, by inserting ‘‘or 9 by’’ after ‘‘conducted at’’ each place it appears; 10 and 11 (B) by inserting after the first sentence 12 the following: ‘‘For the purposes of this para- 13 graph, any retail store, restaurant, or similar 14 retail-type establishment may sell over the 15 internet and ship by carrier in commerce (other 16 than for export to a foreign country) any State- 17 inspected poultry product, provided that the 18 State-inspected poultry product is shipped di- 19 rectly to household consumers and in normal 20 retail quantities.’’. 21 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—Section 5 of the 22 Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 454) is 23 amended— 24 (1) by striking ‘‘he’’ each place it appears and 25 inserting ‘‘the Secretary’’; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:26 Feb 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H547.IH H547 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 547 IH (2) in subsection (a)(3), in the third sentence, 1 by striking ‘‘subparagraph (4)’’ and inserting ‘‘para- 2 graph (4)’’; and 3 (3) in subsection (c)— 4 (A) in paragraph (1)— 5 (i) in the first sentence, by striking 6 ‘‘subparagraph (2) of this paragraph (c)’’ 7 and inserting ‘‘paragraph (2)’’; and 8 (ii) in the fourth sentence, by striking 9 ‘‘subparagraph (a)(4) of this section’’ and 10 inserting ‘‘subsection (a)(4)’’; 11 (B) in paragraph (2)— 12 (i) in the first sentence, by striking 13 ‘‘paragraph (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- 14 section’’; and 15 (ii) in the third sentence (as so redes- 16 ignated), by striking ‘‘subparagraph’’ and 17 inserting ‘‘paragraph’’; 18 (C) in paragraph (3)— 19 (i) by striking ‘‘subparagraph (1) of 20 this paragraph (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘para- 21 graph (1)’’; 22 (ii) by striking ‘‘paragraph (c)’’ each 23 place it appears and inserting ‘‘sub- 24 section’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:26 Feb 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H547.IH H547 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 547 IH (iii) by striking ‘‘this paragraph’’ each 1 place it appears and inserting ‘‘this sub- 2 section’’; and 3 (D) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘para- 4 graph (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection’’. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:26 Feb 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H547.IH H547 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS