What This Bill Does
This bill amends the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to create new rules for how meat packers buy fed cattle (cattle raised for slaughter). The bill establishes a public library of cattle contracts, requires packers to purchase a minimum percentage of cattle through negotiated pricing, and improves reporting requirements for cattle sales and prices.
##
Who It Affects
- Meat packers (companies that process cattle for slaughter)
- Cattle producers and ranchers who sell fed cattle
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Livestock market participants
- The general public (who can access contract information)
##
Key Provisions
- Packers must establish and maintain a public library cataloging all types of contracts they use to purchase fed cattle, updated monthly, including contract terms and pricing details (Sec. 6)
- Packers must purchase a minimum percentage of fed cattle through approved pricing mechanisms (negotiated sales, auctions, or trading platforms) rather than only formula contracts, with specific percentages set by region and reviewed every 5 years (Sec. 7)
- Packers must report daily by 10:00 a.m. Central Time how many cattle are scheduled for delivery to their plants over the next 14 days (Sec. 3)
- The Department of Agriculture must report daily average carcass weights for cattle slaughtered within a timeframe it determines, no later than 360 days after the bill becomes law (Sec. 4)
- Cattle market reporting regions must be realigned to include Wyoming with Colorado and Illinois and South Dakota with Iowa-Minnesota (Sec. 9)
##
What Changes
If this bill becomes law, meat packers would face new legal requirements to make their cattle purchasing contracts public through a government library. Packers would no longer be able to rely entirely on private formula contracts and would have to purchase a set percentage of cattle through open market negotiations. This could increase price transparency and give cattle producers more negotiating power. Violations could result in civil penalties of up to $90,000 per incident. The reporting timeline from 7 days to 14 days for certain cattle reports would expand the look-ahead period for market information.
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Important Definitions
- **Fed cattle:** A steer (castrated male) or heifer (female that has not given birth) finished on a diet of roughage, grains, protein meal, grass, and other nutrient-rich feeds before slaughter (Sec. 2)
- **Approved pricing mechanism:** A purchase of fed cattle made through negotiated purchase, negotiated grid purchase, at a stockyard (a market for livestock), or through a trading system where multiple buyers and sellers regularly make and accept bids (Sec. 2)
- **Covered packer:** A meat packing company that slaughtered an average of at least 5 percent of the total fed cattle slaughtered nationwide during the previous 5 years (Sec. 2)
- **Mandatory minimum:** The minimum percentage of fed cattle a covered packer must purchase through approved pricing mechanisms from non-packer producers for each plant (Sec. 2)
- **Covered contract:** Any written or oral agreement between a packer and a producer to purchase fed cattle for slaughter, but excluding negotiated purchases (Sec. 2)
- **Negotiated grid purchase:** A cattle purchase where a base price is negotiated between buyer and seller, with premiums added and discounts subtracted, and cattle must be delivered within 14 days of being committed to the packer (Sec. 2)
##
Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
I
118TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1287
To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to establish a cattle
contract library, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 1, 2023
Mr. FEENSTRA (for himself, Mr. LEVIN, and Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to
establish a cattle contract library, 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 ‘‘Cattle Price Discovery
4
and Transparency Act of 2023’’.
5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
6
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 212 of the Agricultural
7
Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635a) is amended—
8
(1) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘cattle,’’ and
9
inserting ‘‘cattle (including fed cattle),’’;
10
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(2) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through
1
(14) as paragraphs (2), (3), (4), (6) through (8),
2
(10), and (12) through (18), respectively;
3
(3) by inserting before paragraph (2) (as so re-
4
designated) the following:
5
‘‘(1) APPROVED
PRICING
MECHANISM.—The
6
term ‘approved pricing mechanism’ means a pur-
7
chase of fed cattle made—
8
‘‘(A) through a negotiated purchase;
9
‘‘(B) through a negotiated grid purchase;
10
‘‘(C) at a stockyard (as defined in section
11
302 of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921
12
(7 U.S.C. 202)); or
13
‘‘(D) through a trading system or platform
14
for the purchase or sale of cattle, or for an ar-
15
rangement to purchase or sell cattle, through
16
any means in which multiple buyer and seller
17
participants have the ability to, and regularly
18
and consistently, make and accept bids and of-
19
fers on or at the trading system or platform.’’;
20
(4) by inserting after paragraph (4) (as so re-
21
designated) the following:
22
‘‘(5) FED
CATTLE.—The term ‘fed cattle’
23
means a steer or heifer that has been finished on a
24
ration of roughage and feed concentrates, such as
25
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grains, protein meal, grass (forage), and other nutri-
1
ent-rich feeds, prior to slaughter.’’;
2
(5) by inserting after paragraph (8) (as so re-
3
designated) the following:
4
‘‘(9) MANDATORY MINIMUM.—The term ‘man-
5
datory minimum’ means, of the quantity of fed cat-
6
tle purchased for slaughter by a covered packer (as
7
defined in section 221) for each processing plant,
8
the minimum percentage of such cattle that are re-
9
quired to be purchased through approved pricing
10
mechanisms from producers that are not packers.’’;
11
and
12
(6) by inserting after paragraph (10) (as so re-
13
designated) the following:
14
‘‘(11) NEGOTIATED
GRID
PURCHASE.—The
15
term ‘negotiated grid purchase’, with respect to cat-
16
tle, means a purchase—
17
‘‘(A) involving the negotiation of a base
18
price from which premiums are added and dis-
19
counts are subtracted, determined by seller-
20
buyer interaction and agreement on a delivery
21
day; and
22
‘‘(B) under which the cattle are scheduled
23
for delivery to the packer not later than 14
24
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days after the date on which the cattle are com-
1
mitted to the packer.’’.
2
(b) CATTLE REPORTING DEFINITIONS.—Section 221
3
of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C.
4
1635d) is amended—
5
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘7-day’’ and
6
inserting ‘‘14-day’’;
7
(2) in paragraph (8)(B), by striking ‘‘market’’
8
and inserting ‘‘marketing’’;
9
(3) by redesignating paragraphs (3), (4), (5),
10
(6), (7), and (8) as paragraphs (5), (6), (8), (9),
11
(11), and (12), respectively;
12
(4) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol-
13
lowing:
14
‘‘(3) COVERED CONTRACT.—
15
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘covered
16
contract’ means any agreement, written or oral,
17
between a packer and a producer for the pur-
18
chase of fed cattle for slaughter.
19
‘‘(B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘covered con-
20
tract’ does not include a contract for a nego-
21
tiated purchase.
22
‘‘(4) COVERED
PACKER.—The term ‘covered
23
packer’ means a packer that has slaughtered during
24
the immediately preceding 5 calendar years an aver-
25
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•HR 1287 IH
age of not less than 5 percent of the number of fed
1
cattle slaughtered nationally during the immediately
2
preceding 5 calendar years.’’;
3
(5) by inserting after paragraph (6) (as so re-
4
designated) the following:
5
‘‘(7) HEIFER.—The term ‘heifer’ means a bo-
6
vine female that has not given birth to a calf.’’; and
7
(6) by inserting after paragraph (9) (as so re-
8
designated) the following:
9
‘‘(10) STEER.—The term ‘steer’ means a bovine
10
male castrated before reaching sexual maturity.’’.
11
SEC. 3. 14-DAY CATTLE SLAUGHTER REPORT.
12
Section 222(c) of the Agricultural Marketing Act of
13
1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635e(c)) is amended—
14
(1) in paragraph (1)—
15
(A) by striking subparagraphs (B) and
16
(C); and
17
(B) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as
18
subparagraph (B);
19
(2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘the informa-
20
tion’’ and inserting ‘‘information reported under this
21
subsection’’;
22
(3) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para-
23
graph (3); and
24
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•HR 1287 IH
(4) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol-
1
lowing:
2
‘‘(2) PRIOR DAY REPORTING.—
3
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The corporate officers
4
or officially designated representatives of each
5
packer processing plant shall report to the Sec-
6
retary, for each business day of the packer
7
processing plant, not later than 10:00 a.m.
8
Central Time on each reporting day, the infor-
9
mation from the prior business day described in
10
subparagraph (B).
11
‘‘(B) INFORMATION
REQUIRED.—The in-
12
formation required under subparagraph (A)
13
shall be, with respect to the prior business day,
14
the number of cattle scheduled for delivery to a
15
packer processing plant for slaughter for each
16
of the next 14 calendar days.’’.
17
SEC. 4. EXPEDITED CARCASS WEIGHTS REPORTING.
18
Section 222 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of
19
1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635e) is amended by adding at the end
20
the following:
21
‘‘(f) EXPEDITED CARCASS WEIGHTS.—
22
‘‘(1) DETERMINATION.—Not later than 180
23
days after the date of enactment of the Cattle Price
24
Discovery and Transparency Act of 2023, the Sec-
25
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•HR 1287 IH
retary shall determine the minimum amount of time
1
needed by the Secretary to publicly report the daily
2
average carcass weight of cattle slaughtered by pack-
3
er processing plants.
4
‘‘(2) REPORTING.—Not later than 180 days
5
after the Secretary has made a determination under
6
paragraph (1), the Secretary shall begin publicly re-
7
porting the information described in that paragraph
8
within the time determined under that paragraph.’’.
9
SEC. 5. MANDATORY REPORTING OF CUTOUT YIELD.
10
Section 223 of the Agricultural Marketing Act of
11
1946 (7 U.S.C. 1635f) is amended—
12
(1) in subsection (a)—
13
(A) in the subsection heading, by striking
14
‘‘DAILY REPORTING’’ and inserting ‘‘IN GEN-
15
ERAL’’;
16
(B) in paragraph (3)—
17
(i) in subparagraph (C), by striking
18
the period at the end and inserting ‘‘;
19
and’’; and
20
(ii) by redesignating subparagraphs
21
(A) through (C) as clauses (i) through
22
(iii), respectively, and indenting appro-
23
priately;
24
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•HR 1287 IH
(C)
by
redesignating
paragraphs
(1)
1
through (3) as subparagraphs (A) through (C),
2
respectively, and indenting appropriately;
3
(D) in the matter preceding subparagraph
4
(A) (as so redesignated), by striking ‘‘Secretary
5
at least’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘Sec-
6
retary—
7
‘‘(1) at least’’; and
8
(E) by adding at the end the following:
9
‘‘(2) at least once each year, at a time deter-
10
mined by the Secretary, cutout yield data.’’; and
11
(2) in subsection (b)—
12
(A) by striking ‘‘the information required
13
to be reported under subsection (a)’’; and
14
(B) by striking ‘‘day.’’ and inserting the
15
following: ‘‘day—
16
‘‘(1) the information required to be reported
17
under subsection (a)(1); and
18
‘‘(2) a composite price using the information re-
19
quired to be reported under paragraphs (1) and (2)
20
of subsection (a).’’.
21
SEC. 6. CATTLE CONTRACT LIBRARY.
22
The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 is amend-
23
ed—
24
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•HR 1287 IH
(1) by redesignating section 223 (7 U.S.C.
1
1635f) as section 224; and
2
(2) by inserting after section 222 (7 U.S.C.
3
1635e) the following:
4
‘‘SEC. 223. CATTLE CONTRACT LIBRARY.
5
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after
6
the date of enactment of the Cattle Price Discovery and
7
Transparency Act of 2023, the Secretary shall establish
8
and maintain, through the Livestock Mandatory Price Re-
9
porting program, a library or catalog (referred to in this
10
section as the ‘library’), of each type of covered contract
11
entered into between packers and producers for the pur-
12
chase of fed cattle (including cattle that are purchased or
13
committed for delivery), including any schedules of pre-
14
miums or discounts associated with the covered contract.
15
‘‘(b) INFORMATION COLLECTION.—
16
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To maintain the library,
17
the Secretary shall obtain information from each
18
packer on each type of existing covered contract of
19
the packer by requiring a filing or other form of in-
20
formation submission from each packer.
21
‘‘(2) CONTRACT
INFORMATION.—Information
22
submitted to the Secretary by a packer under para-
23
graph (1) shall include, with respect to each existing
24
covered contract of a packer—
25
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•HR 1287 IH
‘‘(A) the type of contract;
1
‘‘(B) the duration of the contract;
2
‘‘(C) a summary of the contract terms;
3
‘‘(D) provisions in the contract that may
4
affect the price of cattle covered by the con-
5
tract, including schedules, premiums and dis-
6
counts, financing and risk-sharing arrange-
7
ments, and transportation arrangements;
8
‘‘(E) the total number of cattle covered by
9
the contract solely committed to the packer
10
each week within the 6-month and 12-month
11
periods following the date of the contract and
12
the percentage of cattle each week that may
13
vary for delivery or nondelivery at the discretion
14
of the packer, organized by reporting region or
15
in such other manner as the Secretary may de-
16
termine;
17
‘‘(F) in the case of a contract in which a
18
specific number of cattle are not solely com-
19
mitted to the packer—
20
‘‘(i) an indication that the contract is
21
an open commitment; and
22
‘‘(ii) any weekly, monthly, annual, or
23
other limitations or requirements on the
24
number of cattle that may be delivered to
25
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•HR 1287 IH
the packer under the contract, including
1
the percentage of cattle that may vary for
2
delivery or nondelivery in a given time pe-
3
riod at the discretion of the packer; and
4
‘‘(G) a description of the provisions in the
5
contract that provide for expansion in the num-
6
bers of fed cattle to be delivered under the con-
7
tract for the 6-month and 12-month periods fol-
8
lowing the date of the contract.
9
‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.—
10
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make
11
publicly available to producers and other interested
12
persons information (including the information de-
13
scribed in subsection (b)(2)), in a user-friendly for-
14
mat, on the types of covered contracts in the library,
15
including notice (on a real-time basis, if practicable)
16
of the types of covered contracts that are entered
17
into between packers and producers for the purchase
18
of fed cattle.
19
‘‘(2) MONTHLY REPORT.—
20
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Beginning 30 days
21
after the library is established, the Secretary
22
shall make the information obtained each
23
month in the library available in a monthly re-
24
port to producers and other interested persons.
25
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‘‘(B) CONTENTS.—The monthly report de-
1
scribed in subparagraph (A) shall include—
2
‘‘(i) based on the information collected
3
under subsection (b)(2)(E), an estimate by
4
the Secretary of the total number of fed
5
cattle committed under covered contracts
6
for delivery to packers within the 6-month
7
and 12-month periods following the date of
8
the report, organized by reporting region
9
and type of contract;
10
‘‘(ii) based on the information col-
11
lected under subsection (b)(2)(F), the
12
number of covered contracts with an open
13
commitment and any weekly, monthly, an-
14
nual, or other limitations or requirements
15
on the number of cattle that may be deliv-
16
ered under such contracts, including the
17
percentage of cattle that may vary for de-
18
livery or nondelivery in a given time period
19
at the discretion of the packer; and
20
‘‘(iii) based on the information col-
21
lected under subsection (b)(2)(G), an esti-
22
mate by the Secretary of the total max-
23
imum number of fed cattle that may be de-
24
livered within the 6-month and 12-month
25
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•HR 1287 IH
periods following the date of the report, or-
1
ganized by reporting region and type of
2
contract.
3
‘‘(d) MAINT
[Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]