Strengthening Local Processing Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8431 To support small and very small meat and poultry processing establishments, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 Ms. PINGREE (for herself and Mr. FORTENBERRY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture A BILL To support small and very small meat and poultry processing establishments, 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 ‘‘Strengthening Local 4 Processing Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. SCALE-APPROPRIATE HACCP GUIDANCE AND RE- 6 SOURCES. 7 (a) SMALL AND VERY SMALL POULTRY ESTABLISH- 8 MENTS.—The Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:33 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8431.IH H8431 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8431 IH 451 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 14 (21 1 U.S.C. 463) the following new section: 2 ‘‘SMALL AND VERY SMALL ESTABLISHMENT HACCP 3 GUIDANCE AND RESOURCES 4 ‘‘SEC. 14a. (a) Not later than 18 months after the 5 date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary shall— 6 ‘‘(1) establish a free, searchable database of ap- 7 proved peer-reviewed validation studies accessible to 8 small and very small establishments (as those terms 9 are defined in the final rule entitled ‘Pathogen Re- 10 duction: Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point 11 (HACCP) Systems’ (61 Fed. Reg. 38806 (July 25, 12 1996))) subject to inspection under this Act for use 13 in developing the Hazard Analysis and Critical Con- 14 trol Points plans of such establishments; and 15 ‘‘(2) publish online, scale-appropriate model 16 Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points plans, 17 including model Hazard Analysis and Critical Con- 18 trol Points plans for different types of poultry prod- 19 ucts processed by— 20 ‘‘(A) slaughter-only establishments; 21 ‘‘(B) processing-only establishments; and 22 ‘‘(C) establishments that conduct slaugh- 23 tering and processing. 24 ‘‘(b) Not later than 2 years after the date of the en- 25 actment of this section, the Secretary shall publish a guid- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:33 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8431.IH H8431 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8431 IH ance document, after notice and an opportunity for public 1 comments, to provide small and very small establishments 2 with information on the necessary steps such establish- 3 ments must take to have a Hazard Analysis and Critical 4 Control Points Plan approved under this Act.’’. 5 (b) SMALL AND VERY SMALL MEAT ESTABLISH- 6 MENTS.—The Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 7 601 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 25 (21 8 U.S.C. 625) the following new section: 9 ‘‘SMALL AND VERY SMALL ESTABLISHMENT HACCP 10 GUIDANCE AND RESOURCES 11 ‘‘SEC. 26. (a) Not later than 18 months after the date 12 of the enactment of this section, the Secretary shall— 13 ‘‘(1) establish a free, searchable database of ap- 14 proved peer-reviewed validation studies accessible to 15 small and very small establishments (as those terms 16 are defined in the final rule entitled ‘Pathogen Re- 17 duction: Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point 18 (HACCP) Systems’ (61 Fed. Reg. 38806 (July 25, 19 1996))) subject to inspection under this Act for use 20 in developing the Hazard Analysis and Critical Con- 21 trol Points plans of such establishments; and 22 ‘‘(2) publish online scale-appropriate model 23 Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points plans, 24 including model Hazard Analysis and Critical Con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:33 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8431.IH H8431 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8431 IH trol Points plans for different types of meat and 1 meat food products processed by— 2 ‘‘(A) slaughter-only establishments; 3 ‘‘(B) processing-only establishments; and 4 ‘‘(C) establishments that conduct slaugh- 5 tering and processing. 6 ‘‘(b) Not later than 2 years after the date of the en- 7 actment of this section, the Secretary shall publish a guid- 8 ance document, after notice and an opportunity for public 9 comments, to provide small and very small establishments 10 with information on the necessary steps such establish- 11 ments must take to have a Hazard Analysis and Critical 12 Control Points Plan approved under this Act.’’. 13 SEC. 3. INCREASING MAXIMUM FEDERAL SHARE FOR EX- 14 PENSES OF STATE INSPECTION. 15 (a) POULTRY PRODUCTS.—Section 5(a)(3) of the 16 Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 454(a)(3)) is 17 amended, in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘50 per cen- 18 tum’’ and inserting ‘‘65 percent’’. 19 (b) MEAT AND MEAT FOOD PRODUCTS.—Section 20 301(a)(3) of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 21 661(a)(3)) is amended, in the second sentence, by striking 22 ‘‘50 per centum’’ and inserting ‘‘65 percent’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:33 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8431.IH H8431 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8431 IH SEC. 4. COOPERATIVE INTERSTATE SHIPMENT. 1 (a) POULTRY PRODUCTS.—Section 31 of the Poultry 2 Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 472) is amended— 3 (1) in subsection (b)— 4 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘25 em- 5 ployees’’ each place it appears in subparagraphs 6 (A) and (C)(iii)(I) and inserting ‘‘50 employ- 7 ees’’; and 8 (B) in paragraph (3)— 9 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik- 10 ing ‘‘25 EMPLOYEES’’ and inserting ‘‘50 11 EMPLOYEES’’; 12 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 13 ‘‘25 employees’’ and inserting ‘‘50 employ- 14 ees’’; and 15 (iii) in subparagraph (B)(i), by strik- 16 ing ‘‘more than 25 employees but less than 17 35 employees’’ and inserting ‘‘more than 18 50 employees but less than 70 employees’’; 19 (2) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘60 percent’’ 20 and inserting ‘‘80 percent’’; 21 (3) by redesignating subsections (f) through (i) 22 as subsections (g) through (j); and 23 (4) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol- 24 lowing: 25 ‘‘(f) FEDERAL OUTREACH.— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:33 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8431.IH H8431 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 8431 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For each of fiscal years 1 2021 through 2024, the Secretary shall conduct out- 2 reach to, and where appropriate subsequent negotia- 3 tion with, no fewer than 25 percent of the States 4 which have a State poultry product inspection pro- 5 gram that meets the criteria specified under section 6 5 but which does not yet have an establishment that 7 has been selected as a selected establishment under 8 this section. 9 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—At the conclusion of each fiscal 10 year referred to in paragraph (1), the Secretary 11 shall submit a report detailing the activities and re- 12 sults of the outreach conducted during that fiscal 13 year to— 14 ‘‘(A) the Committee on Agriculture of the 15 House of Representatives; 16 ‘‘(B) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri- 17 tion, and Forestry of the Senate; 18 ‘‘(C) the Subcommittee on Agriculture, 19 Rural Development, Food and Drug Adminis- 20 tration, and Related Agencies of the Committee 21 on Appropriations of the House of Representa- 22 tives; and 23 ‘‘(D) the Subcommittee on Agriculture, 24 Rural Development, Food and Drug Adminis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:33 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8431.IH H8431 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 8431 IH tration, and Related Agencies of the Committee 1 on Appropriations of the Senate.’’. 2 (b) MEAT AND MEAT FOOD PRODUCTS.—Section 3 501 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 683) 4 is amended— 5 (1) in subsection (b)— 6 (A) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘25 em- 7 ployees’’ each place it appears in subparagraphs 8 (A) and (C)(iii)(I) and inserting ‘‘50 employ- 9 ees’’; and 10 (B) in paragraph (3)— 11 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik- 12 ing ‘‘25 EMPLOYEES’’ and inserting ‘‘50 13 EMPLOYEES’’; 14 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking 15 ‘‘25 employees’’ and inserting ‘‘50 employ- 16 ees’’; and 17 (iii) in subparagraph (B)(i), by strik- 18 ing ‘‘more than 25 employees but less than 19 35 employees’’ and inserting ‘‘more than 20 50 employees but less than 70 employees’’; 21 (2) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘60 percent’’ 22 and inserting ‘‘80 percent’’; and 23 (3) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the 24 following; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:33 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8431.IH H8431 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 8431 IH ‘‘(3) FEDERAL OUTREACH.— 1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For each of fiscal 2 years 2021 through 2024, the Secretary shall 3 conduct outreach to, and where appropriate 4 subsequent negotiation with, no fewer than 25 5 percent of the States which have a State meat 6 and meat food product inspection program that 7 meets the criteria specified under section 301 8 but which does not yet have an establishment 9 that has been selected as a selected establish- 10 ment under this section. 11 ‘‘(B) REPORT.—At the conclusion of each 12 fiscal year referred to in subparagraph (A), the 13 Secretary shall submit a report detailing the ac- 14 tivities and results of the outreach conducted 15 during that fiscal year to— 16 ‘‘(i) the Committee on Agriculture of 17 the House of Representatives; 18 ‘‘(ii) the Committee on Agriculture, 19 Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate; 20 ‘‘(iii) the Subcommittee on Agri- 21 culture, Rural Development, Food and 22 Drug Administration, and Related Agen- 23 cies of the Committee on Appropriations of 24 the House of Representatives; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:33 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8431.IH H8431 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 8431 IH ‘‘(iv) the Subcommittee on Agri- 1 culture, Rural Development, Food and 2 Drug Administration, and Related Agen- 3 cies of the Committee on Appropriations of 4 the Senate.’’. 5 SEC. 5. PROCESSING RESILIENCE GRANT PROGRAM. 6 Subtitle A of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 7 (7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 8 the following: 9 ‘‘SEC. 210B. PROCESSING RESILIENCE GRANT PROGRAM. 10 ‘‘(a) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this section, the term 11 ‘eligible entity’ means— 12 ‘‘(1) a small or very small establishment, as de- 13 fined in the final rule entitled ‘Pathogen Reduction; 14 Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point 15 (HACCP) Systems’ (61 Fed. Reg. 33806 (July 25, 16 1996)); 17 ‘‘(2) a slaughtering or processing establishment 18 operating under a State inspection program that 19 meets the criteria specified in section 301(a) of the 20 Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 661) or sec- 21 tion 5 of the Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 22 U.S.C. 454); 23 ‘‘(3)(A) a person, firm, or corporation exempt 24 from inspection under the Federal Meat Inspection 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:33 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8431.IH H8431 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 8431 IH Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) pursuant to section 23 1 of such Act (21 U.S.C. 623); and 2 ‘‘(B) a retail dealer, poultry producer, or person 3 exempt from inspection under the Poultry Products 4 Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.) pursuant to 5 section 15 of such Act (21 U.S.C. 464); and 6 ‘‘(4) an entity seeking to establish and operate 7 an establishment that would meet the criteria speci- 8 fied in paragraph (1), (2), or (3). 9 ‘‘(b) GRANTS.—The Secretary, acting through the 10 Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service, shall 11 provide competitive grants with a term of not more than 12 three years to eligible entities for activities to adapt pro- 13 duction, processing, distribution, and sales systems to re- 14 spond to and recover from the effects of Coronavirus Dis- 15 ease 2019 (referred to in this section as ‘COVID–19’) 16 pandemic, including activities that— 17 ‘‘(1) support the health and safety of plant em- 18 ployees, suppliers, and customers; 19 ‘‘(2) support increased processing capacity; or 20 ‘‘(3) otherwise support the resilience of the 21 small meat and poultry processing sector in the fu- 22 ture. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:33 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8431.IH H8431 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 8431 IH ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible entity selected to 1 receive a grant under this section may use funds received 2 through such grant for activities, including— 3 ‘‘(1) the cost of developing and issuing (other 4 than the cost of labor), directly incurred or incurred 5 by a consultant, a Hazard Analysis and Critical 6 Control Points plan for the eligible entity; 7 ‘‘(2) the actual costs of any facilities, equip- 8 ment, processes, or operations necessary for the es- 9 tablishment to comply with the Federal Meat Inspec- 10 tion Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) or Poultry Products 11 Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.); 12 ‘‘(3) cold storage, equipment, or transportation 13 services or equipment needed to respond to COVID– 14 19 demand; 15 ‘‘(4) purchasing test kits for the presence of 16 COVID–19, temperature screening supplies, dis- 17 infectant, sanitation systems, hand washing stations, 18 and other sanitizing supplies; 19 ‘‘(5) purchasing and decontaminating personal 20 protective equipment; 21 ‘‘(6) constructing or acquiring humane handling 22 infrastructure, including holding space for livestock 23 holding prior to slaughter, shade structures, and 24 knock box structures; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:33 Oct 24, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8431.IH H8431 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 8431 IH ‘‘(7) purchasing software and computer equip- 1 ment for record keeping, production data, Hazard 2 Analysis and Critical Control Points record review, 3 and facilitating marketing and sales of products in 4 a manner consistent with Center for Disease Control 5 and Prevention guidelines and training for using this 6 software; 7 ‘‘(8) the costs of staff time and training for im- 8 plementing and monitoring healthy and safety proce- 9 dures; 10 ‘‘(9) the development of a feasibility study or 11 business plan for those interested in expanding or 12 starting a new small establishment; and 13 ‘‘(10) other costs associated with expanding or 14 establishing a small establishment or very small es- 15 tablishment, as determined by the Secretary. 16 ‘‘(d) APPLICATIONS.— 17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity seeking a 18 grant under this section shall [Text truncated for display. 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