CHAPTER 208 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 5014 A Concurrent Resolution urging the United States Congress to allow interstate marketing of state inspected meat.       WHEREAS,  The Federal Wholesale Meat Act of 1967 allows states
to have state meat inspection programs which are required to meet or
exceed federal inspection standards of the United States Department of
Agriculture for wholesomeness, cleanliness and food safety; and

      WHEREAS,  Kansas with 26 other states has elected to operate equiv-
alent meat inspection programs which allow state-licensed and state-in-
spected meat processing facilities to engage in intrastate commerce. Nu-
merous other states are pursuing implementation of state inspection of
their meat processing facilities; and

      WHEREAS,  State meat inspection programs are flexible and can ef-
ficiently and safely adapt their activities to small, local meat processors
that cannot be duplicated by the federal inspection program because of
its size and complexity; and

      WHEREAS,  State-inspected meat and poultry products are currently
barred from interstate commerce under federal law, including neighbor-
ing local markets in other states, despite current meat safety and quality
assurances, affecting long-range rural development and economic growth
strategies within the meat processing industry; and

      WHEREAS,  Such limitation on marketing of state inspected meat in-
hibits economic development and value-added agricultural activities in
this nation's agricultural sector; and

      WHEREAS,  Current policy of the National Association of State De-
partments of Agriculture supports the interstate shipment of state-in-
spected meat products: Now, therefore,

      Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Kansas,
the Senate concurring therein: That we urge the United States Congress
to enact revisions to the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry
Products Inspection Act to allow the interstate shipment and marketing
of meat products by state inspected meat processing facilities; and

      Be it further resolved: That the Secretary of State be directed to send
an enrolled copy of this resolution to the President of the United States,
the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the
United States House of Representatives, the Secretary of the United
States Department of Agriculture and each member of the Kansas Con-
gressional delegation.

 Adopted by the House March 29, 2002.
Adopted by the Senate
March 27, 2002.
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