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Minutes for HB2451 - Committee on Agriculture
Short Title
Amending Kansas department of agriculture division of animal health license, permit and registration renewal deadlines.
Minutes Content for Wed, Jan 29, 2020
Chair Highland opened the hearing on HB2451 at 4:03pm.
Jessie Pringle, Assistant Revisor, Office of The Revisor of Statutes, provided an overview of HB2451 and the statutes that it affects. (Attachment 3) There is a Fiscal Note for HB2451.
PROPONENT
Dr. Andy Hawkins, Assistant Animal Health Commissioner, Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA), appeared before the Committee in support of HB2451. (Attachment 4) HB2451 addresses two minor issues in our current animal health statutes: 1) license, permit, and registration renewal deadlines; and 2) Official Calfhood Vaccination (OCV) tags. First, HB2451 would change the license, permit and registration renewal deadlines from June 30 to September 30 for most large animal programs administered by KDA including feedlot licenses, public livestock markets, etc. Due to an upgrade to an online renewal system and several budget provisos to allow the use of a September 30 deadline, KDA has been using the September 30 renewal deadline for the past several years. HB2451 would align the large animal programs with deadlines associated with the Animal Facilities Inspection Program, which were changed to September 30 in 2018.
Second, OCV tags are a form of official identification under state and federal law applied by a licensed accredited veterinarian at the time of vaccination for brucellosis signifying that the heifer has been vaccinated. These tags are considered accountable property and are only available directly to licensed accredited veterinarians from either the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) or KDA.
There are two forms of OCV tags: metal orange OCV clip tags and orange OCV Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) button tags. Currently, USDA supplies the metal OCV tags free of charge, but in an effort to offer updated technology, KDA is making RFID tags available to Kansas veterinarians for a charge directly associated with the actual cost of providing the tag. KDA provides approximately 3,100 tags to licensed accredited veterinarians each year.
As a recognized leader in promoting and enhancing animal disease traceability, KDA has distributed the RFID tags for the last four years. In the first two years, KDA secured USDA Cooperative Agreement funds, therefore providing an initial supply at no cost to veterinarians. After funding ceased, KDA maintained its commitment to animal disease traceability efforts by supplying RFID tags for purchase. KDA has worked closely with tag distributors to secure tags at the lowest price points. The actual cost of the RFID tag averages around $1.41. KDA would like to provide RFID tags as OCV tags, but per current statute, the cost for OCV tags shall not exceed $0.25 per tag, which would require KDA to distribute RFID tags at loss. HB2451 would address the technology advancement of RFID tags and their associated cost, versus the basic metal clip tags and their potential perceived cost when the original statute was enacted.
There were no opponents/neutrals of HB2451.
The hearing on HB2451 was closed at 4:14pm.
The Chair adjourned the meeting at 4:14pm.
