The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) provision, Section 10305, has been taken out of the Farm Bill! This provision, inserted by the Senate, would have required the USDA to issue regulations to address confidentiality under NAIS. Section 10305 would have implied Congressional approval of what USDA has been doing with NAIS, and created a false sense of security about protecting people's information. The conference committee’s version of the Livestock Title does not include the section, and a text search of the entire bill did not turn up any provisions on NAIS! The full report is posted here.

Thank you to all of the people who took the time to call and write Congress!

Of course, this does not end the fight. The USDA has already shown its intention to continue pushing NAIS, regardless of what Congress does, and has issued a Privacy Act notice in the Federal Register for information collected as part of NAIS. So neither NAIS nor the confidentiality issue is dead! There is more information on the Privacy Act notice at the end of this alert. But we can still celebrate partial victories along the way.

(Note: the conference committee report is almost 700 pages, so we haven’t read it word for word. If anyone finds anything in it that relates to NAIS, please let us know so that we can spread the word.)

MISSOURI

SB 931 has passed the joint conference committee and the Senate, but has not been presented to the House for final approval. We need your support to make Rep. Brian Munzlinger, and the Speaker of the House, Rod Jetton, bring the bill to a vote. This is the last week that the House is in session, so we must act now.

SB931 is the only surviving anti-NAIS bill that has a chance of being passed this year. The bill permits Missouri’s participation in a voluntary animal identification program, but forbids the states’ department of agriculture from mandating or forcing premise registration without specific statutory authority from the Legislature. It also provides a mechanism for Missourians to withdraw. It includes a provision that would permit the Governor to override the provisions of the bill should it interfere with marketing Missouri cattle. The bill isn’t as strong as others that were introduced, but it is a positive step. Pro-NAIS organizations are actively opposing the bill, so your Representative needs to hear from you now!

You can go here for more information about SB 931, including talking points you can use when you call your Representative, or contact the Liberty Ark Coalition at libertyark@freedom.org.

TAKE ACTION

1. Contact your Representative, and Representatives Munzlinger and Jetton. Tell Them: “Vote Yes on SB 931. I want you to bring SB 931 to a vote and vote yes to stop NAIS in Missouri.”

• Representatice Munzlinger: (phone) 573-751-7985, (fax) 573-522-3722, Email: Brian.Munzlinger@house.mo.gov
• Representative Jetton: (phone) 573-751-5912, (fax) 573-526-9804, Email: Rod.Jetton@house.mo.gov
• Look up your State Representative here.

2. Contact the Governor:

Telephone: (573) 751-3222
Online e-mail: http://www.gov.mo.gov/constituentform.htm

Tell Him: “Sign SB 931 and stop NAIS in Missouri.”

USDA PRIVACY ACT NOTICE

You can find the USDA's latest notice listed at 73 Fed. Reg. 23412 (Privacy Act Notice on NAIS) in the April 30th issue of the Federal Register. It is online here.

The Privacy Act of 1974 is intended to "provide certain safeguards for an individual against an invasion of personal privacy" by giving individuals certain rights and requiring agencies to follow certain procedures. One of the required procedures is to publish notice in the Federal Register "upon establishment or revision" of a "system of records." That notice must include the routine uses of the information, which determine when the information can be disclosed. So, by publishing this notice, USDA is essentially stating when information collected under NAIS can be disclosed as a matter of course.

In the notice, the USDA states: "APHIS may routinely share information contained in USDA's portion of the NAIS with Federal and State animal health officials during an incident of an animal disease, bioterrorism, or other animal health event. APHIS may disseminate information to Federal and State animal health officials within the system for educational purposes and to obtain feedback regarding the NAIS program and emergency preparedness guidelines. Other routine uses of this information include releases related to investigations pertaining to violations of law or related to litigation. A complete listing of the routine uses for this system is included in this notice. The information collection requests associated with this system have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act." The notice then sets out a long list of "routine uses" of the information.

Comments on the Privacy Act notice are due by May 30, 2008. You can submit comments online here, or by mailing to: Docket No. APHIS-2007-0015, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700, River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD, 20737-1238.