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Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to pay owners of poultry growing or egg‑laying facilities that lie inside an APHIS‑designated control area when those owners are stopped from growing or laying flocks. Payments are calculated from the facility’s average income on the five most recent flocks, multiplied by the number of flocks the owner was prevented from producing, subject to statutory limits, timing rules, and specified exceptions. The change adds a compensation rule to the Animal Health Protection Act to help offset income losses when disease‑control actions block normal flock production.
Amend Section 10407 of the Animal Health Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 8306) by (1) modifying subsection (d) heading (inserting after '; and') and (2) adding a new subsection (e) titled “Compensation for poultry growers and layers in control areas.”
Defines the term “control area” to mean a Control Area determined by the Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Except as provided in paragraph (3), the Secretary shall compensate the owner of a poultry growing or laying facility that is located within a control area.
Compensation amount is the product of (I) the facility’s average income from the five most recent flocks it grew or laid and (II) the number of flocks the owner was prohibited from growing or laying while the control area was in effect.
Compensation to any owner under this subsection shall not exceed the difference between (I) the amount calculated under clause (i) and (II) any compensation the owner received from a State or other source for one or more of the flocks the owner was prohibited from growing or laying.
Directly affected: owners of poultry growing and egg‑laying facilities in APHIS control areas will receive financial compensation for income lost when they are prevented from producing flocks. That reduces immediate economic harm to producers and may increase owner cooperation with disease control measures. USDA/APHIS must establish verification, claims, and payment processes, increasing administrative workload and generating direct program costs borne by federal funds. Taxpayers bear the fiscal cost of the compensation program. Implementation will require record‑keeping by facility owners (e.g., income and production records for five prior flocks) and clear guidance from USDA on eligibility, documentation, payment limits, and exceptions. The rule can help public‑health and animal‑health responses by reducing economic pressure on producers to resist control measures, but it may also raise program integrity questions (fraud prevention, verification burden) and moral‑hazard concerns if owners rely on compensation rather than biosecurity. State and local governments are not required to take actions under the provision, so it does not impose mandates on them, though local agricultural communities could see economic stabilization benefits where outbreaks occur.
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Introduced February 13, 2025 by Roger F. Wicker · Last progress February 13, 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Introduced in Senate
