FIRST EXTRAORDINARY SESSION

[P E R F E C T E D]

SENATE BILL NO. 2

91ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY


INTRODUCED BY SENATORS CAUTHORN, MATHEWSON, RUSSELL, GIBBONS, FOSTER, JOHNSON,

KINDER, ROHRBACH, WESTFALL, CHILDERS, STEELMAN, YECKEL, STOLL,

KLARICH, KENNEY, SCOTT, STAPLES, WIGGINS AND KLINDT.

Read 1st time September 5, 2001, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.

Read 2nd time September 6, 2001, and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation, Parks and Tourism.

Reported from the Committee September 6, 2001, with recommendation that the bill do pass.

Taken up for Perfection September 6, 2001. Bill declared Perfected and Ordered Printed.



TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.

2372S.04P


AN ACT

To repeal sections 277.203 and 277.212, RSMo, relating to livestock packers, and to enact in lieu thereof three new sections relating to the same subject, with an emergency clause.


Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:

Section A.  Sections 277.203 and 277.212, RSMo, are repealed and three new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 277.201, 277.202 and 277.212, to read as follows:

277.201.  Sections 277.200 to 277.215 shall be enforced in a manner which is consistent with the Packers and Stockyards Act (7 U.S.C.A., Section 9) as it relates to live cattle, swine or sheep.

277.202.  It shall be unlawful for any packer with respect to livestock, meats, meat food products, or livestock products in unmanufactured form to:

(1)  Engage in or use any unfair, unjustly discriminatory, or deceptive practice or device;

(2)  Make or give any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage to any particular person or locality in any respect whatsoever, or subject any particular person or locality to any undue or unreasonable prejudice or disadvantage in any respect whatsoever;

(3)  Sell or otherwise transfer to or for any other packer or buy or otherwise receive from or for any other packer, any article for the purpose or with the effect of apportioning the supply between any such persons, if such apportionment has the tendency or effect of restraining commerce or of creating a monopoly;

(4)  Sell or otherwise transfer to or for any other person, or buy or otherwise receive from or for any other person, any article for the purpose or with the effect of manipulating or controlling prices, or of creating a monopoly in the acquisition of, buying, selling, or dealing in any article, or of restraining commerce;

(5)  Engage in any course of business or do any act for the purpose or with the effect of manipulating or controlling prices, or of creating a monopoly in the acquisition of, buying, selling, or dealing in, any article, or of restraining commerce;

(6)  Conspire, combine, agree, or arrange, with any other person to apportion territory for carrying on business, or to apportion purchases or sales of any article, or to manipulate or control prices; or

(7)  Conspire, combine, agree or arrange with any other person to do, or aid or abet the doing of, any act made unlawful pursuant to subdivisions (1) to (5) of this section. [277.203.  A packer purchasing or soliciting livestock in this state for slaughter shall not discriminate in prices paid or offered to be paid to sellers of that livestock.  The provisions of this section shall not be construed to mean that a price or payment method must remain fixed throughout any marketing period.  The provisions of this section shall not apply to the sale and purchase of livestock if the following requirements are met:

(1)  The price differential is based on the quality of the livestock, if the packer purchases or solicits the livestock based upon a payment method specifying prices paid for criteria relating to carcass merit; actual and quantifiable costs related to transporting and acquiring the livestock by the packer; or an agreement for the delivery of livestock at a specified date or time; and

(2)  After making a differential payment to a seller, the packer publishes information relating to the differential pricing, including the payment method for carcass merit, transportation and acquisition pricing, and an offer to enter into an agreement for the delivery of livestock at a specified date or time according to the same terms and conditions offered to other sellers.]277.212.  [1.]  The attorney general shall enforce the provisions of sections 277.200 to 277.215.  The department of agriculture shall refer violations of the provisions of sections 277.200 to 277.215 to the attorney general.  The attorney general [or any person injured by a violation of the provisions of sections 277.200 to 277.215] may bring an action pursuant to the provisions of chapter 407, RSMo, for any remedy allowed for unlawful merchandising practices.

[2.  A seller who receives a discriminatory price or who is offered only a discriminatory price in violation of the provisions of sections 277.200 to 277.215 may receive treble damages, costs and a reasonable attorney's fee.]

Section B.  Because of the need for continuity within the livestock packing industry, the enactment of sections 277.201 and 277.202, the repeal of section 277.203 and the repeal and reenactment of section 277.212 of this act is deemed necessary for the immediate preservation of the public health, welfare, peace and safety, and is hereby declared to be an emergency act within the meaning of the constitution, and the enactment of sections 277.201 and 277.202, the repeal of section 277.203 and the repeal and reenactment of section 277.212 of this act shall be in full force and effect upon its passage and approval.




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