Texas City Opposes NAIS

NoNAIS.org ^ | 2006-05-10 | Walter Jeffries

[pubwvj]

Texas City Opposes NAIS

Local government is getting into the act to protect themselves, their citizens and small farmers from the burdens of the USDA's proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS). In Texas's Harrison County wants nothing to do with NAIS in any form, mandatory or voluntary:

Harrison County commissioners on Monday joined the city in opposing state implementation of the National Animal Identification System.

After hearing a proposal from Marshall Mayor Ed Smith, the court passed a resolution objecting to either mandatory or voluntary identification and tracking of animals.

Noting the city unanimously approved a resolution against the plan at a recent meeting, Smith told the county legislation set forth in House Bill 1361 will turn Texas Animal Health Commission into "one of the largest bureaucracies" in the state.

"These facilities are already under stress" financially. "You can be sure there will be significant fees for TAHC's involvement. We have very few discretionary dollars" in the city budget "and we can't ask the county to increase their participation either."

Smith said the animal tracking plan will do little to accomplish the objective for which it was proposed. "The state auditor has already said the (TAHC) agency has in place systems to monitor and track disease and they are working.

District 5 State Rep. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) has introduced another bill, HB 47, that will make participation voluntary, but county commissioners said they were opposed to the system in all forms.

Proposed by some of the large animal production organizations, the purpose of NAIS was to track diseases such as Mad Cow and bird flu, with an eye to improving export markets.

The impact of such a program would certainly favor large producers, said County Judge Wayne McWhorter, because it could force "gentlemen farmers" out of business, thus eliminating the competition.

"Those gentlemen farmers produce a real big percentage of our food supply," said Precinct 3 Commissioner James Greer. -Marshall News Messenger

This is the strongest statement I have seen from a local government, defying both the state and federal authorities and coming to the aid of their local citizenry. Bravo to these brave white knights!

One interesting thing to note is there were concerns about the costs of NAIS to the city and county because of the city owned properties like their arena. NAIS would force them to obtain Premises IDs, track the movements of all animals onto and off of public property as well as filing reports of animal movements and co-mingling within 24 hours. When you think about a county fair, rodeo or other show this could quickly add up to a lot of reporting costs for the municipality and perhaps force them to hire another full-time position just to handle all the paper work. NAIS represents an economic liability and burden not just for small farmers and homesteaders but also for our nations towns, cities and counties. There is a lesson here for all local governments.

Hat tip to Mike at TAHCWatch