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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Nuñez

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/5/06

2/8/06 HB 629/aHAGC

SHORT TITLE Livestock Premises Info Confidentiality

SB

ANALYST Lewis

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates SB 655.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Office of the Attorney General (AGO)

New Mexico Department of Agriculture (NMDA)

No Response Received From

New Mexico Livestock Board (NMLB)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HAGC Amendment

The House Agriculture and Water Resources Committee amendment removes the bill’s penalties

for refusing to provide information or knowingly providing false information to the Livestock

Board for purposes of a national livestock identification program.

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Bill 629 enacts a new section of the Livestock Code to provide that

records, data and in-

formation collected by the state, recorded or otherwise, for the purposes of a national livestock

identification program shall be confidential and are not public records for purposes of the Inspec-

tion of Public Records Act.

The records, data and information shall be released only upon order of the board to appropriate

governmental agencies for the purposes of a national livestock identification program, disease

House Bill 629/aHAGC – Page

2

outbreak or law enforcement investigation; and they shall not be subject to discovery or introduc-

tion into evidence in any civil action.

HB 629 further provides that the New Mexico Livestock Board shall not release any records,

data or information to a federal agency until the agency confirms in writing that it will maintain

the records, data and information as confidential and that they are not subject to release under the

federal Freedom of Information Act.

A person who

1)

knowingly provides false information to the New Mexico Livestock Board for purposes of a

national livestock identification program, or

2)

refuses to provide to the board information that is required pursuant to the authority of the

board for purposes of a mandatory national livestock identification program

is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, imprisonment for up to six

months, or both.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

According to the New Mexico Department of Agriculture (NMDA),

1)

The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) was implemented July 2005.

2)

The NAIS impacts all livestock producers in the state (cattle, dairy cattle, sheep, goats,

poultry, horses, donkeys, mules, and other minor species).

3)

The NAIS also impacts livestock/meat packers, processors, wholesalers/distributors, and

retailers.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) NAIS home page on the

web at

http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/index.shtml

, the National Animal Identification Sys-

tem (NAIS) is a national program intended to identify animals and track them as they come into

contact with, or commingle with, animals other than herdmates from their premises of origin.

The system is being developed for all animals that will benefit from rapid tracebacks in the event

of a disease concern. Currently, working groups comprised of industry and government represen-

tatives are developing plans for cattle, swine, sheep, goats, horses, poultry, bison, deer, elk, lla-

mas, and alpacas.

Already, many of these species can be identified through some sort of identification system, but

these systems are not consistent across the country. Tracing an animal’s movements can there-

fore be a time-consuming endeavor during a disease investigation, especially if the animal has

moved across state lines.

The Office of the Attorney General (AGO) suggests that the

Legislature may want to consider

the advantages and disadvantages of prohibiting records, data and information collected by the

state for the purposes of a national livestock identification program as evidence in civil actions.

What if owner A is negligent and infects owner B’s cattle. This information would not be avail-

able in B’s civil suit against A.

ML/yr