Bill Text: VA HR12 | 2024 | Regular Session | Prefiled
Bill Title: Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption Act (PRIME Act); U.S. Congress encouraged to pass.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-02-13 - Left in Rules [HR12 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2024-HR12-Prefiled.html
WHEREAS, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the importance of a robust food supply; and
WHEREAS, four major processors handle over 90 percent of the nation's meat production; and
WHEREAS, consumer preference for locally produced food is a popular and growing trend; and
WHEREAS, current federal law prohibits intrastate sale of meat from farmers to anyone outside of their family, friends, or employees unless it has been processed at a federally inspected facility; and
WHEREAS, federally inspected meat processing facilities may be prohibitively far from farmers wishing to sell locally; and
WHEREAS, states should be given the opportunity to regulate the processing and sale of meat within their borders as part of a federalist political system; and
WHEREAS, the Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption Act, or the PRIME Act, amends the Federal Meat Inspection Act to allow intrastate distribution of custom-slaughtered meat such as beef, pork, or lamb to consumers, restaurants, hotels, boarding houses, and grocery stores; and
WHEREAS, intrastate processing and sale of meat strengthens America's food supply by increasing the number of processing facilities in the United States; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That the United States Congress be encouraged to pass the Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption Act or PRIME Act. The House of Delegates also urges the members of the Virginia Congressional Delegation to support the PRIME Act and work toward its passage in Congress; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates transmit a copy of this resolution to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United State Senate, and the members of the Virginia Congressional Delegation, requesting that the recipients further disseminate copies of this resolution to their respective constituents so that they may be apprised of the sense of the Virginia House of Delegates in this matter.
