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Second Regular Session

Sixty-first General Assembly

LLS NO. R98­0566.01 JLB

STATE OF COLORADO




BY REPRESENTATIVES George and K. Alexander;

also SENATOR B. Alexander.

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 98-1004


WHEREAS, The market concentration of the top three beef packing processing companies has increased dramatically from just thirty­three percent of the market in 1978 to over eighty percent of the market in 1996; and

WHEREAS, This market concentration has resulted in record low prices for Colorado cattle producers while cost to consumers has steadily increased in relation to quality of product available; and

WHEREAS, Over time this situation has continued to intensify resulting in an alarming loss of input to the overall economy of Colorado; and

WHEREAS, This trend towards concentration and vertical integration of the livestock industry threatens free enterprise and the independence of livestock producers in Colorado and the nation, as well as the economic vitality of the communities and states dependent upon the livestock industry; and

WHEREAS, Federal antitrust law is founded on the economic principle of the preservation of competitive markets and a social policy of the preservation of small businesses; and

WHEREAS, Federal antitrust laws, if enforced, would ensure that individual businesses do not dominate shares of individual markets to the point of harming a public that includes consumers, livestock producers, and workers; and

WHEREAS, Free competitive markets foster innovation and efficiency, promote free enterprise and public confidence, and are beneficial not only to the general population but also to the security of the nation; now, therefore,

Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Sixty­first General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the Senate concurring herein:

That the General Assembly requests that the United States Congress direct the Federal Trade Commission, the Packers and Stockyards Administration of the United States Department of Agriculture, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the United States Attorney General to enforce existing law, including the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921, 7 U.S.C. sec. 181 et seq., and all regulations promulgated thereto, to:

(1)  Prohibit meat packing processing firms from owning or controlling their live animal inventory needs beyond seven days prior to pickup or delivery; and

(2)  Require meat packing processing firms to report daily concerning the quantity, kind, and quality of animals purchased, their purchase prices, and their places of origin; and

(3)  Require meat packing processing firms to report weekly concerning the quantity, quality, kind, and respective price of all products sold for each market category including: Carcass, boxed, restaurant, export, byproduct, and pharmaceutical; and

(4)  Require meat wholesalers and distributors to report weekly the quantity, quality, kind, and respective price of products sold for each market category including: Carcass, boxed, restaurant, export, tripe, and byproduct; and

(5)  Prohibit meat packing processing firms from speculative "short" selling of commodity future contracts; and

(6)  Require meat packing processing firms to divest themselves of any producing capacity exceeding twenty percent of total production share; and

(7)  Require monthly reporting by the United States Department of Agriculture of the retail value of all meat and meat products and market categories, grocery sales, governmental and institutional sales, catering and restaurant sales, and export sales; and

(8)  Lift the federal ban on federal equivalent state inspected meats for interstate commerce, thereby allowing state meat inspectors to inspect meats for interstate commerce; and

(9)  Require meat and meat products to have country of origin and processor identification labels; and

(10)  Prohibit the United States Department of Agriculture from grading imported meat; and

(11)  Require permanent country of origin identification of imported livestock; and

(12)  Require all imported or domestic meat, poultry, and seafood products to be subject to the same inspection, testing, and labeling processes and standards; and

(13)  Require research for implementation of a value­based pricing structure for the live cattle that reflects the premium obtained by the meat packer processors from the high quality meat products demanded by the consumer in today's market.

Be It Further Resolved, That the General Assembly requests the Congressional delegation from Colorado to:

(1)  Take whatever measures are necessary to ensure the enactment, implementation, and enforcement of laws to restore competition and fair market pricing to livestock markets; and

(2)  Introduce and support federal legislation to protect livestock producers from retaliation by meat packing processing firms due to any statement made by such livestock producers to the United States Department of Agriculture, to law enforcement agencies, or in a public forum regarding practices or actions of meat packing processing firms; and

(3)  Impel full­scale investigations at the federal level of activities and practices within the United States Department of Agriculture and other responsible agencies concerning the gathering, reporting, and interpreting of agricultural commodities supply data and what effect these reports historically have had upon the cash and commodities futures markets.

Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this resolution be sent to the President of the United States, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, each member of the Congressional delegation from Colorado, the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, the Federal Trade Commission, the United States Department of Justice, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.