United States S 4338: Safe Line Speeds During COVID–19 Act of 2020

Bill Text

II
116TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION S. 4338
To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to temporarily suspend increased line
speeds at meat and poultry establishments, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JULY 28, 2020
Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. MERKLEY, Mrs. FEIN-
STEIN, Ms. WARREN, Mr. SANDERS, and Ms. HARRIS) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agri-
culture, Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to temporarily suspend
increased line speeds at meat and poultry establishments,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Line Speeds Dur-4
ing COVID–19 Act of 2020’’. 5
SEC. 2. TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF INCREASED LINE 6
SPEEDS AT MEAT AND POULTRY ESTABLISH-7
MENTS. 8
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9
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•S 4338 IS
(1) COVERED ESTABLISHMENT.—The term 1
‘‘covered establishment’’ means— 2
(A) an official establishment (as defined in 3
section 301.2 of title 9, Code of Federal Regu-4
lations (or successor regulations)) that is sub-5
ject to inspection under the Federal Meat In-6
spection Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.); and 7
(B) an official establishment (as defined in 8
section 381.1 of title 9, Code of Federal Regu-9
lations (or successor regulations)) that is sub-10
ject to inspection under the Poultry Products 11
Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.). 12
(2) COVERED PERIOD.—The term ‘‘covered pe-13
riod’’ means the period beginning on the date of en-14
actment of this Act and ending on the date that is 15
90 days after the date on which the COVID–19 16
emergency is lifted. 17
(3) COVID–19 EMERGENCY.—The term 18
‘‘COVID–19 emergency’’ means the public health 19
emergency declared by the Secretary of Health and 20
Human Services under section 319 of the Public 21
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) on January 22
31, 2020, with respect to COVID–19. 23
(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 24
the Secretary of Agriculture. 25
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•S 4338 IS
(b) TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF WAIVERS.— 1
(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 2
provision of law (including regulations, including 3
sections 303.1(h) and 381.3(b) of title 9, Code of 4
Federal Regulations (or successor regulations)), dur-5
ing the covered period, the Secretary, acting through 6
the Administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection 7
Service— 8
(A) shall suspend any waivers issued be-9
fore the date of enactment of this Act relating 10
to— 11
(i) line speeds at covered establish-12
ments; and 13
(ii) inspection staffing requirements 14
for covered establishments; 15
(B) shall not issue any waiver described in 16
subparagraph (A) to covered establishments; 17
and 18
(C) shall suspend implementation of, and 19
conversion to, the New Swine Slaughter Inspec-20
tion System described in the final rule entitled 21
‘‘Modernization of Swine Slaughter Inspection’’ 22
(84 Fed. Reg. 52300 (October 1, 2019)). 23
(2) LIMITATION ON AUTHORITY OVER LINE 24
SPEEDS.—None of the funds made available to the 25
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•S 4338 IS
Secretary during the covered period may be used to 1
develop, propose, finalize, issue, amend, or imple-2
ment any policy, regulation, directive, constituent 3
update, or any other agency program that would in-4
crease line speeds at covered establishments. 5
(3) EFFECT ON STATE LAW.— 6
(A) IN GENERAL.—This subsection shall 7
not preempt or limit any law or regulation of a 8
State or a political subdivision of a State that— 9
(i) imposes requirements that are 10
more protective of worker safety or animal 11
welfare than the requirements of this sub-12
section; or 13
(ii) creates penalties for conduct regu-14
lated by this subsection. 15
(B) OTHER LAWS.—The requirements of 16
this subsection are in addition to, and not in 17
lieu of, any other laws protecting worker safety 18
and animal welfare. 19
(c) GAO REVIEW.— 20
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 21
the end of the covered period, the Comptroller Gen-22
eral of the United States shall carry out, and submit 23
to Congress, a review of the actions taken by the 24
Secretary, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary 25
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•S 4338 IS
of Health and Human Services in response to the 1
COVID–19 pandemic to determine the effectiveness 2
of those acti