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Texas agency proposes repeal of CWD herd certification program and seeks more flexible chronic‑wasting response rules
Summary
The commission voted to publish proposed rule changes that would repeal the voluntary Herd Certification Program and replace prescriptive 5‑year herd plans and containment zones with case‑by‑case epidemiological assessments and individualized herd plans.
The Texas Animal Health Commission approved publication of proposed rule amendments that would repeal the state’s participation in the federal Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Herd Certification Program (HCP) and adopt more flexible state rules for responding to CWD detections.
Why it matters: The change would remove the state’s existing HCP structure — a voluntary federal program that includes mandatory surveillance, 5‑year epidemiological traces and prescribed herd‑plan templates — and replace it with a rules framework allowing agency epidemiologists to tailor movement restrictions, herd plans and quarantine lengths to the facts of each case.
Commission staff told members that participation in the federal HCP had fallen sharply: Texas had 81 herds in good standing (79 native, 2 exotic) at the time of the meeting, down from hundreds earlier in the decade. Staff said the HCP’s administrative and surveillance requirements were onerous for many owners and that the federal program’s part‑B standards constrained state response options.
Under the proposed state rules, staff would have discretion to issue or lift hold orders and quarantines based on epidemiological assessment rather than automatic 5‑year quarantines; traces and herd plans could be shorter or longer as circumstances warrant. The proposed amendments would also remove defined CWD surveillance and containment zones from commission rules and allow for testing using ELISA for certain captive exotic species rather than requiring IHC in all cases. Agency staff said the changes are designed to focus surveillance resources where they are most useful and to increase producer compliance by reducing unnecessary burdens.
Staff framed the repeal of HCP and rule changes as tradeoffs: removing HCP would reduce some interstate movement privileges tied to the federal program but, staff said, would ease regulatory cost and complexity for many Texas facilities and increase the agency’s flexibility in outbreak response.
Commission action: The commission voted unanimously to publish the proposed amendments for a 30‑day comment period and begin the rulemaking process.
Ending: The commission will consider public comments and any revisions before a later vote to adopt or reject the amendments; staff said the changes aim to align CWD policy with conditions in Texas and make response options more tailored to individual incidents.
