Kansas committee hears bill to let animal health commissioner set fees, rules under Poultry Disease Control Act

The Kansas House Committee on Agriculture heard testimony on Senate Bill 89 on an amendment to the Poultry Disease Control Act that would authorize the state animal health commissioner to adopt rules and establish limited participation and testing fees.

The bill would allow the commissioner to adopt rules and regulations to administer the act and to set annual plan participation fees not to exceed $50 and certification fees for testers not to exceed $50. It also would allow a per-visit testing fee for on-site testing related to pullorum, typhoid and fowl typhoid of up to $100 per participating location and would allow the commissioner to revoke participation for noncompliance or repeated outbreaks. The bill would require poultry shipped into Kansas to be from sources that participate in, or meet the requirements of, the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) or equivalent standards.

Kyle Hamilton, committee staff, summarized the bill’s statutory changes and the sections of Kansas Statutes Annotated it would amend, noting…