050802 Agro-Terrorism Bill Introduced In U.S. Senate

Washington - Sens. Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) last week introduced a bill (S.1532) to criminalize acts of agroterrorism and to enhance the protection of the United States agricultural industry and food security through increased prevention, detection, response and recovery planning. The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Agriculture.

A provision unrelated to agro-terrorism is included in the bill to void arbitration clauses from livestock contracts. Arbitration is commonly included in meat and poultry contracts as a means to resolve disputes between the parties of a contract. This provision would allow either party of the contract to void the use of arbitration for dispute resolution after a dispute arises.

While identical legislation has been introduced in the past few years, it stands in contrast to past efforts of lawmakers to find ways to resolve disputes without reverting to class action suits, which are often more time-consuming and costly to both parties than arbitration. During consideration of the 2002 Farm Bill, the U.S. Senate included a similar provision, which was eventually rejected in Conference Committee and removed from the final bill.

RETURN TO HOME PAGE

E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com