The Rural Lobbyist: Legislators’ misplaced fears kill COOL legislation.

February 24, 2017 – By #South Dakota Farmer Union

Country of Origin Labeling in South Dakota suffered a setback on Tuesday as members of the Senate voted to kill Senate Bill 135. SB 135 would have required retailers to label all beef by it’s country/countries of origin. During the debate on the floor, proponents of SB 135 made a strong case for the consumers right to know where their food comes from. Legislators also cited numerous statistics showing the positive effect that COOL has had on cattle prices in South Dakota. The message was clear,consumers want to know and it’s in the rancher’s best interest to tell them. Yet opposition still remained on the consumer friendly labeling bill. Legislators stood opposed to the consumer’s right to know where their food comes from. Why? Well, the argument generating most of the discussion focused on the possibility of federal preemption. Specifically, opponents argued that SB 135 violated current federal law involving labeling practices. This claim, however, is unwarranted. SB 135 would not be threatened by federal preemption for multiple reasons. Most importantly, the language in SB 135 was specifically amended in order to avoid that very concern. The law in question prohibits additional labels that are not in line with USDA rules. SB 135 would not require additional labels, but would instead require the use of a placard (a sign). One senator suggested that this is just a matter of semantics. However, if you look at the definition of label under USDA you would see that a placard would not fall into the labeling category under USDA rule. The definition states, “A label with the meaning of this part shall mean a display of any printing, lithographing, embossing, stickers, seals, or other written, printed , or graphic matter UPON THE IMMEDIATE CONTAINER of any product.” A placard would not and does not fall in line with that definition. Ultimately, misplaced fear in the big bad federal government was enough to deny South Dakota’s consumers their right to know where their food comes from. However, the fight is far from over. SDFU will continue its efforts to promote COOL in Pierre and Washington D.C. Last year the bill wasn’t able to make it out of committee. This year, we passed that first hurdle and made it to the Senate floor. Progress is being made and our message is being heard. With your continued help we will #bringCOOLback. Here is a look at the vote on SB 135:

Bolin   Nay     Cammack       Nay     Cronin            Nay

Curd   Nay     Ewing Yea      Frerichs          Yea

Greenfield (Brock)    Nay     Haverly           Nay     Heinert           Yea

Jensen (Phil) Yea      Kennedy        Yea      Killer   Yea

Klumb            Nay     Kolbeck          Nay     Langer            Yea

Maher Yea      Monroe           Yea      Nelson            Yea

Nesiba            Yea      Netherton      Nay     Novstrup        Nay

Otten (Ernie) Nay     Partridge        Nay     Peters Nay

Rusch  Nay     Russell            Yea      Soholt Excused

Solano Nay     Stalzer            Nay     Sutton Yea

Tapio  Nay     Tidemann      Nay     White  Nay

Wiik    Nay     Youngberg     Nay 

Ayes    13       Nays    21       Excused          1          Absent            0

Last Modified: 02/24/2017 3:51:22 pm MST