Missouri House Passes Horse Slaughtering Bill - By Chad Livengood • Published SNL • March 29, 2010

JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri House has given first-round approval to a bill that seeks to bring horse slaughtering back to Missouri. On a voice vote, the House approved House Bill 1747 this evening. Sponsored by Rep. Jim Viebrock, the legislation seeks to bypass a federal ban on meat inspectors working in horse slaughtering plants by getting processors to pay for the inspections at the state level. Under the bill, processors would pay into a fund to the Missouri Department of Agriculture, which would pass the inspection fees on to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Viebrock, R-Republic, said USDA would then have a funding source to pay for inspections of horse meat, which is a delicacy in Europe and Asia. In September 2006, Congress barred any federal funds from being spent by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on inspecting the nation's three remaining horse slaughtering plants in Illinois and Texas -- effectively putting them out of business. Viebrock, who represents western Greene County, said the congressional ban on horse slaughtering inspections has led to more abuse and neglect of older horses because there is no market to sell them at. Rep. Ray Salva, a Jackson County Democrat, disputed the notion that the federal ban on horse meat inspection has led to more abused horses. "We have always had that problem," Salva said, later adding, "I'm just not for killing horses for human consumption." Viebrock said legislators have received more than 400 e-mails in recent weeks from opponents to the legislation from around the world. Less than a dozen of the e-mails came from Missouri citizens, Viebrock said. "I would imagine the only thing that would make the people happy who are sending those e-mails is if we stopped producing animal agriculture all together," Viebrock said on the House floor. The bill needs another vote on the House floor to be sent to the Senate. Missouri would become the first state in the union to effectively challenge the congressional ban on spending tax dollars to inspect horse meat. "It's amazing that Missouri will lead for a change," Viebrock said on the floor. Contact Chad clivengood@news-leader.com